![]() RFMH is, by its own admission, directed towards insiders. From this perspective, RFMH helps us understand evangelicalism more than it helps us understand Mars Hill itself. They point to that which cannot be said or thought because it would cross lines that are policed more rigorously by insiders. Gaps often indicate something profound about a group or an author. As a CT production attempting to reckon with problems within evangelicalism itself, RFMH offers us a window on what evangelicals view as problems and as solutions to what confronts their movement, as well as the gaps and contradictions in their self-analysis. Howard Pew, scion of a prominent oil family seeking a platform to sell American Christians on libertarian economics. CT emerged through the combined efforts of figures like famed evangelist Billy Graham, who sought new ways to bring a conservative, anti-communist form of Christianity to the masses, and J. RFMH is a production of Christianity Today (CT), a magazine that has long been a central player in evangelical culture. What I want to focus on is what The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill (RFMH) tells us about changes in US evangelical discourse. Others have written about Mars Hill, its culture, and its infamous pastor. My aim is not to evaluate what Cosper’s show gets right or wrong about Mars Hill or Driscoll. This reckoning then is also a diagnosis of problems that the show’s writers see in evangelicalism writ large. In the new podcast The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, host Mike Cosper, himself a former pastor, attempts to reckon with what happened to this megachurch: W hat made it grow? W hat made it fall apart? W hat contributed to its culture of abuse? The show doesn’t merely recount the story of Mars Hill’s problems, it sees in Mars Hill a cautionary tale for other white evangelical churches. Shortly after Driscoll’s departure, the church itself collapsed. ![]() Driscoll resigned when these allegations reached a breaking point for church leaders. But the church was also beset by allegations, from insiders and outsiders, that Driscoll and those around him had fostered a culture of abuse. Boasting membership in the thousands, Mars Hill was viewed widely among evangelicals as a promising new style of church planting. In the fall of 2014, Mark Driscoll resigned from his position as pastor of Mars Hill Church, a multi-campus megachurch in and around the Seattle area. ![]()
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