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Former Staffer Declines ‘The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill’ Podcast Invite; Slams ‘Half-Truths’

The former Mars Hill Church staffer also shared the letter he sent to Cosper declining to be part of the podcast. Dean said after catching up on all the episodes, that although they are very well produced, he found “the narrative is not very truthful, or helpful” and said he doesn’t want to be a part of it. Read Dean’s entire letter here.

“The podcast perpetuates the idea that complementarianism on its own is abusive,” Dean continued on Twitter. “So everything we did at Mars Hill was therefore ripe for abuse, and it doesn’t matter if any good came from it,” Dean wrote. “That’s not accurate or fair and leaves no room for grace. The show is littered with many false assumptions but they don’t present anyone who explains the other side of things. They’re just presented as fact with no cross-examination. Every guest so far is progressive and hateful.”

In Dean’s letter, he said he appreciated Cosper’s look back on Mars Hill Church because it is good to reflect on what happened and learn from what could have done better.

“The focus of the show so far seems to be asserting that Mars Hill was abusive, when that just isn’t the case,” Dean wrote. Speaking about the podcast, he said, “There has been little to no focus at all on the good that was done, and nothing positive so far.”

Dean said he feels like the podcast focuses solely on Mark Driscoll’s mistakes, and that although Dean was witness to many of Driscoll’s faults, he is concerned the podcast’s popularity could “spark even more shows that promote the failings of other churches.”

Adding that he is certain Cosper’s intentions are good, Dean questioned, “How does this show fit in with Christianity Today’s mission to ‘strengthen the church by richly communicating the breadth of the true, good, and beautiful gospel?’ ”

Related article: New Church, Similar Stories: Is Mark Driscoll an Abusive Leader?

Dean shared his thoughts with Cosper regarding episode seven, “State of Emergency.” He said, “So far, the majority of the people you’ve interviewed are feminists, or progressive Christians, or people who don’t even consider themselves Christians at all. One of the major themes seems to be that complementarianism in itself is abusive, which is far from reality. The show criticizes a lot of different issues, but nobody is providing ‘the other side’ explaining why we did what we did. It seems the thought is that it wouldn’t matter.”