The 43-year-old pastor of the controversial Seattle-based megachurch called Mars Hill will take a little time away from his duties. Mark Driscoll, who started the Mars Hill church in his home in the mid-1990s, grew Mars Hill to 15,000 members. Everybody who covered Christianity’s megachurch boom covered Driscoll’s work, which seemed–Seattle-style–to have special appeal to young, microbrew-loving, quasi-hipsters. (Albeit straight-laced God-fearing hipsters.)
But besides having some strange ideas about masculinity, Driscoll seems to have felt he was above the law. Now he’ll step down for “at least six weeks while church leaders review formal charges that he abused his power,” according to Religious News Services. The Mars Hill website posted a message from Driscoll in which he has his own long say. He mentions “a well-documented list of past actions and decisions I have admitted were wrong.” He says “I’m very sorry. I’m sorry for the times I have been angry, short, or insensitive.” And he tells his congregation that “God has broken me many times in recent years.”
