I blogged in defense of Mark Driscoll some time ago.

It seems, so far, that my defense was ill-informed.

Church money was used to inflate sales of the book.

Innocent and well-meaning elders were ‘marked’, ‘ostracised’ and ‘harassed’ for standing up for what was right.

There is forgiveness, of course, and restoration, but the mills of God have ground exceedingly fine. As to why I would reference a previous blog, in case someone finds it and experiences a certain chagrin, I’d like to ensure that the record was set straight.

For the record, if Driscoll starts preaching again, I plan on being an avid follower of his sermons. He speaks well, and I enjoy listening to him.

Wheter I would want to give him the position of my pastor-teacher is the subject of another day. He was not my pastor-teacher before, so the point is moot.

But if someone who considered him their pastor teacher would ask me, I would encourage them to give Driscoll the fullest possible opportunity to regain ground. A Driscoll who is keen on fulfilling his calling and has learnt his lessons would be a good Driscoll indeed.

It must be said: there is not a whisper of complaint against him as the head of his household. As a father and husband he has acquitted himself beyong reproach. My congratulations to him, his home and all who live there.

God has spoken. Whatever was hidden has been revealed. Let’s get on with serving Jesus.

One day, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that it is Jesus Christ who is God Lord.

My personal opinion is that In resigning, Mark Driscoll has really made an enormous mistake.

1. Did Mark Driscoll use church money, without church approval, to further his books? It certainly seems that he used his OWN money. If that is right, it is NONE OF ANYONE’S BUSINESS. To be sure, inflating the sales of your book is in extremely poor form, and certainly unbecoming of a pastor of Driscoll’s heft. I was dismayed to hear of it. I am twice as dismayed to realise that appearing on a newspaper’s list of bestsellers was such a priority.
But one must ask oneself: has this caused harm to God’s work, or caused a fellow believer to stumble?

2. Driscoll is candid about having quoted other authors, without explicitly noting the quotations. He is actually good friends with them, and they don’t seem to be yelling about being ‘plagarised’. This is a potentially unpleasant situation, if there is a formal accusation from the original authors. There seems to be none!

As for ‘ghost writing’, oh, come on, do you think that all the books written by the world’s luminaries are personally written? Of course not. Are their transcribers/ghost writers credited? Of course not!

3. Does Mark Driscoll have a massive problem with anger? Has he struck anyone? Has he caused grave damage to anyone’s person? Is his anger a cause of fear or even trepidation? Is the fear of his anger, yelling, conduct complicating the peaceful business of the ministry or the resolution of issues? If the answers are a ‘yes’ to any of these questions,the church must immediately convene at the the appropriate levels, seek the details, hear ALL parties out completely, engage Driscoll in a specific, ordered conversation, require Driscoll to repent of his anger and apologise to whoever was offended, and put in place a program or schedule of counselling and correction for him. Sacking him is NOT the answer.

Mars Hill was not built with the obedience of a man who is an anger-monster.

Driscoll is a clean, family man, with an immaculate record for labouring for Christ.

The word ‘witch hunt’ comes to mind.

What has been done to Driscoll is utterly unChristian.