Mark Driscoll 'Crashes' John MacArthur's Strange Fire Conference? (PHOTOS)

By Alecia MacKenzie, BuzzVine Contributor
Friday, October 18, 2013

Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Washington state, made his way Friday to Pastor John MacArthur's Strange Fire conference in California to hand out copies of his new book, A Call to Resurgence: Will Christianity Have a Funeral or a Future? and presumably share his views on the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit — which the Strange Fire conference challenges.

Driscoll shared Thursday on his Resurgence.com blog in a post titled "IS THE TRINITY FATHER, SON, AND HOLY BIBLE?" that he would be in California for a specific engagement, and was aware of Pastor MacArthur's Strange Fire conference.

"This week I am in the land of fruits and nuts — sunny California — for Act Like Men in Long Beach. Rumor has it there is a conference not far away dealing with the person and work of the Holy Spirit," writes Driscoll in his post.

In the blog post, Driscoll writes, "Various tribes approach the Holy Spirit differently because each emphasizes a different aspect of his work."

Driscoll has said in a previous sermon that his church believes in speaking in tongues, a charismatic gift of the Holy Spirit, according to the Bible. MacArthur, on the other hand, is a cessationist who believes that such charismatic gifts are no longer made available by the Holy Spirit to modern Christians.

Driscoll has posted photos of himself talking with attendees at MacArthur's Strange Fire conference on Friday, where he did indeed hand out copies of his new book — until they were reportedly seized by members of the Strange Fire security team.

Handing out free copies of my new book, A Call To Resurgence, at #StrangeFire http://t.co/koXIzZTJS5
— Mark Driscoll (@PastorMark) October 18, 2013

Security confiscated my books. #strangefire http://t.co/mGccvXZwyK
— Mark Driscoll (@PastorMark) October 18, 2013

According to Mike Riccardi, the local outreach pastor at Grace Community Church in Los Angeles who was apparently in attendance at the Strange Fire conference, Driscoll was untrutful about his books being confiscated by security.

He wrote on Facebook:

Mark Driscoll openly lies about what happened at his publicity stunt at Strange Fire.
The director of the conference explained to Driscoll that those who are distributing books have gone through an extensive process and that they'd like him not to distribute them. After continuing to direct attendees to take the books, security offered to help him take the books back to his car. Driscoll insisted multiple times, "No, they're my gift to Grace Church. I want you to have them." After insisting that security not help him with the books back to the car, the conference director accepted the gift and brought them to GCC offices.
That's what happened. Driscoll's reporting of it in such a way is nothing short of lying, absolutely shameful, and unbefitting of one who would take upon himself the calling of preaching the Truth.

One commenter reading Riccardi's Facebook post suggested that the Mars Hill Church pastor had only been joking, writing: "To be clear, I am not a fan of Driscoll and have watched the entire live stream this week. Is it possible that Driscoll's Instagram/Tweet was a "joke", albeit a poor one?"

According to a tweet by another Strange Fire conference attendee, Driscoll might have been joking about the confiscation of his books.

My phone got confiscated at #StrangeFire by @jamesmacdonald and @PastorMark Nice meeting you guys! pic.twitter.com/alzPH5Yc77
— austintduncan (@austintduncan) October 18, 2013

See photos below of Driscoll outside of the Strange Fire conference.