The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill

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⭐ 8.5/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

This podcast is about what the title suggests, but also, as the host (Mike Cosper, who was excellent) suggests, is "a story about the mystery of God working in broken places." But make no mistake. This is an 18-part shit-talk session essentially about one guy. And how can I resist that? 20+ hours of gossip about a guy I always really disliked? And I can justify it by saying it's a valuable lesson in exposing toxicity? Sign me up!

This podcast does absolutely provide a ton of value. Just the history lesson on the American Church is worth the while, tracing the lineage of celebrity pastors and mega churches. It was truly fascinating.

Obviously there is a lot to say about leadership and the way a massive church corporation works. I didn't actually find the drama at the end that interesting because it's not like they were uncovering some crazy scandal. It was literally just a revelation that Mark was the same person behind closed doors as he was on stage. It wasn't that he was a hypocrite, but rather practiced what he preached: be an obnoxious, aggressive douchebag at all times. I honestly felt very little sympathy for those that were hurt by Mark because the signs were so clear - he wasn't exactly hiding it! To me he always represented the opposite of what Jesus was, so I had a hard time feeling sorry for people saying they were deceived. I had this guy figured out as a teenager!

With that said, now that my own church is going through turmoil, this podcast felt very different. Obviously tons to unpack there, and in the podcast as well, but it was definitely less laughs and entertainment by the end. Definitely had a weird gut feeling hearing about this church fold overnight, knowing the same could happen to ours.

Anyways, overall, this podcast is great. I definitely do feel like it was a little long for a one-man punching bag, but I appreciated the journalistic attention to detail. The last two episodes definitely dragged, and they shouldn't have given SO MUCH airtime to this Jesse guy who tried too hard to sound smart and got pretty grating. But otherwise the guests were great, and the host did a fantastic job pulling it all together. Definitely recommend this to really anyone walking in Christian circles, especially if there is a leadership aspect there.

Oh and the theme song? Absolute banger. 10/10. It's reason enough to listen to each episode. Mark should go into metal.

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