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The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill

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The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill
Presentation
Hosted byMike Cosper
GenreReligion and spirituality podcast
LanguageAmerican English
Length60 Minutes
Production
No. of episodes15
Publication
Original releaseJune 21, 2021 –
November 10, 2022
ProviderChristianity Today
Related
Related showsInside the Driscoll Cult[1]
Websitewww.christianitytoday.com/ct/podcasts

The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill is a podcast that discusses the popularity, and later scandal associated with Mars Hill Church and Mark Driscoll. The show is hosted by Mike Cosper and produced by Christianity Today.

Background

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The podcast discusses Mark Driscoll's resignation from Mars Hill Church in Seattle.[2] Mars Hill Church was founded in 1996 and later collapsed in 2014.[3] Mars Hill Church had twelve thousand weekly attendance, roughly six thousand members, and twelve different locations.[4] The first episode emphasizes that pastors like Driscoll have a lot of charisma and natural speaking ability, but they lack the character needed to properly use those abilities.[5][6] The show focuses on the culture surrounding megachurches and evangelicalism. The show is produced by the evangelical magazine Christianity Today and it is hosted by a former pastor, Mike Cosper.[7] The show discusses Mars Hill's emphasis on church growth.[8] The show draws out the connections between Mars Hill Church and the Southern Baptist Convention.[9]

The show discusses how the Acts 29 network was co-founded by Driscoll.[10] The podcast focuses heavily on masculinity and opines that Driscoll's approach to motivating men is a form of toxic masculinity.[11] The show discusses Driscoll's Calvinist approach to theology and his emphasis on the need for men to stand and fight against things like feminism, LGBTQ culture, Islam, and secularism.[12] Driscoll is grouped with other celebrity pastors who have lost public support such as Ravi Zacharias and Bill Hybels.[13][14]

Format

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The series has twelve episodes as well as several bonus episodes.[15] In every episode, there is an interview with a guest from a variety of disciplines—historians, theologians, sociologists, and anthropologists—in order to better understand Mars Hill and Mark Driscoll.[16] Episode 5 included an interview with Dr. Rose Madrid-Swetman.[17] One of the bonus episodes is dedicated specifically to Joshua Harris.[18] The show contains interviews with Yuval Levin, Roger Berkowitz from the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities, and Russell Moore who previously served as the former president of the ERLC. There are also multiple interviews with a counselor named Aundi Kolber, Christian therapist Dan Allender, and pastor Timothy Keller.[19] Several reviewers have noted that the podcast's title and journalistic style resemble the true crime genre.[20]

Reception

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The podcast received four out of five mics from Podcast Magazine.[21] Concerns have been raised by Brad Hambrick of the Center for Faith & Culture regarding whether a podcast like The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill Church is healthy or not.[22] Trevin Wax of The Gospel Coalition, noted that "Christian podcasts in the journalism genre will stand in the shadow of this one, much like Serial changed the game for narrative podcasts nationwide" and the show's production quality has been noted by others.[23][24][25]

References

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  1. ^ Duin, Julia (July 27, 2021). "Covering Mark Driscoll and Life After Mars Hill: Why Isn't This a Mainstream News Story?". GetReligion. Archived from the original on July 27, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  2. ^ Kornelis, Chris (November 10, 2021). "What to Watch: Six Shows and Movies to Stream". The Wall Street Journal. News Corp. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on December 1, 2021. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
  3. ^ Rauwerda, Annie (September 8, 2021). "Podcast: The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill". Boing Boing. Happy Mutants. Archived from the original on September 8, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  4. ^ Jackson, Jesse T. (September 2, 2021). "Former Staffer Declines 'The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill' Podcast Invite; Slams 'Half-Truths'". ChurchLeaders. Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  5. ^ Close, Conrad (July 15, 2021). "Three Lessons for Young Leaders from "The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill"". National Religious Broadcasters. Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  6. ^ Doornbos, Gayle (July 23, 2021). "Character, Charisma, Hope, and Healing: Reflections on The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill". The Center for Pastor Theologians. Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  7. ^ "Who Killed Mars Hill Church? There's One Suspect Evangelicals Simply Aren't Prepared to Interrogate". Religion Dispatches. October 4, 2021. Archived from the original on November 6, 2021. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
  8. ^ Hagley, Scott (November 18, 2021). "Stop chasing the fly: Mars Hill and the problem of growth". The Presbyterian Outlook. Archived from the original on November 18, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  9. ^ Barkley, Scott (July 1, 2021). "'Mars Hill' podcast draws lessons for Southern Baptists on platforms, accountability • Biblical Recorder". The Biblical Recorder. Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. Archived from the original on July 1, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  10. ^ Pidcock, Rick (August 24, 2021). "I lived in the culture of 'The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill,' and there's one part of the story that's wrong". Baptist News Global. Archived from the original on September 27, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  11. ^ French, David (August 8, 2021). "Why a Masculine Ministry Rose and Fell". The Dispatch. The French Press. Archived from the original on December 4, 2021. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
  12. ^ Norris, Kristopher (August 31, 2021). "The Problem Was Always Bigger Than Mark Driscoll". Sojourners. Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  13. ^ Beach, Kylie (November 9, 2021). "The Chosen's Dallas Jenkins on fallen pastors, his imperfections, and artists in the church - Eternity News". Eternity News. Archived from the original on November 9, 2021. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
  14. ^ Eriksen, Av Per (September 28, 2021). "Podcast forteller om en kirkes fall fra suksess til sammenbrudd". Vårt Land (in Norwegian). Mentor Medier. Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  15. ^ "A horrifying 'true crime' show on the climate crisis – podcasts of the week". The Guardian. August 6, 2021. Archived from the original on October 2, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  16. ^ "Learning from the falls of Tammy Faye Bakker and Mark Driscoll". The Christian Century. Christian Century Foundation. October 22, 2021. Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  17. ^ "Andrea Sielaff Interviews Rose Madrid Swetman about The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill Podcast". The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology. October 1, 2021. Archived from the original on October 2, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  18. ^ O'Reilly, Esther (August 22, 2021). "Josh Harris and the Slough of "Deconstruction"". Patheos. Young Fogey. Archived from the original on October 5, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  19. ^ "The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill". ChristianityToday.com. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
  20. ^ "Podcasts can help listeners foster biblical worldview, see God at work". The Pathway. Missouri Baptist Convention. November 11, 2021. Archived from the original on December 2, 2021. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
  21. ^ Nevins, Eric (August 6, 2021). Olsher, Steve (ed.). "Under the Radar: The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill" (PDF). Podcast Magazine. Vol. 2, no. 7. San Diego, CA. p. 62. ISSN 2690-4608. OCLC 1140254648. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  22. ^ "Is 'The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill' Failure Porn?". The Center for Faith and Culture. Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. August 25, 2021. Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  23. ^ Wax, Trevin (September 28, 2021). "On 'The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill'—Surveying Our Souls". The Gospel Coalition. Archived from the original on October 5, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  24. ^ Atwell, David (August 12, 2021). "Editorial: My Part in The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill". Reel World Theology. Archived from the original on October 4, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  25. ^ Randolph, Jesse (August 12, 2021). "The Rise & Fall of Mars Hill: Compliments & Cautions". For the Gospel. Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
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