07/18/2014

(Sits down in old wooden chair) Hi Mars Hill, Pastor Mark here.  I wanted to give you a bit of an update on the season that we have been in and continue to be in and I was thinking about it and when I was seventeen years of age Jesus gave me this bible through a gal named Grace who is of course now my wife, and Jesus saved me when I was nineteen, in college as a freshman, reading this bible, and I started opening this bible when I was twenty-five and Grace and I were a young married couple in our rental home.  We felt called to start Mars Hill Church and so we would have some people over for a bible study and there was not a lot of people so we didn’t have a full service, instead I would sit in this chair and I would open this bible and just teach a handful of people, or a few handfuls of people that would show up in our living room, and that grew to be Mars Hill Church.  Now that I’m 43 almost 44, looking back it’s, it’s overwhelming if I’m honest, it’s shocking and amazing and staggering and wonderful.

What Jesus has done has far exceeded even what I was praying for or hoping for or dreaming of and particularly lately this season we’ve been in has just caused me to be very grateful to Jesus for his kindness and part of this kindness is the people of Mars Hill Church.  Some of the most loving, generous, resilient people that any pastor has had the joy of leading and loving, and so it just is quite a miracle to be on this train with you and I’m exceedingly grateful for Jesus’ grace to me, and to us, and you are part of that grace. This summer we’ve got the “Best Sermon Ever” series coming up, it’s an annual tradition if you’re new.  Last summer we tried it and people really loved it.  We bring in guest preachers and they serve us well, and we’re very honored to welcome those who would open God’s word and so it allows myself and other leaders to get vacation time with our family and also pull together our families as the leadership of the church family. Pray together, to seek God’s will for the next season, and so we’ll be using this time with our family and church family to enjoy one another and to plan for the future, and around that time I take my break as well, and get a little vacation with Grace and now the five kids and before I went on that break I wanted to communicate to you some things about the season that we have been in and what we believe our senior pastor the Lord Jesus is teaching us along the way. Jotted down a few notes here.  One of the things I wanted to say first is that we have learned in this season that as things emerge in media or social media and then we respond to those, that you can feel unloved or left out or overlooked because we’re not communicating first with you, or directly to you, and so we have made some changes so that we can do that better, as a means of loving you and informing you, and so the Mars Hill Weekly is something that we have been doing in more recent weeks, and intend to continue into the future, where each week we’re letting you know what’s going on in the church, and trying to communicate to you regularly and effectively and in a way that is godly and so even this video from me is a part of that and if you’ve not been availing yourself to that resource, I as your pastor would just really encourage you to do so, and it’s our way of doing better and communicating clearer.

During this season as well, I have been rather silent and there are for some reasons for that. First of all, we, including myself, needed to determine what exactly was happening. If I’m real honest with you, at first it was just a little overwhelming and a bit confusing. We, and I were not exactly sure what was happening and so it took a little while to sort that out. In addition (I) wanted to determine how to respond, not in a way that was anger but godly, not in a way that was defensive, but was helpful, and so I didn’t wanted to act in a way that was impetuous or premature or ungodly and so was, with the team, trying to learn, and grow, and, and patiently wait to say the right thing at the right time in the right way with the right heart, which is what I’m hoping to do today. That being said as well, we wanted to submit and I want to submit to the authority that God has placed over us. We’ve been really blessed with some Godly internal and external authority structures, that love us, that love Jesus and the church above all else, and are here to give us advice and accountability, and so we wanted to have that leadership fully informed, up to speed, giving wise council and walking with us, so that we were under authority and wise council and I’m very happy to report that we have been well loved, well served, well instructed, well corrected, well informed along the way and, really rejoice at the caliber of, of friends and help and accountability that, that Jesus has, has brought to us. In addition, it’s been difficult to know how to communicate to the church, because we’re one church in fifteen locations spread across five states, and so in this season certain churches wanted a lot of information, other churches wanted very little information, certain churches wanted very specific information, other churches wanted very different information, and so some of our churches have been greatly impacted and affected during this season, others to a lesser degree. So how to communicate has been, has been difficult, how to serve each of the locations most effectively. As well, one of the things that has been… complex is the fact that a lot of the people that we are dealing with in this season remain anonymous. And so we don’t know how to reconcile, or how to work things out with, with people because we’re not entirely sure who they are, and so that has, that has made things a little more complex and difficult as well.  And what it seems to me is that in this season it’s not a group of people it’s groups of people, and it’s, it’s a real spectrum from some who are Christians, some who are non-Christians, some who have attended Mars Hill Church, some who have never attended Mars Hill Church, some who really want good for our church, and other who frankly don’t seem to want much good for our church. And, and so in this includes everyone in the middle and a long entire continuum and spectrum, and so trying to determine how to respond to, to various people and issues and groups, it’s just been something that we have been prayerfully carefully trying to determine what would be the godliest and best course of action.

Perhaps a little bit of context would help regarding our current season. There have been two seasons in the history of Mars Hill Church where we have made substantive organizational changes. One was around 2006, 2007, the other was in 2011 and 2012 and those two seasons of substantive organizational changes really were caused by our church going to multiple locations and leaders being spread out across our various locations and, and at the time we were not, I was not, as sympathetic and empathetic as we could or should have been, that some of those organizational changes had some adverse personal implications for the people and the leaders who were involved. As well, we could have communicated, should have communicated those changes more clearly and could have acted upon those needed organizational changes with more love and affection and empathy, and pastoral affection. The result is, that some people were hurt, don’t want to speak on their behalf, that’s my interpretation, and as a result, there is today a group of largely anonymous former leaders of our Mars Hill Church family. And we want to reconcile with those men, our brothers in Christ, and so we have opened up a process that has been underway and it is a relational reconciliation process where an independent outside ministry that’s part of the Peacemakers ministry is involved. We will be paying all the expenses related to that, so thank you again for being a generous people, and it’s a way for us to invite in those former leaders of the church for personal relational reconciliation. And so this outside ministry has established the terms of Christian conciliation and, and they are inviting in former leaders who want to speak to them privately about the potential process, and our door is open to sit down with any of the leaders of Mars Hill Church, including myself, and so this process will be ongoing through September. It’s our hope and our prayer and our goal that we’ll all sit down to listen, to learn, to love well. That’s what we’re hoping to do, and we’d appreciate your prayer for that process. Some of you have asked, well, what are the people or details involved, and to be honest with you we’re just not free to speak about those matters because the terms of the relational reconciliation process include us signing a covenant and that includes confidentiality because we want to create a safe place where people can come in and work out any relational differences and difficulties and so we don’t want to gossip, especially with media and social media, we don’t want to subject anyone to any unnecessary fear or an unsafe environment, and so we, we intend to abide by, by those rules and we think they’re godly and good and they really just quite frankly come pretty much straight out of the Bible and so we, we want to honor God above all in this process and so we, we won’t say a lot except, and it’s not for any reason other than we’re trying to love well and submit to the process that we believe is a good one and a Godly one. After September we will keep our door open and keep our hand open and keep our heart open. If there are others who want to meet or work toward reconciliation with myself or other leaders, those former leaders will be considered on a case-by-case basis and we’re not going to be permanently at any point shutting the door, we want, we want to be open hearted and open handed going in the future.

Some things we’ve learned organizationally through this as well is, we do want to be good stewards of the resources and the opportunities that have been entrusted to us, and we want to do so in a way that is pastoral and biblical and so, proceeding forward we’ll be using more Bible-based covenants, and agreement based on biblical principles, rather than things like non-compete agreements or non-disclosure agreements, seeking to steward the resources well, but in a way that is wise and prudent and biblical and loving and helpful. Publicly, some of you have approached me and other leaders, and asked why can’t we publicly answer this or that issue that arises. There are some reasons for that. Number one, we could never, I, I don’t think, respond to every issue that arises in media and social media. If we did, the focus of our team would be off of Jesus and you and out mission, and it would be spending time on people and things other than the primary responsibilities that Jesus has entrusted to our care and our service. In addition, I really am blessed to live in a land where the law allows me to have freedom of speech, to have freedom of religion, to have freedom of assembly, freedom of the press. That means we get to assemble, and I get to open the Bible and teach whatever I believe to be true. But it means that others have that same legal opportunity. They have that same freedom, and so, and so others are free to, to say things as well. And being a bit of a public figure I don’t have the same… try to get this right, protection sometimes as a private citizen, because I’ve made myself a public figure. So that’s just sort of a blessing and the complexity of the great opportunity that God has given me as a Bible teacher and a pastor, especially in an age of technology, which I praise God for. In addition, we, we can’t respond to everyone but we’re willing to learn from anyone. And this means that even as issues arise or criticisms come, I want you to hear that we do consider those, we pay attention to those, because we want to learn from those. And so while we can’t respond to everyone, we are willing to learn from anyone. We want this to be an increasingly healthy, godly, loving church, and, and anything that helps us to achieve that, we want to receive that as, as a gift ultimately from our senior pastor the Lord Jesus.

That being said as well, the reason I haven’t addressed this season directly from the pulpit is that the pulpit is sacred and it belongs to the Lord Jesus. … Man the last thing I want to do is turn Sundays into talking about me instead of Jesus, or pointing to me instead of Jesus, or doing anything rather than going through the Bible to help people grow in their relationship with Jesus or enter into a relationship with Jesus. So, that’s even the purpose of this video – I really want to keep the pulpit committed to the teaching of the Bible, and the person and the work of Jesus, and not used for, for PR purposes or, or anything like that and that’s just really important for me so if you could just continue to pray that I’d be able to focus on the Bible and Jesus and loving and serving you as I teach God’s word, I would greatly appreciate that because I believe that’s best for all of us. Legally, checking my notes here, one thing that did make things more complex was, in this season we were given (a) “preservation of documents” letter from an attorney who was representing some former members of the Mars Hill Church family. I didn’t know what that meant and so, we have had as a team, a season of learning what that all entails. We have retained legal counsel, and “preservation of documents” is really, internal documents, email, and those kinds of things being held by us in lieu of a potential lawsuit, and so of course that was a bit concerning, if I’m just frank with you, and so where we find ourselves at present is, we are not under any lawsuit, we have not been sued, but there is that possibility in the future and there’s nothing to report unless action is taken, and at this point there’s nothing to report on that front.

Personally, a lot of you have asked myself and other leaders of the church, what are you learning in all this and I’ll be honest with you: a lot, a lot. This is among the, the deepest learning seasons of my whole life, and… just wrote down some things, and these are things I’ve been sharing with the executive elders, and the lead pastors, and other our other leaders, as God is teaching me, trying to help encourage them. Lamenting is something that I really have grown to understand, and it’s a part of the Bible I think I’ve read a lot but hadn’t really pondered as deeply as I should have and, you know like the psalms, the largest category of psalms are psalms of lament. Got a whole book called Lamentations. There are prophets who include journal entries about their time of lamenting and mourning and, and in our culture we tend to celebrate publicly and grieve privately and that can sometimes not be the healthiest thing for us. In the Bible they tend to celebrate publicly and also grieve publicly and mourn, and so in this season I’ve been studying a lot in the scriptures on lamenting and mourning and grieving. I think it allows the leaders and I to emotionally process things without getting bitter or angry or self-righteous or defensive, I’m not saying I or we have done that perfectly but it certainly is helpful toward those goals. It allows us to not just see ourselves as victims but to see ways that we have erred or sinned or could or should have done better in certain relationships and with certain people, and so that’s been a big point of learning and we spent a lot of time with the leaders in the church - just in prayer, and grieving together, and helping to, to emotionally process the season that we have been in. Something else that has really been highlighted for me in this season is, my empathy for women and children tends to be higher than my empathy for men and sometimes, out of a desire to, to love and serve women and children, I have not been as loving as I could or should have been to men, especially in some personal communications and conversations, and so, and so that is an area where I am growing by God’s grace, I hope and trust and pray that in the future you’ll have a better pastor next year than you have this year, and that this year you have a better pastor than you did last year. Part of God’s calling, I believe, on my life is to lead men, and he’s helping me learn how to do that better. And I want to grow in that, and by God’s grace, I’m learning a lot especially in this season and, and that’s why I’m looking forward to some of these relational reconciliation meetings, so that I can, I can love better and mend some of those relationships. In this as well I’m really confirmed in my heart my called to and affection for you, and for our church family. I’ve had some people come up to me and just ask, “Are you going anywhere?” Nope, I’m not going anywhere. “You ever dream about doing anything else?” Nah. I, I believe that I’m where I’m supposed to be and I believe that I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing, and I believe that by God’s grace I can do it better, and so that’s what I’m hoping and trusting and praying the future looks like. But no, I’m not going anywhere, and I’m not doing anything else. I love you, I love teaching the Bible. In all of this, I’m just more deeply grateful for… for the people who allow me to teach them God’s word. The fact that I get to open the book that God wrote, and to instruct the people that God loves is just a tremendous honor. And in all of this, it’s just, it’s been a very encouraging and sobering time, to just be grateful for you, and those who allow me to teach them the Bible. And so, I’m not going anywhere or doing anything else. I hope to do this for the next 30 or 40 years and do it better by God’s grace. Another thing that I’m learning in all this, it’s been a couple years actually, that God’s been growing this in my heart is this concept of spiritual fathering, that you may have heard me talk about it in the pulpit and such, now that I’m getting a little bit older and my kids are getting older, I’ve got two high schoolers next year, and a daughter that’s a year away from college, and as my kids get older I’m, I’m in that role even in the church and with some people that is entering into more like a spiritual father, and people have to decide whether or not they invite me or any other leader into that role, it’s, not something we can press on anyone but if anyone should see me in that way, I really want to love and lead in that way, in a good way, in a Godly way, and a spiritual father is somebody who teaches and instructs and encourages and corrects but does so with a tremendous amount of patience, affection, and hope, and so my affection for my children, my love and enjoyment of my family, God has been growing that same affection for our church family and for the people that I’m honored to be a pastor of and so, that’s definitely an area in biblical study that God has been highlighting for me and I’ve been spending a lot of time learning and growing in that area. Because as I get older I really hope and pray by God’s grace I can continue to enter into that place of being a good, Godly, helpful, biblical, humble, spiritual father for our church family.

And lastly, in all of this, it’s really clarified what is important for us at Mars Hill, and for me it’s like two pedals on a bike or two oars in the boat, and it’s really learning and loving, loving and learning, and that’s really it, we want to be a church that continues to open the Bible to learn about Jesus and opens our heart to love like Jesus, and really those are the things that have been pressed upon me by the Holy Spirit in this season. And so that’s led me to a lot of Bible study in first John. And John and his brother, when they were young, they were called the “sons of thunder”, so they were big personalities, real strong, intense, and perhaps even aggressive, and then as he grows older and the other disciples have, the apostles have all died and he’s the last one remaining, he lived to be an elderly man and in addition to that strength, which he retained, God added a real tenderness and a, and a, and a kindness and softness to him and so he talks a lot in first John to the people like a spiritual father, calling them , you know, “my dear children” and he keeps emphasizing, “love one another”, “love one another”, and so that’s really where I’ve been camping out in the Bible and so we’re going to have that be a series for us starting this Fall. We’re going to go through first John together, and the, the point is to open our Bibles to learn about Jesus and open our hearts to love like Jesus. And so the series is taken right out of first John 4:7 it’s, “love one another”. So that’s where I’ll be really excited to share with you some things that the Holy Spirit’s been sharing with me through the scriptures.

Check my notes here, make sure I didn’t miss anything. Yeah, lastly, many of you have asked myself and other leaders of the church, “How can we be in prayer?” and I genuinely appreciate that. I would say, pray for the leaders in your local churches, they’re dealing with things that, that I’m not dealing with and there are some things in this season that are just, they’re just, they’re strange. Unique. For example, at one of our churches, someone is folding up pornography and putting it in our pew Bibles, just all kind of strange things in this season so that when the lead pastor gets up and says, “Hey, if you’re new or not a Christian, we’ve got some free Bibles in the pew, feel free to pick one up and go to page whatever for the sermon” and they open it up and they’re exposed to pornography, and this can be adults or children and so now there’s a team having to go through our Bibles and take the pornography out to make sure that our Bibles are clean on Sundays. There’s been anonymous texts sent to leaders and, and church members and families, some of which is concerning and I won’t share the details of but some of the families have, have really been concerned about some of the things that have been said and even the well-being of their own family. And the pastors in our local churches, the leaders in our local churches, are really loving and serving people, and, and I would encourage you to be in prayer for them. These are the kinds of things that they are dealing with and there’s a number of stories like this, and they’re just trying to love the people well but sometimes the things they’re dealing with are just so strange and unexpected that, for them it can be difficult if not discouraging and so, so as they’re heavy-hearted, I’m heavy-hearted for them and would appreciate your prayers for them. For the people in the church that are hurting, and I’ve had some people come up and say, you know, “Pastor Mark, how are you doing in this season?” and I say “Well, I’m hurting,” and they say “Well, a lot of us are hurting right now” so please join me in prayer that for those who are hurting in the church that this summer in particular would be a season of healing for those who are hurting. And for me, if God would, you know, bring me to mind, in all of this, I just really want to, as much as I’m able, lead our people and our leaders to do what is Godly. And this is just a real deep desire in my heart. I, I try not to lead out of fear - some days are easier than others. I’m trying not to work toward a certain objective or outcome, or winning something, or anything of that sort of kind. In fact, I’m, I’m trying to not worry about the results or the comp- consequences or the implications but just, Lord Jesus, what’s Godly. Just, what’s Godly today, what’s Godly in this situation, what’s Godly in this scenario, and, and, I’m, I’m, you know, encouraging our leaders to just keep asking that question: What’s Godly, what’s Godly, what’s Godly, what’s Godly. So that we can, by God’s grace, seek to do that which is Godly rather than winning or working toward a certain outcome, just relinquishing that, leaving that to our senior pastor the Lord Jesus and, and do our best to, to be Godly, and to grow in Godliness along the way.

And lastly, in all of this, there is one scripture that, that really I’ve been meditating on a lot, and it’s Ecclesiastes 7 8. Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 8 says, “The end of the matter is better than the beginning, and patience is better than pride.” And for me it’s sort of been a guiding verse, principally, where whatever the outcome might be, it’ll be bad if, if in this season we, starting with me, have impatience or pride. And so, I am praying against those things and seeking patience and humility by the grace of God. I would never say that I have achieved patience or humility, but I’m pursuing them by God’s grace and asking the Holy Spirit to help keep us patient and humble, and, and in this season according to Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 8, what will cause a bad outcome is impatience and pride, impatience and pride. And so, praying against those things and guarding against those things, so if you think of me, or think of the other senior leaders in the church, I think that would be a great place to be in prayer for us. Thank you for giving me so much of your time. Thank you for allowing me to be your pastor, I love you with a deep affection. And I am sorry for the hurting that some of you are feeling, and by God’s grace we will love one another well as a family and, and, and the Lord Jesus will have a great future for us together. That’s about all that I have. I love you.