Customer Reviews

Confessions of a Reformission Rev.: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church (The Leadership Network Innovation)

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3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Raw.
We clicked because I drive a 1978 Chevy truck that gets single digits to the gallon and has a bacon air freshener and no functioning speedometer and because I fashion myself as the seld-appointed leader of a heterosexual male backlash in our overly chickified city filled with guys drinking herbal teal and rocking out to Mariah Carey in their lemon yellow Volkswagon Cabriolets while wearing fuchsia sweater vests that perfectly match their open-toed shoes. (p. 147)

Funny.
Scrambling for ideas, I agreed to cance a Sunday church service to let some of our long-haired public radio types take us outside to do a joint art project they had proposed....As a truck-driving jock who watches a lot of Ultimate Fighting, I can honestly say it was the gayest thing I have ever been a part of. (p. 71)

Real.
Emotionally, ministry proved to be more exhausting than I could have fathomed. Because I deeply loved my people and carried their burdens, the pains of our people's lives began to take a deep toll on me. Many nights were spent in prayer for people instead of sleeping, and even on what were supposed to be days off, my mind was consumed with the painful hardships and sinful rebellions of our people. (p. 68)

Mark Driscoll's latest book, Confessions of a Reformission Rev. Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church, is a fantastic look at life in ministry. I have a great deal of love and respect for Andy Stanley and Rick Warren, but their stories don't match my stories in ministry. Mark's story of the growth of his church is a wonderful and real look at a man on a mission, with strong theological convictions, and who loves Christ's church and the city of Seattle.

It is raw. He is blatanly honest. But if many could get away with it in ministry, we would do the same thing. He is a passionate man who doesn't have time to say things in flowery words. His story is real. It is an honest look at the hard life of ministry, and the pain and anguish we go through as ministers. And all the while, it's a picture of one sold out to Christ and his mission.

He is theologically conservative. He spends time unashamedly distancing himself from a hermeneutic that is liberal and relative. He believes the book, studies theology, and is passionate about teaching that.

Each of the chapters chronicle a period of time in the growth of Mars Hill. It is encouraging to see the struggles and the faith. It is encouraging to face many similar situations and see how others handled it.

I truly think this is a must read for all church planters and for those of us in ministry it should be highly considered. Few pastors are able to be real and transparent enough to let others see their pain and hardache and fears. Mark is a real man. And his story is compelling.

I have read a thousand or two pages of "how to do church" books. I pastor at a church of about 900, and so it's par for the course. Most of them bore me these days. This one I read in three sittings.

There will be considerable criticism of this book. Mark didn't say what he was supposed to. He is pretty clear about what he thinks of Brian McLaren, the public pope of the Emergent church; and it isn't complimentary. He recommends both pragmatic evangelicals like Hybels and Warren and yet he affirms the work of their firm critics like Mark Dever and D.A Carson's work in his footnotes (a both-and I both agree with and am impressed with). He thinks masculinity should have content beyond plumbing, and even dares to refer to Grudem and Piper's book on the subject. That alone can get you stripped and beaten in some very loving evangelical circles.

He also says church people can be immature idiots and life sucking dead weight; like the Leech's two daughters that constantly cry, "give, give!" form Proverbs 30.

I was horrified.
I completely agree.

There will no doubt be many coming up with clever little shots at Driscoll and making pithy condescending remarks about the book. Mark has really opened himself up to that. I suspect he could care less, and I really appreciated that about his style.

No doubt many will find his style arrogant. It will be decried by the equally arrogant under the pretense of humility and nuances spiritual maturity. Many will be convinced. But it should be noted that Mark claims to have been arrogant and to be arrogant. He only claims that that doesn't necessarily make him wrong about what he is saying in this book, and about that he is right. Introspective indecisive hand wringing doesn't work as a dominant disposition when you're leading a church of more than a thousand people in the kind of context he is in. I know from experience. Nor does it particularly work in life unless you are interested in simply criticizing the position of others.

In terms of content, Mark has written his own leadership manifesto about making the hard choices, knowing your mission, learning from others, daring to be serious about the Bible's content in preaching and leadership decisions, allowing for messes, and focusing on spiritual growth if you want organizational growth.

Concerning his bits about the Emerging Church, perhaps his greatest bit was in a footnote. In that note that sprawls from pg. 203-205 he overviews looking into postmodernism as an epistemology, cultural phenomenon, the fruit of modern linguistic theory and post-structuralism, etc. He talks about reading in primary and secondary sources and finally concludes he's going to go ahead and stick with most of what Jesus was saying.

If you think that's simplistic, it's likely that either you're not in the subculture, are considerably more arrogant than Mark is, haven't read the literature or you don't have ears to hear (ie. have lost the will to find a culturally potent expression of Christian orthodoxy).

I have been in many social situations with Gen-X pastors or ministry folks who spoke with such arrogance in criticism of people who "just didn't get post modernism". I was sad because many of them knew more about postmodernism than the gospel

The greatest benefit of what this book is adding to is that there are now two clearly different options for those of us looking to the emerging church conversation for new ways to do church in the increasingly post-Christian West. Those of us that do not think Brian can get us where we want to go want another option. This is a much better one.

Mark Driscoll and Dan Kimball are needed to secure that second voice. And this book was needed to give some steam to that conversation. Mark Driscoll has done the church a service.

P.S.- I have no tattoos, I do wear pants, I do not carry a handgun, I am a Christian, and I'm a pastor in a mainline denominational church that is 98 years old. I'm only 29 though.

Mark Driscoll is a pastor who finds himself at the center of controversy in Christian and non-Christian circles. His most recent book Confessions is "the story of the birth and growth of Seattle's innovative Mars Hill Church, one of America's toughest mission fields. It is also the story of the growth of a pastor, the mistakes he's made along the way, and God's grace and work in spite of these mistakes."

Why the Controversy? Driscoll doesn't fit in any category neatly. Tim Challies writes, "I am not the only one confused by Driscoll who is varyingly described as emerging, missional, Reformed, sarcastic and vulgar (all of which are true of him)." At times it looks like Driscoll goes out of his way to offend everyone. On the other hand, Driscoll is refreshingly candid and bold. I love it, but it seems to be too much for some.

The story of many "successful" churches have been tidied before going to print. Not here. Driscoll says, "I have made so many mistakes as a pastor that I should be pumping gas for a living instead of preaching the gospel." He begins with "Ten Curious Questions" designed to help clarify the church's identity, gospel, mission, size, and priorities. For instance, he asks which gospel we will proclaim: "a gospel of forgiveness, fulfillment, or freedom?" "Do you have the guts to shoot your dogs?" (He advises: "Dogs are idiotic ideas, stinky styles, stupid systems, failed facilities, terrible technologies, loser leaders, and pathetic people...Be sure to make it count and shoot them only once so that they don't come back and bite you." Now you know why he's controversial.)

For the rest of the book, Driscoll tells the story of Mars Hill from its start to the present and even his hopes for the future.

Takeaways and Memorable Quotes

"Attractional churches need to transform their people from being consumers in the church to being missionaries outside of the church." (p.27)

"The more I read the Bible, the more deeply the Holy Spirit convicted me that I had grievously erred by trying to figure out how to do church successfully by reading a lot of books, visiting a lot of churches, and copying whatever was working. Instead, I needed to first wrestle with Jesus like Jacob wrestled with Jesus and then discover what Jesus' mission was for Seattle and repent of everything else..." (p.44)

Developing biblical leadership to define, direct, and defend the mission is key (p.48). This requires toughness. "Sadly, the weakest men are often drawn to ministry simply because it is an indoor job that does not require heavy lifting." (p.54)

"I had to focus all of my time and energy on growing Mars Hill as a missional church for Seattle. Therefore I had to stop doing all other ministry work that was not accomplishing this objective." (p.52)

"I decided not to back off from a long-winded, old-school Bible preacher that focused on Jesus. My people needed to hear from God's Word and not from each other in collective ignorance like some dumb chat room...There is enough power in the preaching of God's Word alone to build a church from nothing" (pp.77-78)

"I have learned that sometimes the most important thing a leader can do is to create strategic chaos that forces people to pull together and focus on an urgent need, thereby subtly getting rid of all their other missions and complaints in a subversive way." (pp.82-83)

"My answer to everything is pretty much the same: open the Bible and preach about the person of Jesus and his mission for the church." (p.86)

"We were deciding if Mars Hill Church was to be defined by the size of its mission to reach the lost or by the number of people we could gather at one time in one room." (p.94)

In congregational ecclesiology, "The staff and the pastor are essentially seen as employees of the congregation, to be fired if they do not meet the expectations of their employer, the congregation. As I studied the Bible, I found more warrant for a church led by unicorns than by majority vote." (p.103)

"Over the years, I've just accepted that if I do not quickly open the back door when God is trying to run people out of our church, I am working against God by keeping sick people in my church so they can infect others. Indeed, the church is a body, and one of the most important parts is the colon. Like the human body, any church body without a colon is designed for sickness that leads to death." (p.131)

"We learned that unchurched people tend to be the most traditional when it comes to church." (p.132)

"Preaching is like driving a clutch, and the only way to figure it out is to keep grinding the gears and stalling until you figure it out." (p.133)

"Slowly, the church will begin a cycle of decline unless it intentionally reinvents itself missionally to continue to grow by taking risks in an effort to reach lost people for Jesus." (p.141)

"The goal of the management phase is not to get the church organized and under control. Rather, the management phase is needed to eliminate the inefficiencies and barriers that are keeping the church from focusing back on the creative phase and creating a whole new set of problems to manage." (p.142)

Bottom Line - This book isn't for everyone. I enjoyed it, and saw it as a friendly and encouraging kick in the pants. If the above quotes appeal to you, then Confessions is a book that will help you in your ministry.

This book isn't for everybody, but it is for some. It deserves a medium recommendation because despite the many places this book fails, occasionally Driscoll hits gem insights.

Focusing heavily on the good aspects first, Driscoll's structure (chapters which focus on different stages of growth: 0-45 people, 45-75, 75-150, etc.) combined with the story of personally wrestling with growth issues make the book enjoyable and highly readable. I finished it very quickly, and I am not a quick reader.

Structurally, the introduction stands alone proposing a series of distinctions in Christian ministry today: some of them are helpful ("Will your church be attractional, missional or both?"), some of them are a step backward (IE - "Will your church be an emergent liberal church or an emerging evangelical church?"). Driscoll is highly gifted in systematic thinking which makes his ability to draw distinctions over and again a common feature of the book. This both helps and hinders his cause. Seeing that one can be both attractional and missional is an original insight which flies in the face of much thinking in emerging circles. On the other hand, his knee-jerk tendency to over-emphasize second tier issues and throw sledgehammers at Christians who do not hold to a boldly conservative hermeneutic destroy his credibility as a first tier leader of emerging churches.

Driscoll's self-analysis is quite helpful when he deconstructs the role of a senior pastor and redefines how he sees the vocation, for example, "I have accepted that I am not much of a pastor but rather a missiologist studying the city who leads a church filled with missionaries who reach the city with pastors who care for converts" (52).

His analysis of where churches focus their energies--dreaming, managing, justifying failures, and dying--is keen stuff. Driscoll encourages church leaders to never settle in the management comfort zone, but to consistently push the bar higher. If we do not, he rightly asserts, we are inviting stagnation or death.

On the downside, Driscoll is obsessed with his sexuality (a misplaced theme through out this book). He often comes across as the fundamentalist who annoys you most on CNN or Fox News: not because he is wrong, but because he has no tact. His tendency to demean people who have beliefs or behaviors he objects to often leads to dangerous overstatements. An example from the intro was that one's belief in hell actually has salvific ramifications ("I am particularly concerned with...the questioning of a literal eternal torment in hell, which is a denial that holds up until, in an ironic bummer, you die and find yourself in hell" (22).) I assume Driscoll doesn't think believing in hell gets you into heaven, but if read "literally" his statements leaves that impression. (Who, by the way, doesn't long deeply that hell doesn't exist? It seems that one of the marks of a compassionate individual would be questioning "eternal torment" even if at the end of the day your views look more like Dante than CS Lewis.)

But the book hits its lows when Driscoll starts swinging prescriptive ethics like a club, demeaning people caught in a cycle of sin or theological confusion. He thinks his banter is humorous; it is actually base and cruel. Ironically in the last few pages he feels compelled to put forward all his own struggles asking for sympathy. It seems to be the mark of a particular sort of bad man who fragrantly insults those wrapped in moral failure, then turns and asks for pity for their own sin. I hope I miss read him on this front.

Thankfully, most of the readers of this book will be mature believers, primarily pastors who will easily slide over Driscoll's over-exaggerations, self absorption, and straight out mean-spiritedness. If you buy it, cherish the good when you find it cause there is much to be discarded.

Jeff
healingmalchus.blogspot.com

This book had the interesting effect of making me laugh, wince, and take notes, sometimes all on the same page! At the end of the day, I could not put the book down. I was captivated by a transparent pastor's heart who struggled day after day to put Jesus before his city in effort to see many converted.

The book chronicles the life of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington where Mark Driscoll has been the Senior Pastor since its inception. Driscoll takes readers through the various stages of growth from a small broken down Bible study with "Indie Rockers" and "artsy" folks to a thriving megachurch of over 4,000 impacting one of the most unchurched regions in the US.

In his narrative Driscoll explains, from first hand experience, some of the gestational development of the now prominent Emergent Church. Driscoll himself was involved, and in fact a leader in, a movement in the mid-90's to mobilize missionaries to their culture, impacting them with the gospel of Christ. As this movement expanded and gained traction Driscoll had to separate himself from it:

"I had to distance myself, however, from one of the many streams in the emerging church because of the theological differences. Since the late 1990's this stream has become known as Emergent. The Emergent Church is part of the Emerging Church Movement but does not embrace the dominant ideology of the movement. Rather the emergent church is the latest version of liberalism. The only difference is that the old liberalism accommodated modernity and the new liberalism accommodates postmodernity." (p. 21)

So here Driscoll is distinquishing between Emerging and Emergent...himself clinging to the prevailing positives of the Emerging movement (missional, theological, active) while distancing himself from the atheolgoical wing of the movement (Emergent).

In many ways this book appears to be a living apologetic of the Emerging movement while distinguishing Driscoll as one of its most outspoken and able leaders. Perhaps this is why we see Driscoll speaking at a conference along with Brian McLaren, the outspoken leader of the Emergent wing.

In fact Driscoll references McLaren in Confessions:

"Although I sincerely love Brian and appreciate the kindness he has shown me, I generally disagree with many of his theological conclusions. Because he comes from a pacifistic Brethren background, such things as power and violence greatly trouble him. His pacifism seems to underlie many of our theological disagreements since he has a hard time accepting such things as the violence of penal substitutionary atonement, parts of the Old Testament where God killed people, and the concept of conscious eternal torment in hell. Curiously, it is also Brian's pacifism that makes him such a warmly engaging person who is able to speak and write about theologically controversial issues while being gracious. Ironically, my love for and disagreement with Brian are both borne out of his pacifism. But I find it curious that, from my perspective, he is using his power as a writer and speaker to do violence to Scripture in the name of pacifism." (p.99)

His point here about pacifism and violence to God's word is worth the price of the book. That is the type of silent violence that characterizes the neo-liberalism named Emergent.

I love the resolve of Driscoll throughout the book. There were resistance and trials at every bend and still God graciously moved the church and its leadership through each. In fact, Driscoll regularly attaches the growth to the respective trials. On one occasion Mars Hill tried to do concerts and preaching outside by the river and were mooned and flashed by boaters going by. This, according to Driscoll, increased interest in the community and ultimately attendance.

There are so many pages that are outright hilarious. The following is a quote concerning a worship pastor:

"I really liked Tim because he is one of the few manly men whom I have ever seen leading worship. I am not supposed to say this, but most of the worship dudes I have heard are not very dudely. They seem to be very in touch with their feelings and exceedingly chickified from playing too much acoustic guitar and singing prom songs to Jesus while channeling Michael Bolton and flipping their hair. Tim was a guy who brewed his own beer, smoked a pipe, rock climbed, mountain biked, river rafted, carried a knife in his belt, and talked about what he thought more than what he felt.

We clicked because I drive a 1978 Chevy truck that gets single digits to the gallon and has a bacon air freshener and no functioning speedometer and because I fashion myself as the self-appointed leader of a heterosexual male backlash in our overly chickified city filled with guys drinking herbal tea and rocking out to Mariah Carey in their lemon yellow Volkswagen Cabriolets while wearing fuchsia sweater vests that perfectly match their open-toed shoes." (pp. 146-7)

Mark Driscoll is definitely a guy that I would want to have at a barbecue but may be reluctant to have speak at my church...but ironically both for the same reasons.

Overall I really enjoyed the book. From a pastor's perspective it was awesome; refreshing and encouraging. The positives for this book are found in Driscoll's willingness to share the ecclesiastical lab that he has worked in for the last 15 years. Driscoll understands church, leadership and has a passion to reach and change culture for the glory of Christ.

At the same time I am reluctant to openly recommend it. Driscoll does use crass language throughout the book (which is alarming and curious in light of 1 Tim. 4.12 & Eph. 4.29), and so therefore I am not comfortable putting it on a top 10 list. At the same time, from what I have read in the blogosphere and its relative outrage of Driscoll's language, I think they have, in large part, overreacted and missed the many of the great points and lessons of the book.

Driscoll also sympathizes with Rick Warren, even crediting him with significant pastorly influence on him. This is not surprising considering Driscoll's continued affiliation with Robert Schuller and company at the Crystal Cathedral. This is curios and I do not understand why he is holding hands with these guys who are not straightforward about the truth of the gospel (Warren) and who deny the truth of the gospel (Schuller).

Driscoll also makes it clear that he is charismatic, even asserting regularly that he receives additional revelation from God, prays and speaks against demons (however, Driscoll does say that he does not speak in tongues).

As an aside, I look forward to the upcoming Desiring God Conference where Driscoll will be on the panel with conservatives such as John Piper, DA Carson & David Wells. I would love to be a fly on the wall when DA Carson and him chat about life and ministry and Driscoll mixes in a reference to Jesus as a dude....oh the diversity of the body... "Christ is all and in all" (Col. 3.11).

First off, I love the candor of Mark Driscoll in general, but particularly in this book. Sometimes he comes off as edgy and perhaps even abrasive, but it seems as though a bit of a softer side is displayed in this book. Don't get me wrong, it's still chock full of his trademark sarcasm and wit, but his pastors heart definitely comes through in clear ways.

I would label this an "emerging church growth book", which may be a paradoxical, but therein lays its beauty. Mark Driscoll certainly is an emerging pastor (not to be confused with an emergent pastor, which he makes a helpful distinction between, pp. 21-23), but the book is sprinkled with models and broken down by attendance, discussing things he learned as the church grew.

Perhaps the most [pleasantly] surprising thing to me was how "Boomer-ish" the book seemed, with even a Maxwellesque "Coaching Corner" every now and again, which were very very helpful. Driscoll is not afraid to admit lessons that he learned from Boomer generation pastors like Bill Hybels, Larry Osborne, and Rick Warren, and even the great business leader Rich DeVos (of Amway), and I think his generational humility (unlike many "emerging" authors trying to be trendy and anti-Boomer-principle) has served him, his church, and this book well.

In a sense this is a church growth book wrapped in a nice emerging shell, with his church growth tips coming as "confessions" rather than "principles I learned along the way", which is a bit refreshing, though I still love those books too.

Everyone seems to preface Driscoll reviews with "even if you don't agree with everything he says", or "though we don't see eye-to-eye on everything...", so I'll throw in my two cents there too - I disagree with him on the role of women in ministry (most notably), and a few other issues, but have an incredible amount of respect for his ability to be clear on positions and stand by his convictions. And God certainly is using him in huge ways.

The highlights of the book for me were:
1. The Missional Ministry Matrix (p. 41) - 1. Christology -> 2. Ecclesiology -> 3. Missiology -> 4. Ministry (then back to 1, it's cyclical). This section is worth the price of the book and should be read by everyone planting a church or starting a new ministry. Good foundational stuff.
2. His refusal "to be an employee of the church", and instead work for Jesus (p. 51). Also, this alone is worth the price of the book.
3. The "coaching corner" on assessing people who come into a church - a few examples: horses - "vibrant leaders who pull a lot of weight and run fast. Horses need to have character, sound doctrine, and agree with the vision of the church". He has plenty more, and they're extremely helpful (colts, fish, eagles, mules, cows, squirrels, stray cats, rats, sheep, ducks, wolves, and snakes). Seriously, I would buy the book just for this too.
4. His understanding and beautiful explanation of the need for hospitality in ministry (p. 126).
5. "Coaching Corner" again on the three types of leaders: opportunity seekers, goal setters, and problem solvers. This was the most helpful part of the book for me personally.

Very good book. I'd recommend it.

Reading most narrative resources on church planting is very much like trying to leave reality and live in a dream world. The inspiring but atypical stories found in books by Rick Warren, Bill Hybels and Andy Stanley have the capacity to make a church planter dream big, but they can also lead him to fall hard! Yet Mark Driscoll's latest work introduces aspiring apostolic leaders to the hard realities of church planting, as well as the glorious finish line that can await all faithful servants of Jesus.

In 2001 when my family and I began planting a church, I read all the resources that were at the time considered "required reading." I still remember reading about the Real Estate broker who found Rick Warren a rent-free home for a month and simultaneously joined his church. I remember rejoicing as I read about the rapid growth of Willow Creek, and dreaming big while reading Stanley's success story known as Northpointe Church. Six months later, with no building, no money, and struggling to gather a core group, I felt very much like the special needs student who had accidentally signed up for the AP calculus course. I honestly wondered what I was doing wrong, not thinking about the possibility that Rick, Andy and Bill might be telling stories of extraordinary moves of God . . . .the exception rather than the rule.

Five years later, that church which began as a vision from God came togetherwith an older, established congregation, and by His grace continues to worship on Parkins Mill Road in Greenville South Carolina. It has helped to birth two other congregations in the Greenville area as well, but not without almost killing me first! My experiences there taught me that while it is OK to dream big, reading stories about airplanes full of people coming to Jesus can sometimes produce unrealistic expectations.

Now I have the privilege of overseeing the work of church planting in one of the most affluent areas in the country, and God is allowing me to share my limited experience with the guys who are now doing the work. While I want them to dream big, and expect God to do big things, I don't want them to think that growth comes without blood, sweat, tears, demonic oppression, temptation, fatigue, and a host of other impediments. Now that Driscoll's book Confessions is finally in print, I have a resource that will help them see this.

In the book, Mark Driscoll chronicles the birth and growth of Seattle's Mars Hill Church. Each of the seven chapters details a segment of growth within the church, which began in Driscoll's living room in 1996 with 12 people, and has since blossomed into a congregation of over 4,000. Throughout the book, there is a healthy balance of inspirational accounts of conversion and discipleship with brutal honesty concerning the sacrifice neccesary to bring about such spiritual development. Not content to allow you to see only the present worship center after a Sunday morning, Driscoll takes you into his living room where 12 people gathered initially, into the upstairs youth room of a fundamentalist church with 70s shag carpet where the church met for a period of time, into his bedroom at 3 AM for a rather blunt and personal "counseling" phone call with a porn-addict, and even into his own mind as he recounts his personal experiences with sexual temptation, spiritual warfare, sleeplessness, marital discord, frustration, anger and fatigue.

The stories come to life in a way only Driscoll can communicate, and each of his personal experiences leaves the reader with valuable lessons that will prove useful during the church planting experience. As I was reading, I found myself consistently asking "where was this book five years ago?" After reading this work, I have come to the conclusion that either Mark and I are both insane, and the only two people who have experienced such things, or his experiences represent the "norm" of church planting with much more accuracy. While I admit that my sanity is a point of debate among some friends of mine, I will opt for the second possibility.

There are a number of reasons this book should be on every church planter's shelf. First of all, there is a very helpful introduction in which Driscoll asks ten very probing questions that will help pastors and church planters alike shape the vision of their church in a way that will glorify God. Affectionately entitled "Chapter Zero," this section deals with the balance between "Gospel," "Culture," and "Church," and seeks to pull the reader from thinking of church planting solely in terms of "attraction," to thinking missionally so that their church will permeate its community with Gospel presence.

Second, Driscoll is an unabashed theological conservative, and helps today's church planters not lose sight of the fact that our programming, strategies, theological understanding, and ecclesiological foundations must be taken solely from the text of Scripture. Driscoll also takes the opportunity at one point in the book to distance himself from much of the aberrant theology coming out of Emergent.

Third, as I mentioned before, Driscoll's story is a "real world" story, that will likely be much more reflective of the average church planter's experiences. Angry core group members walking out, theological heresy causing the resignation of staff, and immature Christians seeking to lead before they are ready are but a few of the experiences Driscoll shares that I suspect will cause almost everyone who has planted a church to say "I remember that!"

Fourth, interspersed between these brutally true experiences are stories of grace. Driscoll is careful to note that even in the middle of the toughest times, God was working to save people at Mars Hill, and the stories are moving to say the least. Each chapter is prefaced with a one-sentence testimony that reminds the reader of the work of God, even in the midst of apparent chaos. These testimonies reveal such things as:

-God saved me while I was living with my lesbian mom and my dad was in prison for murder. I am a founding pastor.

-I was a pothead until I got saved and now I am the president of the chamber of commerce and the executive pastor.

-I was not a Christian when I came to the church. Today, I am a pastor.

Finally, Driscoll is abundantly clear throughout that the success of Mars Hill is owed to God alone. While no one who has planted a church would deny such a statement, many books on the subject seem to leave the reader with the impression that "our church grew because we . . . .[fill in the blank]." To be sure, Driscoll relates the lessons he has learned the hard way in the hopes that others will choose a less rocky path. But in the end, Mars Hill is shown to be totally the work of God.

Two cautions are in order. First, his comparisons of congregational ecclesiology with Senior Pastor and Elder ecclesiology is an exercise in oversimplification, and assumes these leadership models to be mutually exclusive. His rationale against "majority vote" decision-making in the church is worthy of a strong hearing, but in the end, he throws the baby out with the bathwater by seeing "congregationalism" as synonymous with "democracy." I agree with Driscoll that the latter has been syncretized into the local church in America, but the former has Biblical merit, and should be given more careful consideration.

Another caution is that some will find the way Driscoll sometimes expresses himself to be offensive. Many reviews have already been written that chide Driscoll heavily for what is perceived to be "coarse and offensive" language that occassionally appears in the book. But in the end, I would encourage the reader to resist straining at this gnat so that you can be blessed by hearing the heart of this pastor-missionary.

Mark Driscoll is a God-send to the emerging church. His newest book is Biblically sound, brutally honest, and cross-centered. This will be required reading for any of our new church planters. I am confident that the book will encourage them to equip themselves for the task ahead.

This book was one that I was pretty excited to read. Not because of me wanting to be emerging or anything of the sort, but I just wanted to know more of the man who has been instrumental in turning many young people to Christ up here in the Seattle area. Although, I used to go to his church for a little while back in the early 2000's I still knew very little of Mark Driscoll or the history of Mars Hill.

Much has been written about him, mostly against him in conservative circles for his association with the emergent movement. I will tell you that this book does clear up anybody's thinking that he is still involved with the emergent movement, for he is far from that movement and mindset, which I was surprised of. The reason I say this is that he calls out Brian McClaren, and those in his circle, with their wrong views of Scripture

This book is the story of not just Driscoll, actually very little about the man Driscoll and more about the church Mars Hill, from beginning, up to the time of the book (2006) and even included some things they were hoping to implement. I actually came to this book very skeptical of his tactics and not knowing at all his "goals" in ministry. What I came out believing about Driscoll is a high respect for his love of the lost. This is evident: Mark Driscoll loves the Lord Jesus Christ with all his heart, soul and mind, and truly loves his neighbor as himself. I would hope no one would deny this.

As far as his "tactics" or "strategies" in place, I find them a bit edgy, and I think Driscoll would take that as a compliment. Driscoll talks much of having a certain number of attendees as his goal and he seek(ed)(s) how the best way to achieve these numbers are possible. He admits in the book that he spoke to many people on this subject, from pastors like Rick Warrren to people who study secular organizations. This part of the book is what discouraged me in that the numbers were so very important to him. What did not discourage me is that his goal was not to have "fluffy" Christians, but truly Christ following, missionary minded Christians. Which again makes me separate him from the seeker movement and people like Finney, from the Second Great Awakening.

Although I disagree with his thoughts on how to reach the lost, and even calls my method of handing out tracts "silly," I will say that I respect him that he truly wants to see true repentance from the lost city around him.

If you pick up this book you will be challenged to love the lost around you, but what I fear is the method that is taking place at Mars Hill. Some of his theology I have a hard time with (prophetic dreams) and also his courseness, not only in his jokes but also his speaking to those that he serves with and is called to shepherd.

If you are truly interested in understanding Mars Hill and Mark Driscoll, this is a must read that will allow you to understand him from his mouth not others. But, that does not mean that I agree with his implement strategies.

Over here in the UK the emergent church is beginning to rear its head, so it is a great relief to read the story of someone in the US who got out of emergent, embraced solid truth but built a church that is culturally radical. Reformed theology and Holy Spirit annointing - what an awesome combination! This book is also amazing because the story it tells has happened in such a short time frame. If you need some rocket fuel for your soul, read "Confessions".

This is really a tremendous little book - challenging and thought-provoking. You may not agree with everything in here, but one thing is certain: it will remind you that the church is to be missional, and it will inspire you to think creatively about mission.

Perhaps the greatest strength of the book is its solid alignment with traditional Christian theology, even as a book about an "emerging" church. This will cause those who have broadbrushed the entire emerging movement as liberal to think again. Driscoll solidly separates himself from emergent folks who are talking and writing as though postmodernism is what Jesus meant all along.

I highly recommend it.