“You shall know a tree by its fruit”

Does Driscoll preach the gospel?
Yes

Does the gospel bear fruit?
Colossians 1:6….” All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.”

Therefore-Philippians 1:18 “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.”

Peace to you as well
Steve

Sorry for lack of a proper emoticon to say “not talking about you.”

peace man

ms

I think your post was balanced. My son attends Mark’s church and it has been used of God to cause amazing growth and vibrancy in my son. When he arrived in the Seattle area to work for Microsoft he was far from the Lord…God used the ministry there to get him back into Scripture study, love for the LORD and for His people.

Someone commented that the church was not friendly; but my son has found the opposite to be true…then again my son is out-going. He joined a community group—yes, he had to speak to them twice about it , but they did plug him in to one.

Anyways, thanks for your balanced approach to Mark. I think any pastor would have problems to one degree or another if the spotlight is placed on him . Everyone falls short at times.

Of course, I also don’t care for any pastor or teacher or whatever that calls us to honor the wives, mothers, etc, but then tears about man, fathers, husbands a month later. And you guys and gals know exactly what I’m talking about. Just look at your congregations the 2nd Sunday of May vs. the 3rd Sunday of June. What does your pastor preach on?

Sadly, in the same manner, but without losing their voices, as Driscoll. And yes, I’ve seen this for years, too.

I wouldn’t say I’m a fanboy. I hated that he got so much PR from his renouncing of “The Shack” despite never having read it. Of course, I’m learning the same thing about Harry Potter and how much truth and the Larger Story are within that. Maybe Twilight next?

On that topic, I think he did a fantastic job with the ABC discussion of Satan and the realities of spiritual warfare.

> For the record, the “humble Christian”
> blogs do not usually impress me with
> humility, but with false
> piety.

False piety? *Now* you’re being a jerk. How can you accuse me of being falsely pious when you don’t even know where I’m coming from?

No, I’m not falsely pious. Believe me, I’ve been been taught humility MANY times in my life. Trust me buddy, when you raise yourself up on a pedestal, it hurts that much more when God knocks you down.

> I’m not about to become a timid soul.

Humility and timidity are not synonymous. Jesus was humble, but He didn’t have any qualms overturning the tables at the temple. Humility means realizing that everything you have: knowledge, power, wealth, etc. are gifts from God and not created by you. I didn’t ask you to be a church lady, I said we were interested in your opinion, and that alienating religions like Archie Bunker isn’t going to help your point.

I like a lot of what you have to say, but I can easily throw away the parts where you snipe at Catholics.

I may be lacking humility in my answer because I wasn’t trying to be humble. Martha and several other Catholic commenters occasionally trod into evangelical conversations and say their peace. I answer as addressed. And the favor is returned to me when I step into RC territory.

Martha wrote me via email and acknowledged our exchange. We remain friends and we remain very opinionated. That’s good for business and makes good friendships off line.

For the record, the “humble Christian” blogs do not usually impress me with humility, but with false piety. I could name names. So I appreciate an admonition to not be a jerk, but I’m not about to become a timid soul.

Monk – the undertones in your and a lot of your readers’ responses are coming across as a little patronizing to Catholics. Let me remind you that we are *knowingly* reading a blog written by a Southern Baptist, so please respond with some humility– realizing that we’re interested in your opinion. We all are here because we love Jesus and we’re looking for your insight. I’m not personally offended, but I do feel like you were a little condescending to Martha earlier, and I’m not even sure if she caught on to it.

In any case, your blog actually turned me on to Driscoll, and I watched one of his sermons this Sunday– the one about false teachers. I like his style a lot because (1) he comes across as a teacher and not as a condemner, and (2) he is frank in his lessons. Driscoll comes across as a real human being who is preaching the Word because he has a passion for it, and is trying to share it with the world.

That said, I’d be afraid that in a few years Driscoll’s passion might diminish and that he’d be just going through the rote. He preaches with so much fervor now that I’d worry he won’t be able to keep it up!

This is so very true. I think we all get our stuff from Amazon.com anyways these days.

It is Seattle, ya know..