Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church, Seattle, has arrived in Australia for a range of speaking engagements. Sydneyanglicans.net spoke to the hippest hero for young evangelicals and found a man "grieved' that the ipod generation might idolise him instead of Jesus.
"I think about Jesus a lot and hope and pray that I point to him rather than myself, as he is the hero."
So says Mark Driscoll " the man who is, by any measure, the latest and hippest "hero' on the worldwide evangelical scene.
If you haven't already heard plenty about "Pastor Mark', chances are you soon will. There is a rare buzz around the man and his ministry.
Driscoll, 37, is co-founder and pastor of one of America's fastest-growing and most influential churches: Mars Hill in Seattle. He arrives in Australia for the first time this month, and will speak at several major events in and around Sydney, including an evangelistic rally for up to 10,000 people at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, and Katoomba's Engage conference alongside Don Carson.
But in many ways, Driscoll is not just another visiting international preacher. His pending arrival is being awaited breathlessly by a generation of young Christians " like those he has reached in Seattle " who seem to view him as the great white hope. Essentially, he has achieved the evangelical equivalent of rock stardom.
Yet many others remain sceptical. Why does this man elicit such strong opinion? And what does the Driscoll phenomenon say about those who hold passionate views about a pastor and church planter from the other side of the world?
Andrew Nixon, chairman of Engage, invited Driscoll to grace the Katoomba platform two years ago, before his popularity exploded.
Although Nixon "100 per cent' stands by the decision because he believes Driscoll has "so much to teach us in Sydney about connecting to sub-cultures', he does confess some discomfort about the over-the-top adulation of Mark by some locals who don't even know him, their faith driven entirely by what they've heard on their ipods.
"I'm not sure that is good," Mr Nixon admits. "What is it that encourages us to listen to superstar preachers we don't know on the internet, rather than listening to the Bible teachers in our own church with whom we are in relationship? What about working hard at listening to the Bible with one another, and helping one another live it? It's a bit disturbing."
But Mr Nixon emphasises that the fault is ours not Driscoll's. "I've spoken to Mark and his staff a number of times. There is no reason to think that he has a rock-star mentality about himself."
Driscoll on Driscoll
Reassuringly, Driscoll is as uncomfortable with his growing fame as anyone.
"If someone idolises me then I am grieved that somehow I have failed to serve them well," he told SC. "Jesus is Lord, and as Paul says, pastors are simply his servants."
"In my family and church where most of my time is spent, I am just Mark and really not a big deal. My five kids and lovely wife Grace love me and never log onto the internet to see what is being said about me.
"Success, for me, is being a Christian husband and daddy and the ministry is an honour but down a few rungs on my list of priorities. Success for me is what Jesus, Grace and my children think of me."
Driscoll's ministry is eye-catching, if not unique. He has overseen Mars Hill's growth from a handful of people meeting in his home 12 years ago, to about 7000 people meeting weekly across several sites. Today, Mars Hill is regularly described as one of the fastest growing and most influential churches in America. He also serves as president of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network.
These facts, however, fail to encapsulate Driscoll's emerging reputation. Consider this: his weekly sermons " usually running over one hour " are downloaded by over one million people annually. The Engage conference sold out in 11 minutes, a figure that puts U2 to shame.
Culturally, Driscoll appears more at home among punk rockers than seminary professors, and usually preaches in ripped jeans and T-shirts bearing slogans like "God save me from your followers'.
Mars Hill's growth is often attributed to Driscoll's uncanny ability to understand and analyse pop culture. Ironic, then, that he is close to becoming a cultural phenomenon himself.
Theologically, though, he is an un-abashed conservative. He teaches the inerrancy of Scripture, the atoning death and bodily resurrection of Jesus, the reality of heaven and hell, and every other standard of orthodoxy.
He told SC his heroes include Augustine, John Calvin, Martin Luther, Billy Graham, John Stott and JI Packer " while also accepting that he is now a role model to others.
"Scripture says that leaders are to be imitated. So I hope to be a pastor who, by the grace of God and the empowerment of God the Holy Spirit, meets the biblical qualifications of a pastor and is therefore something of a role model.
"But because I am a sinner, I also aspire to be known as someone who is not merely a role model for his successes, but also a role model of humble repentance when I fall short of what God asks of me as a Christian."
A powerful and engaging speaker, he is renowned for his uncompromising style which, he admits, draws the ire of many.
"I have many critics, and I seek to learn from them, to find the truth in their criticisms so that my critics can become my coaches.
"I continually study Scripture and in so doing, become increasingly aware of my sin, shortcomings, pride and failure."
Sometimes portrayed in the press as a misogynist, Driscoll says his tough talk towards men is driven by a desire to see men "step up, take responsibility, grow up and treat women with dignity and purity", especially in his own church where around one-third of the women have been sexually abused in the past.
"Some have misperceived or misrepresented this as a lack of respect for women, when my entire hope is to have women treated with respect," he says.
"What folks tend to get right is that I am pretty bold, don't mind making mistakes, repent when I mess something up, and deeply love my wife and kids with all my heart."
The Rev Geoff Robson is formerly editor of Southern Cross and now assistant minister at St Andrew's, Wahroonga.
Does Mark Driscoll go too far in presenting Jesus as a "tough guy'?
Mark Driscoll once translated the word "sluggard" into everyday English for his congregation. "We call them single white guys who live with their mum, in their pyjamas, sleep between Star Wars sheets and blog about how the world should be part of their "pyjamahideen'."
It's comments like this that have earned Driscoll his controversial reputation. While he has his disciples, he certainly isn't short on critics.
But he defends his brash words to young men, suggesting he is tough on them for a reason. "I'm just the big brother giving them a wedgie for Jesus," he says, "That's my job."
Besides, according to Driscoll, the young men whom he rebukes are better represented in his church than in virtually any other church around the place.
At first glance it might look like masculinity (or the lack of it) is Driscoll's hobbyhorse. He's often reminding people that "sixty per cent of Christians are chicks, and the forty per cent that are dudes are still sort of chicks".
He regular tells men about the responsibilities and leadership the Bible calls them to have. It may seem like Driscoll has an agenda other than the gospel to press.
But it's more than a hobbyhorse for Driscoll. His push for masculinity is ingrained in his mission to reach the lost and win his city for Christ. He's convinced one of the main reasons men aren't flocking into churches is because churches are feminised. He makes this point in his book The Radical Reformission. "Tragically as feminism grew in America around the the turn of the twentieth century, the women's suffrage and prohibition movements, which were the results of a feminine piety that came to dominate the church, also flourished."
From the architecture, to the music, to the character of the people, he says churches are nice environments for women and young children, but certainly not for the truck-driving, pig-shooting, "punch-you-in-the-nose" type guy.
But Driscoll is not just trying to attract men to his church. He is trying to get them to repent.
A number of years ago Driscoll was bombarded by men unloading their struggles on him.
"Things were starting to get out of hand with the men," he says, "so I called a meeting and demanded that all of the men in our church attend. I preached for more than two hours about manhood and basically gave the dad talk to my men for looking at porno, sleeping with young women, not serving Christ, not working hard at their jobs, and so on. I demanded that the men who were with me on our mission to change the city stay and that the rest leave the church and stop getting in the way."
Driscoll believes the average bloke has been so influenced by our culture's image of Jesus as "a gay hippy in a dress", that they "need to be told they're dealing with the King of kings and Lord of lords". He claims he is just trying to remind people of the real Jesus.
However some wonder if Driscoll has gone too far. Brandon O'Brien , assistant editor of BuildingChurchLeaders.com, thinks the masculinity line taken by Driscoll is overstated. He wrote in Christianity Today that if we think Jesus has been portrayed in an unbiblical way, then the way to change that is to "submit ourselves to the Scriptures and let them discipline our preconceptions".
"Imposing qualities we consider masculine on an image of Jesus we consider feminine does not solve the problem. It only gives us a new problem " another culturally shaped Jesus, only masculine this time," he says.
Wollongong Bishop Al Stewart is chair of KCC, which is sponsoring the Driscoll event at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. He is also the author of Men: Firing through all of life and believes Driscoll does portray Jesus as he is in the Scriptures. He also appreciates that Driscoll "calls a spade a spade".
"I think Christian men in our country are in danger of just being nice rather than being loving and they are not the same thing. Driscoll calls on Christian men to be loving, not just sweet," he says.
One thing people won't be calling Driscoll anytime soon is sweet.
Joshua Maule is studying journalism at university and was an intern at Anglican Media Sydney.
The context: Analysis
He is arguably the most influential evangelical preacher in the English-speaking world. Yet many Anglicans over 40 have heard little of the church planter whose hard-talking style was forged taking the gospel to Seattle's famous grunge and punk music scenes.
The influence of Mark Driscoll on evangelicals under 35 is explained by the popularity of his blunt and irreverent vodcast sermons. His often funny throw-away comments can be shockingly refreshing from the mouth of a pastor or just plain shocking. It is this authenticity that makes him so appealing.
Firstly, his "walking on razor blades' style means he is willing to confront any issue in a street vernacular that you rarely hear from a pulpit. Mark's "high wire act' includes answering questions texted onto a large screen by his congregation live on-the-spot without preparation. For example: Is masturbation a legitimate form of birth control? He also put his 2008 preaching plan completely up for grabs, allowing punters to name any topic and then openly vote on what should be preached. The winning topics received over 20,000 votes.
Secondly, Driscoll is not shy at publicly repenting of his own sins when he crosses the line in a sermon.
Perhaps it is a case of a new style of Christian communicator married perfectly to a new medium.
Analysis by Jeremy Halcrow, editor of Southern Cross.
