Mark Driscoll (pastor)

Mark A. Driscoll is an American evangelical Christian pastor, author, and the former pastor of Mars Hill Church, a megachurch in Seattle, Washington. He resigned on October 14, 2014. In 1996, Driscoll cofounded Mars Hill Church, which as of March 2014 had grown to 14,000 members in five states and fifteen locations. He also founded The Resurgence, a theological cooperative, and cofounded several other parachurch organizations Churches Helping Churches, a church planting network called Actsand The Gospel Coalition. He has written for the Faith and Values section of the Seattle Times, OnFaith, and the Fox News website. Driscoll has also authored a number of popular Christian books. Described as an evangelical bad boy, a gifted orator and charismatic leader and hip yet hardline, he is known for promoting culturally relevant yet theologically conservative Christianity. He favors vintage aesthetics and a down to earth, yet at times aggressive, preaching style.

Driscoll was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota and raised Roman Catholic in the Riverton Heights area of SeaTac, WA, which he described as a very rough neighborhood where serial killer Ted Bundy had picked up victims. He is the oldest of five children and the son of a union drywaller. He described a difficult family history of abuse and crime, writing The men on my fathers side include uneducated alcoholics, mental patients, and women beaters.... One of the main reasons my parents moved from North Dakota to Seattle was to get away from some family members when I was a very young boy.

Source: Wikipedia