It is all about the Driscoll family: Victims of Mark Driscoll P/11

Read Part One HERE

In this post I will share the story of Chad Freese's abuse by Mark Driscoll, pastor ofTrinity Church, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA. Chad was in charge of security at Trinity Church before resigning.

Chad: "In one of the security meetings, you, pastor Mark, told the team that you are "the Head Coach" and no decisions are  made without your guidance and ultimate approval. You told the team if they did not like that, they could find another team. You went on to say the church is structured on your family's values and the security team is to support what you and your family believe. How about what God's values are and supporting what the Bible says?"

Chad: "At another meeting, you, pastor Mark, gave an overview of your background as pastor when you said, "I have the fastest growing church in the nation. I have the largest ministry presence in the southwest Unites States. My content reaches more people per month than any other church, and in December alone (2020) I hit over 10 million people around the globe. Every church in the valley is shutting down and I am exploding.It is miraculous how quicly I have grown." It was alarming to me how you talked about yourself. It was all about you. It was all about numbers. It was apparent to me that "It's all about Driscoll."

Chad: "At yet another meeting you, pastor Mark, went over a " Spectum Trust" with the staff, where you rated individuals on a sliding scale of 0-10 based on how much trust you and the church have in them. The higher level of trust, the more access someone gets to your family because you are at level 10. Once again is it all about the Driscolls.

Chad: "I have been told that the church cannot control who people can be friends with, but if people choose to be friends with those the church does not like or has fellowship with then these people can no longer be trusted and cannot volunteer or have fellowship with members of the church. The bottom line is: are you part of Team Driscoll, Trinity? I was surprised to hear that statement because my team is always Team Jesus."

P.S. This is my last post on abuse by pastor Mark Driscoll. In my next post I will begin to share stories of abuse by James MacDonald, (ex-) pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel, Rolling Meadows, Illinois, USA.

 

I might lose my position at the church: Victims of Mark Driscoll P/10

                        Read Part One HERE
 

In this post I will share the story of Luke Chase who was abused by pastor Mark Driscoll, Trinity Church, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA.

Luke: "I worked at Trinity Church as a worship assistant, and acted as interim worship director."

Luke: "While I learned a lot and did have some buffer of protection from worship pastor Dustin Blatnik who was my mentor and I consider to be a friend, my time on staff had its challenges. This problem was amplified once pastor Dustin was let go off and I was discouraged by other pastors from continuing to associate with him."

Luke: "The church leaders dictated who I was allowed to be friends with. There were some employees I was allowed to spend time with outside of work, probably because of their trust rating. Other employees I was told would be fired soon, and that if I were to hang out with them I might also be fired."

Luke: "On several occasions I was pulled into private rooms for disciplinary conversations. The infractions ranged from parking in the wrong lot to not being active with other worker when I had more important tasks to do. My supervisors resorted to cursing and itimidating me."

Luke: "I eventually resigned when it became clear that the abuse I experienced was not an isolated thing that was normal in the workplace, but a pattern of behaviour that goes far beyond what I first knew. I just couldn't continue to work for an organisation that required its employees to live in fear of being fired."

Read Part Eleven HERE 

My friends are not considered safe to be with: Victims of Mark Driscoll P/9

Read Part One HERE

In this blog post I will focus on Tiffany Eneas who suffered abuse at the hand of Mark Driscoll, pastor of Trinity Church, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA.

Tiffany: "Things were incredible at church until Trina Blatnik was no longer fellowshipping with us since her husband Dustin Blatnik was fired from his position as worship pastor. This was a massive blow to the church as a whole."

Tiffany: "One day my husband and I were approached by pastor Eden Fine. He told us that especially Trina Blatnik, was unsafe. He, furthermore, questioned my husband as a leader because he was still allowing me to fellowship with my friend Trina. He ended the conversation by saying that if we wanted to remain personal friends with him and his wife, the friendship between Trina and me had to cease."

Tiffany: "I then had a one on one meeting with pastor Mark Driscolls' wife, Grace. She told me that one of my friends named Mariya Kiforishin was dangerous. It was, therefore, better for me to not fellowship with her until her husband "leads their house better."

Tiffany: "At that time I let Grace know that I had purchased tickets for Mariya and me for an event. She advised against going and told me to give the tickets to Mariya to attend with someone else. I complied."

Tiffany: "The day after the event I realised what I had let happen to me. I had totally believed the lies.This is cult behaviour to manipulate people and friendships. I have apologised to these women. They are incredible friends."

Read Part Ten HERE

My friends have been dismissed from the church: Victims of Mark Driscoll P/8

Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to share Kim Thompson's story of abuse by Mark Driscoll, pastor of Trinity Church, Scottsdale, USA.

Kim: "We began to hear murmurings from people about Dustin Blatnik's mysterious disappearance from leading the worship. We heard that "he wasn't leading his family well." I found it interesting that he just disappeared with no explanation from the pulpit.I had never experienced that before. Normally when a pastor is dismissed something is said, wishing him well or explaining if there truly was sin involved."

Kim: "One time we had made dinner plans with another couple. The wife cancelled at the last minute and just told me that "something unexpected had come up and they could use some prayer." I did not see them for a few weeks at church so I reached out to her only to be told by her that they had been asked to leave the church."

Kim: "I began to notice more and more people disappearing from church. Then I heard stories about how people were told who they should and should not be friends with. We began to feel more and more uneasy about attending the church any longer."

Kim: "Leaving Trinity Church was certainly not easy. Looking back I see how the cultish aspects of Trinity Church really took a hold on me. Now that we have left, I have spoken to many more who all have very similar stories They are unique but have common themes to them - control, manipulation and fear mongering."

Read Part Nine HERE

I received a scolding: Victims of Mark Driscoll P/7

 Read Part One HERE               

In this post I will share the story of Kim Thompson who suffered abuse at the hand of  Mark Driscoll, pastor of Trinity Church, Scottsdale, USA.

Kim: "My family and I began to attend Trinity Church in December 2019. We knew a lot of what happened at Mars Hill Church but he seemed repentant and we had high hopes that he had healed from it all. We even bought it when he said from the pulpit, "Don't believe everything you read online," and "how evil the media can be..."

 
Kim: "I began attending the Flourish women's groups at night. Everything seemed perfect... until December 2020, We had the interns at our home for a sleepover when I got a call from pastor Mark. He was concerned that I had left the interns, including one of his sons, alone for 30 minutes with some other teenage girls at our home. I was arriving home from an event and got back a little later than I had planned. I basically got reprimanded by him. His first question was, "Is your husband home?" Bruce was on a hunting trip so he was not there. Then the interrogation began, I felt like I was talking to the principal after getting in trouble at school. The conversation ended with him saying, "We are coming to get our son." Grace came to get the interns and ended up taking them to their house for a sleepover. When Grace came into the house I told her how the conversation had made me feel. I even began to cry because I was so upset and felt so vulnerable due to pastor Mark's tone with me and the lack of grace shown in the situation. She was very apologetic and said that I would not have known their family rules etc and that they were "under attack" due to baptisms taking place that weekend, so they were kind on edge. (I now see that this is the tactic used when they sin against someone, it is all "spiritual attack." A convenient way to not deal with their bad behaviour). I did expect an email from him at least apologising for how it was handled. I now see why that was a ridiculous expectation."

P.S. I will continue the story on Kim Thompson's abuse at the hand of Mark Driscoll, pastor of Trinity Church, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA, in the next blog post.

Read Part Eight HERE

I was told Satan leads my home: Victims of Mark Driscoll P/6

Read Part One HERE
 

In this post I will share the story of Jolie Monea's abuse at Mark Driscoll's Church, Trinity Church, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA.

When Mark Driscoll started Trinity Church Jolie Monea began to serve. She served on the creative team and taught a women's study on Daniel. However, when Jolie refused to submit her teachings to pastor Mark Driscoll's wife,Grace Driscoll for approval, Grace began edging her out of a teaching role.

Jolie said she then got an opportunity to teach women at another church which she communicated to Grace. Jolie said that Grace told her she was going "outside the family business and that is disloyalty and so... I cannot have you in leadership anymore."

Then one Sunday morning, Jolie said Driscoll mentioned in a sermon that either the husband is leading the home or Satan is. "We sat in the front row... and it felt very targeted at me," Jolie said. "Like, your husband isn't leading well. Your husband commutes and he is not there and you are taking charge." Her family left Trinity Church after that event.

Since then Jolie has taken the time to invite people into their  home, listen to their stories of hurt and abuse and does her best to love them and stand with them. Because of her choice to publicly stand with the hurting and open up her home to people, her home is now considered unsafe by Trinity Church.

Read Part Seven HERE

I was cut off from my church friends: Victims of Mark Driscoll P/5

Read Part One HERE

In  this post I will share a personal story of a woman named Kailea who was abused by pastor Mark Driscoll when she was a member of Mars Hill Church, Seattle, Washington, USA.

Here is Kailea'story in her own words:

"You'll hear this a million times: If you don't submit, you are prideful and rebellious," says ex-Mars Hill member Kailea. Though she was raised in a strict evangelical household, many of Mars Hill's views - especially those regarding gender -  never sat well with her. Nevertheless, Kailea started attending Mars Hill in high school since it was the cool church to go to. "I liked that there were a lot of people smoking outside," Kailea says. "The pastors were giving each other beer for Christmas."

When she turned 18 Kailea became a member along with her boyfriend Jeff whome she married shortly after. Mars Hill's emphasis on traditional gender roles began to strain their relationship. "Jeff felt like he was failing as a leader. I felt like I just couldn't submit enough." At the time Kailea was working as a manager at a coffee shop and Jeff was staying home to take care of the kids. "There was a lot of pressure to change that." The couple started going to marriage counseling with one of the pastors, who continually suggested that all their marital problems were rooted in their denial of their God-given roles. "No matter what we told him, that became what our issue was,"Kailea says.

She eventually quit her job and Jeff started working as a manager at a hardware store. Their relationship continued to detoriate, and when she confessed an infidelity to Jeff, the church leaders took action, drawing up "a spiritual discipline contract" for Kailea.It promised, among other things, that she and Jeff would move back in together immediately, and that she would stop seeing her therapist, who was unaffiliated with Mars Hill. When Kailea refused to sign, she was kicked out of the church. The leadership posted a letter on the church's member website asking her friends to stop contacting her, and she has not heard from a single one of them since.

Kailea's story echoes dozens of testimonies from former Mars Hill members.

P.S. In my next post I will begin to focus on the abuse in pastor Mark Driscoll's new church, Trinity Church, Scotsdale, Arizona, USA,

Read Part Six HERE