Paul Young, the author of The Shack, is a personal friend. After watching Mark Driscoll mock The Shack on YouTube and insinuate that Paul was a heretic, I asked Paul if he would be willing to come to Seattle for a live interview where Driscoll could say these things to his face.
I mean what wouldn’t I? Driscoll makes verbal threats like some tough guy and he makes them with ease. Plus he seems to love manning up.
Paul readily agreed to come and we set the date September 10,2010. We contacted Driscoll’s office and asked if, given the seriousness of his charges, he would agree to have a friendly conversation with Paul Young in front of a live audience who could ask them both questions.
Here’s an excerpt from an article I wrote at that time to explain this event:
“What Christians Should Believe” is the title of a series Pastor Mark Driscoll preached. If tone of voice and body language mean anything (can you say 93% of communication) Pastor Mark is decidedly irritated with Paul Young. In fact he thinks Paul is a heretic. In this short clip Driscoll lists 3-4 doctrinal issues Paul gets wrong in his bestselling book The Shack (20 million and counting). If one was to be as cynical about Driscoll as he appears to be about Young, one might wonder whether what Driscoll actually suffers from is B.S.J.- book sales jealousy.
We recently reached out to Rev. Driscoll and invited him to call Paul Young a heretic to his face. We invited him to quit hiding behind his project-a- pastor production and participate in a live event he can’t edit or control. We invited him to a civil conversation with Paul Young where Paul can respond in detail to Driscoll’s charges of heresy. We invited him to say to his brother’s face what he has said into a camera. We invited him to model for the non-Christians in Seattle that Christians really can disagree without being disagreeable. And we invited him to obey the scripture that tells us to do everything to protect unity. We made the time and place (Seattle - September 10th – 1-3 PM) as convenient as possible for The Reverend Driscoll so as to not interrupt his busy schedule.
This isn’t a debate; it’s a conversation. Please join us in this Draft Driscoll to Say it To His Face event on Sept 10th in Seattle from 1-3 PM. Join this face book page and tell Mark that you want to see him at this meeting for the sake of the kingdom, unity and the church’s reputation in Seattle.”
In keeping with his modus operandi Driscoll, of course, failed to man up even though he was in the city at the time. One hundred other people showed up and had a wonderful time discussing The Shack with Paul Young.
Unbeknownst to me or anyone at the time Paul reached out to Driscoll and asked if he would meet with Paul in private. Mark said, yes if you come to my office I’ll meet with you.
Watch the video for the backstory on that encounter
Next Time
In early summer 2014, Paul Petry, the elder who’d defended Driscoll at our first protest in 2006, got in touch with me. He wanted me to meet Rob Smith. Rob had been a deacon at Mars Hill since 2007 but had recently resigned his membership to protest what he called “the unjust” ecclesial trial Petry and another elder named Bent Myer were put through. Rob invited me to help organize a second protest against Driscoll. This time however it would be led and supported by many of the people who had opposed Paul and myself seven years earlier in 2006.
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