Shane Hipps Leaves Mars Hill

First Rob Bell leaves, now Shane Hipps. I'm quite curious as to how Mars Hill will recover and bring out new teachers.

Here is part of Hipps announcement:

Not long after Rob left, the Elders determined it was in the best interest of the church to restructure the role of the Teaching Pastor to be a full time teacher, which means approximately 40 Sundays a year.  In addition, that teacher would report to the Executive Director who would be responsible for the overall leadership of the church.

The original calling I accepted was to teach 25 Sundays a year, continue serving the broader church through speaking and writing, report directly to the Elders, and play a major role in casting vision. They acknowledged that the new role was significantly different than the one I originally accepted, but expressed a hope that I would consider applying for it.  I respected their decision and was grateful for their invitation to apply.

And so as I’ve done a number of times in my life, I set about the process of discerning that call.  Almost immediately I was hit with the sad realization that one way or another, my current calling was coming to an end. It took some time to get used to. I love the Mars Hill community and have been very happy here.

For me this was difficult because it presented me with a real dilemma.  If I accepted the new role, I would have to dramatically reduce my service to the broader church which is an integral part of my sense of call.  If I elected not to take the role I lose my grounding in a local community, which I understood as part of my sense of call.  Frankly, I didn’t want to accept either of those.

I came face to face with one of the most powerful and difficult ingredients in discovering call  — the role of limits.

For the rest, click here.

--Nick