Tip of the Day: "Christianity is about Christ"

I haven't heard such good things about Mark Driscoll, so I'm a little hesitant to listen to it. Also, both you and the blog you link refer to it as a "rant", yet call it good. Usually, good and rant don't go together. Would you mind giving a little more info about the content?

Well, this is almost all that I've heard of him. I've heard mention about him and read a bit of that article that Alien Soil linked to, but that's it.

The clip has a little animated intro that makes me believe that yelling and ranting is part of his schtick ("I yell at ya because I love ya" Huh?), which bothers me a bit. There's something Kip-like about him that's troubling. Not that he reminds me of Kip, but that there seems to be a cult of personality that surrounds him. I wonder how long his church would survive without him.

That said, he seems to be all about Jesus and that's it. He gets that the church isn't about programs or structure or practice, it's about Jesus. That comes through in this clip.

The clip is funny and entertaining but there's some good conviction in there too. It's about paying attention carefully when it comes to who influences us. He talks about what he tells his daughters about the kind of boys they can be with (If they don't love Jesus, they aren't allowed in the same zip code) and he comes down hard on some kind of small movement to teach Christians about the OT by using Jewish Rabbis. His conviction is that, sure, he can teach us stuff about the OT, but he thinks Jesus was a good teacher and that he's dead. If your OT teaching isn't centered on Jesus, you're missing the point of the OT. Why listen to a guy teach us about the prophesies of Jesus when he doesn't even believe in Jesus?

I think his style is entertaining, but I think I'd tire of it week after week. The points were good though, and the combination of delivery and conviction was compelling.

I hope that helps.

Thanks, Doug. I will give it a listen soon. Re: Mark Driscoll, I've heard two things. One was about a book he had written about his church that Barnabas Ministry reviewed. IIRC, Engler said that Driscoll made some good points about how to build a church, but he was bothered by the occasional (subtle) attitude he picked up from Driscoll that people were expendable if they didn't go along with his program. http://www.barnabasministry.com/review-driscoll-confessions.html

Also, there is a web site called churchrater.com, where you can read and write reviews of churches, including your own. There have been ongoing debates about Mark Driscoll, with the biggest criticism being that his attitudes toward women can be somewhat misogynistic.

And since, as these two examples demonstrate, people's concerns are about him and not his church per se, then your point about the cult of personality around him may be valid.