The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill The Tempest
Growth Obsession Hides Dysfunction
- Growth obsession at Mars Hill led to relentless speed without roots, causing instability.
- This pressure to constantly expand masked a dysfunctional leadership culture beneath the surface.
Jen Smith's Challenging Experience
- Jen Smith spoke up about growing concerns at Mars Hill and felt ostracized after speaking truthfully.
- She was removed from ministry and faced isolation despite years of loyal service.
Jesse Bryan's Forced Resignation
- Jesse Bryan openly opposed Sutton Turner as a "hatchet man" replacing creative leadership.
- After refusing to back Sutton publicly, Jesse was forced to resign and then shunned by friends and community.
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
Executive Producer: Erik Petrik
Producer, Writer, Editor, Host, and Mix Engineer: Mike Cosper
Additional Editing: Resonate Recordings and Matt Linder
Associate Producer: Joy Beth Smith
Music and Sound Design: Kate Siefker
Graphic Design: Bryan Todd
Social Media: Morgan Lee and Kara Bettis
Editorial Consultant: Andrea Palpant Dilley
Editor in Chief: Timothy Dalrymple
Special thanks to Ben Vandermeer
Theme song: “Sticks and Stones” by Kings Kaleidoscope
Closing song: “O How the Mighty Have Fallen” by The Choir
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