“Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.” Psalm 25 ESV
This morning I woke up and read Psalm 25, mostly because it’s the 25th of the month and each morning before my feet hit the ground I read the Psalm for that day. I was struck by verse 8 as it reminded me of a song that I used to sing when our family attended Mars Hill Church in Seattle. I couldn’t shake the song or the verse, so when I got downstairs I played it as I got the kids ready for school. You can listen here.
I was saddened by the recent and not so recent events that have brought Mars Hill Church and specifically Mark Driscoll into the spotlight once again. I am broken over the sin, the hurt and the deception caused to many from the eldership of the church. In some ways it’s not surprising what has happened, but it still sucks (for lack of a better word).
Our family began attending Mars Hill Church in 2004, when it was just a small congregation of 1100 people. We attended for about 3 years in a time when our family was going through a lot of brokenness and pain. When I look back at those two years I see some of the things that caused the most recent events at the church, but I mostly look back and remember the healing and health that came into our family as a result of our being there.
In that place we met Jesus. Through the worship and teaching we grew, healed, and were prepared for what God had for us next. We learned how to study the Bible, how to empower and release leaders and mostly fell deeper in love with Jesus. We are thankful for those times and we have no regrets from our time there. Even in the bad and the broken their can be healing.
We just wanted to point out some of the good things that have come out of that church and hopefully will continue to come out of that church for many years to come. Thank you for the times where you brought the word of God into my life Mark Driscoll. Thank you for the times where you led us in Worship Tim and the other worship staff. We will continue to pray for you as you go through this season.
Peace.
“It is better to take refuge in the Lord than trust in man.” – Ps 118:8.
People, even pastors, can (and often will) fail us. Do not worry about man when he fails you, for our focus should only be on God and what He does.
thanks David, great word.