I have been listening to the series on Proverbs by Mars Hill Church pastor, Mark Driscoll, for the last few weeks. I have been challenged, touched, and even taken aback a few times by the style of this preacher (he is not afraid to say outrageous things and speak his mind from time to time), yet I always find that he is speaking Bible truths in an honest, forthright way that is sometimes lacking in today's churches.
I hear that a good percentage of his congregation is younger (meaning twenties or so), and that at least half of them are men. Demographically, you might expect this, given that generally we think in terms of 50-50 in relation to gender, but if you look at today's churches,
you will often find a higher population of women, generally older members, with a mere sprinking of younger families (at least that has been our experience...you should move somewhere new ever few years and try to find a Bible-preaching church with at least a few homeschooling families with more than 2 children and a stay-at-home mom...it's not so easy).Young men (and women) are glaringly absent in many churches today. It is nice to think that the young people who attend Mars Hill are hearing bold truths spoken to them, and hopefully listening to the sound advice given (directly from the Good Book), and applying it.
Mars Hill is a conservative church, for all of its appeal to the hip, younger set in Seattle, Washington, and is considered reformed, and just charismatic enough to have a good time raising their hands and shouting, "Amen!" when the Spirit leads (Pastor Driscoll calls it "Charismatic with a seatbelt."). I have not had any major issues with anything I've heard so far, and as with all sermons, I examine scripture and hold up every statement made by any pastor to God's Word and see how it compares.
I started at the beginning of the Proverbs series, then moved on to the sermons on Men and Masculinity (good ones), and then the ones on Women and Femininity (on page two, if you are accessing from the main page). Be forewarned. These are not twenty minute mini-sermons. These are a full hour or more, and absolutely packed with questions, scriptures, challenges, and good humor. I hope you will listen to one or two, and if you do, please let me know what you think. Enjoy.
Blessings,
Heather
1 comment:
Thank you for sharing. I am just a boatride from Seattle, so good to hear something positive about a church over that way. We have also had the same experience here with churches. We seem to live in a two kid culture, which we see even in the church.
Recently we found a church with many large hs families and excellent teaching! I tell you it felt like finding green grass in the dessert. :)
~Blessings to you and your family. Thank you for sharing what is helping you in your walk with the Lord.
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