Embattled Pastor Mark Driscoll Speaks of 'Death Threats' Against Family
Embattled pastor Mark Driscoll spoke this week for the first time since he stepped down from his role as senior pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington last week.
While speaking at the Gateway Leadership & Worship Conference at Gateway Church in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, Driscoll told the crowd that he's "cried a lot lately" after stepping down from his post at the Seattle-based megachurch, adding that at the conference he wanted to "sing, to pray, to learn, to grow, to repent" at the event.
Driscoll was originally supposed to be the keynote speaker at this past weekend's conference, but instead attended the event as a participant after stepping down as pastor of Mars Hill last week.
The former megachurch pastor detailed the trying time he and his family have gone through in the past few months, saying he has been forced to move his family multiple times following death threats and other strange behavior at his home, including finding rusty nails in his driveway and allegedly having rocks thrown at himself and his children.
"We've got five kids, three boys, two girls, ages 8 to 17 and, we've moved three times now for safety issues. People arrested at our home, death threats, address posted on line, all kinds of things and, more recently it's gotten very severe," Driscoll told the conference, as reported by Seattle Pi.
"We came home from break. There was rusty nails all over the driveway. We had a night where the kids wanted to sleep out in the tent and I got a call that my address was posted on-line by the media and so, we went out of town for a few days," the pastor continued.
When they did return from their trip, Driscoll says the family went camping outside one night, and "woke up in the morning about 6:30 or so and huge rocks about the size of baseballs come flying at my kids, 8, 10, 12 years of age. Call the police. Flee into the house for their safety."
Following at internal investigation, elders at Mars Hill found that some claims against Driscoll for his domineering and aggressive manner toward staffers were true, but formal claims of immorality or legality were false.
Driscoll issued a resignation letter to the megachurch last week, saying that he ""readily [acknowledges] I am an imperfect messenger of the gospel of Jesus Christ."
"There are many things I have confessed and repented of, privately and publicly, as you are well aware. Specifically, I have confessed to past pride, anger and a domineering spirit."
