Driscoll's Confessions

Confessions of a Reformission Rev is about the life of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Mark Driscoll, who helped start the church, recalls the hard moments in building Mars Hill. He doesn’t paint the life of this church as an easy one and points out all the mistakes and blemishes that they have had. He doesn’t even paint himself as the great leader who started a successful church and freely mentions that he stole some old sound equipment from another church, that there offices at one stage was using stolen electricity and that his 9pm service on a uni campus was a dumb idea. Driscoll paints his church as being Jesus’ and only because of Jesus did the church grow at all.

Mark explains and justifies his church’s mission, the elder structure, church’s membership and the service format. This may sounds like a dry book, but Driscoll is funny. Some people may think he crosses the line in good taste sometimes, but I enjoyed his writing style. He has many funny stories to tell about people in his church and how he reacts to some of them. But for bit of example of his writing style here is his recollection of 1999/2000:

Seattle grunge had nearly run its course, and the local thrift stores were filled with used flannel shirts and boots. Tragically, grunge was replaced with happy-clappy, half-naked teenage girls, like Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears, and boy bands that danced and still had the audacity to claim they were heterosexual. More than Y2K, it was the rise of the teeny-bop pop that caused me to think the end of the world might indeed be imminent. (Page 116)

Being the teacher that Driscoll is, he has added some reflection questions for you to ask about your church at the end of each chapter. They challenged me to think about training for men and what my church’s mission is and how I can help with that. So if you want a good laugh, or want to learn about this Driscoll guy that some people can’t stop talking about or are thinking about restructuring or planting a church, or if your church is growing, then you might want to add this book to your reading list.