The Lessons of Mars Hill's Fall
Mars Hill Church closed on December 31, 2014 and by the grace of God, several new, independent churches were planted out of it. Romans 8:28 is clear that God uses everything in our lives for our good and his glory.
Again by the grace of God, the story of Mars Hill presents many lessons to be learned that I pray might help others. One of the biggest mistakes of Mars Hill Church was using a company called ResultSource. It deserves to be a business school case some day, but for right now, let's focus on the leadership lessons.
In April 2011, I joined Mars Hill as the General Manager and reported to the Executive Pastor. I had enjoyed the teaching via podcast from overseas since 2007. My family and I looked forward to attending and serving in the church that we had enjoyed from afar, a church that loved Jesus and preached the gospel. I looked forward to using my gifts and experience to further the mission of Jesus through the local church.
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When I arrived at Mars Hill, the financial books were a mess. During my first week, I asked the finance director to bring me the financials. He said he could provide me with September 2010 because they were about to close out the books for October. Financial reporting was six months behind. I thought, "How do they know how they're doing financially?!" The finance team handed me a bank statement. (If you are in finance or accounting, you just cringed as you read the last sentence.)
