In 2013, Mars Hill Church was one of the fastest-growing churches in America. More than 12,000 people attended every week. Fifteen campuses stretched across five states. Hundreds of thousands listened to sermons online. Its pastor, Mark Driscoll, had become one of the most recognizable voices in American Christianity, and ministry leaders across the country were asking: How do we build a church like Mars Hill? Then, almost unbelievably, it all came apart. By January 1, 2015, Mars Hill Church no longer existed as a unified organization. So what happened? Welcome to Season 2 of Thinking Faith. This season, Beau Chevassus and Jerry Chevassus are taking a different approach. We're examining some of the most fascinating rises, falls, controversies, and movements in modern Christian history—not to throw stones, but to ask a much more useful question: What can today's Church learn from them? Beau brings a particularly unusual perspective to that conversation. As a missionary videographer and founder of Knok Studio, he's spent more than 15 years producing thousands of films for churches, missionaries, and ministries around the world. That provides what he calls an **"unfair advantage"**: a behind-the-scenes look at what helps ministries flourish—and what can quietly tear them apart. And for our first case study, we're going just down the road from Beau's home in Washington State to one of the most dramatic church collapses of the last generation. Mars Hill Church. --- In this episode, Beau and Jerry explore: * How Mark and Grace Driscoll's small Seattle Bible study became a 12,000+ person megachurch* Why Mars Hill was remarkably effective at reaching young, skeptical Seattleites* How technology and the multisite video-campus model fueled explosive growth* The 2007 leadership changes that altered the church's accountability structure* The plagiarism controversy that brought new scrutiny to Mark Driscoll* The controversial marketing campaign that helped *Real Marriage* reach the bestseller lists* Questions surrounding Mars Hill's Global Fund and donor money* Why former pastors and ministry leaders began speaking publicly about the church's internal culture* The extraordinary moment when Acts 29—the church-planting network Driscoll helped found—removed him* What Mars Hill's own elders ultimately concluded about Driscoll* Why Mark Driscoll resigned rather than completing the proposed restoration process* How a church with 15 campuses unraveled with astonishing speed* And the difficult question at the center of the entire story: **What actually killed Mars Hill?** --- This isn't simply a story about scandal. Mars Hill did things extraordinarily well. People came to Christ. Marriages were restored. Churches were planted. Christians across the country were influenced by its ministry. There were also people who walked away deeply hurt. Those realities don't have to cancel each other out. That's why we're approaching Mars Hill as a **case study rather than a prosecution**. Beau tells Jerry the story, Jerry wrestles with the decisions alongside him, and together they ask what pastors, elders, ministry leaders—and really anyone entrusted with leadership—can learn from what happened. Because growth tells you that something is getting **bigger**. It doesn't necessarily tell you that it's getting **healthier**. And ultimately, the failure of a church or Christian leader is not the failure of Christianity. Our faith was never supposed to rest on a pastor, a ministry, or a movement. It rests on Jesus Christ. If studying the painful parts of Christian history can help today's Church build healthier ministries, ask harder questions, and avoid repeating old mistakes, then those stories are worth telling. Welcome to Season 2 of Thinking Faith. #ThinkingFaithBroadcast #MarsHill #MarsHillChurch #MarkDriscoll #ChurchLeadership #ChristianPodcast #Christianity #ChurchHistory #Megachurch #MinistryLeadership #ChristianLeadership #ThinkingFaith #MissionReconFilms #MissionRecon #KnokStudio #knok ▌ Produced by Knok Studio ▌ ★★★★★ Knok Studio is an award-winning nonprofit studio that mobilizes talented filmmakers and connects them with nonprofits that need media. ✞ Knok.org ★★★★★ ✙ ✙ Here’s Beau on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1ArLszRTPV/?mibextid=wwXIfr
