Following Mark Driscoll’s leave of absence and subsequent resignation from the Mars Hill Church network he co-founded in 1996, on October 31, 2014 a notice appeared on the church’s website announcing that they’re essentially disbanding and that the campus locations will merge, become autonomous churches, or cease operation. Already two locations (Bellevue and Spokane) have filed the necessary paperwork with the WA Secretary of State (SOS) to become incorporated as separate entities.
But even though they announced their plans to dissolve Mars Hill LLC, church leaders have yet to offer a detailed public accounting regarding the distribution of these properties and other assets held by the LLC. This process should be outlined in their bylaws but as those are proprietary documents, Mars Hill does not have to voluntarily disclose the information. In addition, as a church, they are exempt from the rules that require nonprofits to make their financials public.
So far the church has yet to address the status of the Mars Hill Foundation for Planting Churches LLC or the for-profit Resurgence Publishing LLC. Even though Sutton Turner resigned on September 19, 2014, he is still listed as the agent and member of Resurgence Publishing LLC, which is the entity established to handle the sale of Mars Hill’s merchandise.
While the process of amending the corporation documents can take several weeks from the moment the organization files the change, Turner has been gone for over six weeks at this juncture. Perhaps when Mars Hill files their annual report, due December 31, 2014, they will reveal the current status of their LLCs and those individuals listed as members.
Furthermore, the church continues to stonewall when asked about a myriad of issues plaguing both Mars Hill and Driscoll personally that have yet to be answered.
