The Tempest

It wasn’t one thing that ended Mars Hill. It was one thing after another, after another, after another…

Mars Hill grew dramatically in 2012, and it seemed like nothing could stop the church’s ever-widening expansion. Pastor Mark Driscoll’s book Real Marriage released that January, hit The New York Times Best Seller list, and launched a book tour and a series of television appearances that brought him into countless new homes and churches. But in the next two years, the church would experience endless controversy, turn over almost all of their staff, and discover that no efforts at PR or spin could hide the rot of a deeply dysfunctional culture of leadership.

The second-to-last episode of this series is a two-and-a-half-hour look at those final two years, especially between October 2013 and October 2014, to look at exactly what brought down one of America’s fastest-growing churches, and how some of the characters whose lives we’ve followed in this series weathered the turmoil.

The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill is a production of Christianity Today

It’s executive produced by Erik Petrik

It’s produced, written, and edited by Mike Cosper

Additional editing by Resonate Recordings and Matt Linder

Joy Beth Smith is our associate producer

Music, sound design, and mixing by Kate Siefker

Our theme song is “Sticks and Stones” by King’s Kaleidescope

The closing song this week is “O How the Mighty Have Fallen” by The Choir

Special thanks to Ben Vandermeer

Graphic design by Bryan Todd

Social media by Morgan Lee and Kara Bettis

Editorial consulting by Andrea Palpant Dilley

CT’s Editor in Chief is Timothy Dalrymple

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