Mark Driscoll and James River

Appreciations and Criticisms

In case you’ve been living under a rock, James River Church had Mark Driscoll speak at their men’s conference last week.

They had a Las Vegas style conference opener: dude with no shirt swallowing swords and doing some pretty impressive pole climbing, all performed to dramatic music.

Mark comes out the next morning, his voice hoarse, saying he had been praying since 1am for the men’s conference because of how spiritually disturbed he was at the conference opener and some things surrounding it.

Mark proceeds to compare the opener to Asherah and how it’s a false Christ.

The pastor of James River blows a head gasket and screams at Mark. Mark walks off the stage. Chaos erupts. The pastor goes on a rant about Matthew 18 and how he needs to pastor the conference and that Mark was out of line.

Later, Mark and the pastor (John) sit down and reconcile on stage.

Here’s the clip below and my thoughts: