Text and Context Conference: Session 9, Mark Driscoll Q&A
For the final official session of Text & Context (two
bonus, Acts 29 sessions are still to follow–I’m looking forward to
Darrin Patrick’s session) Mark Driscoll scraped his planned message, Preaching Jesus Christ to a Pagan Culture, and instead lead a lengthy Q&A session. I didn’t record the questions, but below are some of the highlights from Mark’s answers. You’ll need to listen to the audio to get the full context for my notes below.
What stuck out to me the most from this session is that Mark Driscoll is a uniquely gifted man and that he’s a man growing in humility. Pastors, once the audio is posted you’ll want to listen to, but never imitate, how Driscoll goes about sermon prep (this shows up within the first 20 minutes of the session). What he does regarding sermon prep and how his memory works regarding reading and research is truly remarkable and rare.
For the last portion of the session, Mark’s wife, Grace, joined him on stage for some Q&A. Mark said this portion of the audio/video might not be posted, as he wants to protect his wife from any possible criticism, etc. If the audio from this portion is in fact posted, you’ll definitely want to listen to it.
- Mark studies all the time, but doesn’t get around to official sermon prep until Thursday mornings. He enters the pulpit on Sundays (he preaches 5 times each Sunday) with his sermon only one-third to two-thirds prepared. He comes up with the introduction, conclusion, much of the body, the humor, and the cross references while he’s in the act of preaching.
- "I’m always reading 40-50 books at a time…I don’t sit down and read a book…I read parts of books…I read very fast…I don’t know if I have a photographic memory, but it’s something like that…It doesn’t matter how much you read, provided you read the right stuff…If you’re an elder in a church, give your preachers a really good book budget…My elders have given me, basically, an unlimited book allowance."
- "Only about 2% of churches in America get over 800. Only about 1500 churches in America are over 2,000."
- Mark’s thinking for the future of Mars Hill is twofold. Option 1: when Mark retires (he’d like to do so in 40 years) or dies or gets sick, campus pastors who presently preach live 12x a year could begin preaching live at their campuses every week. These different Mars Hill campuses could even become stand alone churches. Option 2: Mark finds a guy to replace him who can take on all the preaching. But, this is unlikely (though possible) given what his job description/preaching load looks like, the depressing & dark climate of Seattle, and the unique history/makeup of this church and culture.
- "My gifts get out ahead of my character…what I used to get away in my twenties, I’m now pushing forty, what used to be cute is now damnable…I have a lot to learn."
- "Confidence and arrogance are very different…Arrogance is when your confidence is rooted in yourself."
- "I’m bummed out a lot of the time…Every gospel preacher fights despair…I get discouraged a lot…I was really convicted of C.J. Mahaney’s talk…the point that there’s evidences of God’s grace everywhere…I tend to overlook all that God is doing…I tend to get discouraged because sometimes I measure my own righteousness by the holiness of our church."
- Speaking alongside his wife, Mark said that though he gives off the impression he doesn’t need anybody, he’s really "a high maintenance drama queen of a husband." A while back he had to share with Grace how badly he needed her, how he needed her not to work alongside him in the church, but to have her primary ministry be to him–serving and caring for him.
- Mark feels like Grace tends to his soul well and draws him out with questions like "how are you doing?," rather than having "another staff meeting at home," debriefing everything from the work day.
