I just finished listening to Mark Driscoll's message that he recently delivered at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He mainly dealt with the beliefs of three main guys from the Emergent movement (Conversation?), Brian McClaren, Rob Bell, and Doug Pagitt. I think you should listen to what Mark has to say here. He is a gifted communicator draws some good attention to what many of these leaders hold dear. I think it's good to hear it from them directly to make your own evaluations, but Mark does a good job with his brief highlights.
His talk also shows that God has been working the virtue of humility in his heart in recent days as he is quick to confess where he has been wrong in the past in the way he has responded to these men.
You can get the podcast of the message here on iTunes.
Pastor J.D. Greear says this about Mark:
One of the most interesting things about Mark Driscoll was his love of theology. He considers himself in the "New Reformed" movement, which, as I mentioned in the last post, differs from the old Reformed in that a) they are nice; b) they look at lost people compassionately as individuals who need Christ and not just kindling; and c) they raise their hands in worship to songs, and not just songs on the cutting edge of the 18th century.
He is a ravenous reader, owning close to 5000 books and talks easily about any number of subjects. When it comes to the union of culture and theology, he is as knowledgable as anyone I've ever met. He doesn't yet have a completed seminary degree (showing you don't need one to know God, reach people, and grow deeply) but he is working toward one (showing that he values study and learning).
He told me that he has become friends with a number of the most famous "megachurch" pastors... many of whom are not really known for depth. He named a number of them who have asked him to help them develop that part of their ministry... for books to read, etc. He said that most of them are turned off from "doctrinally deep" ministries because they don't seem to reach people and criticize those who are. Mark said that rather than just using these guys as targets, some of the more doctrinally-gifted pastors might offer to come alongside these megachurch guys so that they might learn from each other.
Mark is one of the few in the country who embody both theological richness and evangelistic effectiveness, like a Charles Spurgeon. May his tribe increase. It seems to me that we so desperately need in this country a group of men and women who can readily apply the Gospel to the the massive cultural shifts and societal idolatries while being effective with and accessible to everyone... who can build "great" churches in terms of size and doctrinal fidelity.
1 comment:
Good stuff. Driscoll was pointed out to me only a year or so ago. He's growing on me a lot.
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