“We’re married in God’s eyes.” No, God’s eyes are blazing fire… you’re not married in his eyes, your kindling.”

If you haven’t been offended by him, you probably haven’t heard of him. Mark Driscoll, who used to be nicknamed ‘The Cussing Pastor’, lives by this philosophy:

‘If Jesus says it, I’m gonna stick it in your face. Get used to it,’

He’s definitely not your traditional pastor. He preaches unshaven, wearing jeans and a t-shirt that says ‘Jesus watches you smoke weed’.

“I like having a beard — ’cause I grow one every 37 seconds. … I’m like a freaking chia pet.”

His church, Mars Hill Church, has just begun services in a nightclub. The music takes an indie-rock flavor. Two bouncers flank the stage. With tight, black T-shirts and folded arms that accentuate their biceps, they stare down the congregation. Not everyone likes him. Mark has occasionally preached in a bulletproof vest following death threats. Once a man wielding a knife stormed the stage.

“Go home! Enjoy yourselves! Eat good food, but don’t be a glutton. Drink good wine, but don’t get drunk. Chase your spouse around, but don’t be perverted… unless they like it.
…
uh, that was probably too much. I’m going to pray now before I get myself fired.”

Despite living in the ’second most unchurched city in America’ where there are more dogs than Christians, despite his offensive jokes, despite the disapproval of more traditional church leaders, it seems people are flocking to hear Mark Driscoll. People arrive early to save seats for their friends. At the Good Friday services, hundreds who couldn’t get seats stood in the carpark and listened on speakers. Why do they come?

“Jesus’ mom was a poor, unwed teenage girl who was mocked for claiming she conceived via the Holy Spirit. Most people thought she concocted a crazy story to cover the ‘fact’ she was knocking boots with some guy in the backseat of a car at the prom”

One reason is that he’s damn funny. Critics have said he could have been a stand-up comedian.

“You grow up in the church, and for years and years you hear that SEX is dirty, SEX is wrong, SEX is nasty, SEX is evil, SEX is inappropriate … so save it for your WIFE.”

He isn’t afraid to tackle the tough issues head on, stick to the hard truths, and he doesn’t care who he offends in the process.

And he’s coming to the Central Coast. Stay tuned.

I’m approaching my second rebirthday! Hooray!

I’ve gone through various periods: immediate joy and fulfillment, and release from guilt. About the same time, periods of incredible change as God conquered sin in my life. Later, struggles with sin and then seasons of repentance. And then rapid growth in knowledge and joy.

My latest season has been going for a few months now: spiritual adolescence (term stolen from ‘Boundaries Before Marriage’). Adolescence is a period of rebellion and discovery. While still going through many of the things above, I’ve found the last few months to be times of questioning and challenging what I’ve always been told. I want to know why I believe that, and whether or not it is true and justifiable.

Questions I have had answered in the past, like ‘Can we trust the Bible?’, have resurfaced as I feel the need for intellectually deeper answers. I’ve also had questions about doctrines, such as their Biblical bases and, often, the difficulty of accepting them.

I think its a good period. It would be intellectually dishonest of me to just accept everything I was told. Even more, as I search and find strong, valid, convincing, and satisfying answers, my faith is depened.

 Mature Christians, what is the best way to approach this period? Does it end?

I felt really discouraged on Tuesday. God had withdrawn from me a little bit to teach me to trust Him, and I’d been disobedient (and so felt guilty).
Praise God for people like Paul Washer, who spoke truth to me and reminded me of God’s incredible grace and that God loves me just as much on the bad days. I’m forgiven!

This morning I started dancing in the kitchen while cleaning up lunch. Its the joy of Christ!

Hello World! Long time no see, I hear you say. What happened?

Uni happened. O-Week happened. Not having the internet happened. College life happened. Having work to do happened.
New friends to get to know, endless (no, seriously, endless) partying, more clubs and societies to join than you can poke a stick at. And of course, I still wanted to keep reading lots of books, going to church, and now I like to spend lots of time catching up with old friends.

 You know that awkward feeling when you start something and then get interupted in the middle, and you know you should go back to it but you don’t want to because you half can’t remember what it was in the first place and because you’re discouraged and because there are loads of new exciting things to do? Or is that just me?

A few weeks ago, the debate was pimping in the comments on TCA. HH, Michelle, and I were throwing around arguments like powerful, logical hot pototatoes. And then uni started. So I appologise to you guys, I’ll definitely get around to reading and responding to your comments.

But for now, the fun of real life takes priority over writing half-baked posts to 3 people
I thought I might retire, but VK kindly convinced me to drop the ‘re’. From now on, TCA is officially ‘tired’: I’ll post less often, and won’t spend as much time in debates.

 I hope you will be able to forgive me,
Hayesy

 p.s. I feel like dancing! It’s the love of Jesus Christ, and it rocks!