Pastor and author Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle wrote an open letter to Pastor John MacArthur on his blog on Friday, October 25 inviting him to join him for the Resurgence conference in November. At first Driscoll was very complimentary and grateful to MacArthur for his fidelity in his marriage, for his preaching of the Bible, for his consistency ministering at one church for so many years, and for his courage and boldness.
Driscoll visited MacArthur’s Strange Fire conference and commented on how gracious and welcoming MacArthur’s staff was. However, Driscoll said a few security personnel stopped him from handing out free copies of his new book and required him to remove them from the premises. Driscoll told the security guards they could keep the books as a gift.
Driscoll then admitted that the two ministers’ newest books, Strange Fire and A Call to Resurgence, had, as Driscoll wrote, “very different visions for what faithful, biblical Christianity should look like in light of a culture increasingly opposed to biblical truth.” Driscoll then explained the content and context of his new book and invited MacArthur to return the visit to Driscoll’s Resurgence Conference. He even offered to post their discussion online for free.
“I believe this could be a very profitable discussion, especially for young leaders who will be tuning in to learn as we model how to handle disagreement. In our day when online misquoting and Internet flame throwing hinder real progress, I truly believe we have a great opportunity to model a different way of dealing with important issues for God’s glory.”
No response from MacArthur had been given at the time of this writing.
