Disturbing Trends, Mark Driscoll, This . . . at Church?

Mark Driscoll, Dan Kellogg and Gold Creek Community Church’s Rap

Julie Anne

Gold Creek Community Church, Pastor Dan Kellogg, Mark Driscoll and church rap and twerk video

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Twerking

Twerking outside of church
Twerking outside of church

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Why would a pastor invite someone he didn’t even know personally – someone with a bad public reputation as an abuser – to come and speak to his church?

It’s all becoming crystal clear about Gold Creek Community Church. Ann’s comment yesterday made a lot of sense and might help explain why Mark Driscoll was invited:

Mark Driscoll, Gold Creek Community Church, Pastor Dan Kellogg

Now, take a look at this video. What are they advertising? Do you hear anything about Christ mentioned?

This is a call to get people “back to church,” in other words, into their building for what????  So you can be a part of what? What is this? What are they advertising?

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Loosely transcribed rap song:

“Get Yourself (Back To Church)”

Hey, we’re making some noise in the 4-2-5, and the 2-0-6 and even the 3-6-0.

We’ve been playing all summer going here and there,

Not worrying about nothin, not even a care

But the summer’s winding down, and the end’s in sight,

Things are about to get normal, things about to get right.

Been camping in the rain in Deception Pass,

You’ve been sunning yourself in the Leavenworth grass,

Did the little summer hike to the Rainier peak,

Went to concerts in the street and an ___[???]_____

We’ve been working hard at the GC church, making plans for the fall at the GC church,

it’s going to be epic, gotta write this down, won’t want to miss church, gotta stay in town.

Chorus:
Get yourself, BACK TO CHURCH

Get yourself, BACK TO CHURCH

Get your big bad self, BACK TO CHURCH

Get yourself back to the Creek

Listen to the flow at the Creek. Oh yea, oh yea. Get yourself back to the Creek.

We’ve got a brand new series in the fresh kids zone,

Rockin’ the big top, won’t want to stay home,

From the tweens j high to the upper class,

We’re so polished up, it will cut like glass

Where’re my kids at? Where’re my kids at? Where’re my kids at? Where’re my kids at? Where’re my kids at? No seriously, where are my kids?

Get yourself, BACK TO CHURCH

Get yourself, BACK TO CHURCH

Get your big bad self, BACK TO CHURCH

Listen to the flow at the creek.

Events are planned so you gotta be there,

Special speakers are booked, breathe the fresh air

Events’ll be crackin’ like you’ve never seen,

The fall will be rollin’ with a brand new sheen,

We’re revving up the adult domain,

Sermon’s getting better, never be the same

Kickin’ up the worship, you won’t want to miss,

new video guy rockin’, his name is Chris.

Get yourself, BACK TO CHURCH

Get yourself, BACK TO CHURCH

Get your big bad self, BACK TO CHURCH

Listen. .  (BACK TO CHURCH) to the flow at the Creek, oh yea, oh yea,

Get yourself (BACK TO CHURCH) back to the Creek. Listen. Listen.

Get yourself (BACK TO CHURCH) back to the Creek. Oh yea.

Get yourself back to the Creek. Get yourself . . Get yourself. Get yourself back to the Creek, oh yea.

***

I also wanted to make sure this is in a blog post: Gold Creek Community Church does not like you disagreeing with them in a public forum. They don’t even entertain gracious and heartfelt comments like the Facebook comment posted below. I became aware that several people had commented at Pastor Dan Kellogg’s blog Facebook page and the comments were removed, so I posted a note that I had the screenshot and would be posting it on my blog if it was removed. That did not seem to deter him, as both comments were removed within a couple of hours:

Markdriscoll1

36 thoughts on “Mark Driscoll, Dan Kellogg and Gold Creek Community Church’s Rap”

  1. Do you know what that rap video screams out to me?

    “Hey look. We’re from an affluent church and we’re appropriating – and making fun of – a music genre created by really poor people who live in a much different segment of society than we do. Aren’t we clever? Our church is where you belong if you too are affluent (or just want to hang out with affluent people) and you like making fun of people.”

    Sorry, but that brand of “humor” is no better than blackface minstrel shows.

    Liked by 5 people

  3. Well, judging by this commercial, I would have to conclude that Jesus is not important at this church, since He’s never mentioned, but their many programs and OMG SO COOL WORSHIP are.

    HOW are mainline churches dying when this is the alternative?

    Liked by 1 person

  4. I could only stand to watch/listen to about one half of it.

    (Whoever was able to sit through the whole thing and watch it repeatedly to transcribe the lyrics for us, you are a brave soul.)

    Tim’s take on this could be right or true, but I also think it’s a case of older people trying to maybe appeal to teens and coming across as lame in the process.

    Does anyone remember
    Ed Young Jr Raps in video (video on You Tube)

    Notice that the guy in the GC rap video and Ed Young Jr are both wearing the same bling – large dollar sign pendant. They can’t even come up with something original, they copy off each other.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. creep-o-meter
    “A meter to determine how much of a creeper you are on facebook and/or twitter” & I will add You Tube.

    What a bunch of creeps, seriously, do they think they are funny or hip? Their video is going to draw so many people back to church, NOT. Anyone with any degree of intelligence is going to watch that & think what is wrong with these old farts?

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Oh my heavens. I wonder why Christians are so efficient at making fools of themselves? Dante should have made a level dedicated to buffoons.

    On a brighter note, I read the line about “cut like glass” as “cut like grass” the first few times. I spent three or four minutes trying to figure out if that was some kind of new Christianese trendy phrase! Incidentally, I have had a grass cut before. They are annoying, but they certainly aren’t formidable.

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  9. I would bet that they showed this during the worship service. And everyone thought it was hilarious. Unfortunately I’ve seen too many of these in my life.

    Liked by 2 people

  11. The 3:05 minute mark…that really didn’t happen, did it? I just imagined that, right? Can someone confirm what I saw? I think my eyes are playing tricks on me because it’s bad enough when young people do that…but an older/middle aged man in an advert to get people to come to their church? I think for one of the first times in my commenting life, I’m speechless.

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  13. Daisy and WH, interesting you bring up Weird Al, a family favorite–he seems to everything the wannabes here and elsewhere in Gospel Gitterati Circles are not:

    Legitimately brilliant (intellectual creds were not an honorary gift or the product of some intellectually constipated Bible college or seminary–H.S. Valedictorian at 16, Cal Tech graduate)

    Talented, earned fame through merit

    Seems genuinely self-effacing

    Clearly able to see through organizational and corporate crap and phoniness

    Purportedly a Christian (and actually seems to demonstrate some fruits thereof)

    Liked by 2 people

  14. Y’all can pray for me. I transcribed it. I’m a musician, and weird rap tunes get stuck in my brain which is not helpful when I need to study. I think it’s time to put on background music to bleach/drown out the rap noise in my head.

    Liked by 2 people

  16. Tim said,

    When Weird Al does those parodies, he asks permission from the original artist. Then he puts his amazing talent into it.

    And Weird Al is, from the start of the song, admitting he’s white and nerdy. I appreciate the honesty in the song. 🙂

    Re: Truth Detector
    I agree. He seems like a genuinely nice person. I had not heard if he was a Christian or not, that is interesting.

    Like

  18. Someone at the other blog posted this:
    _Wolves, “Sheepdogs,” and the Gospel of Leviathan
    _

    It mentions the awful rap video, it also has photos of Rev. Kellog Corn Flakes on stage in what appears to be a sheriff deputy’s uniform – at least I assume that’s hime – (someone said he worked as the local police chaplin), and this:

    A few years earlier, during a six-week series entitled “Permanent Ink,” Kellogg invited a tattoo artist on stage inscribe body art on member of the congregation.

    I’m not against people getting tattoos, but it seems out of place to have people getting tats on stage during a church service. It sounds gimmicky and weird.

    When he was dressed as a cop during one service:

    During a recent Sunday service described by a congregant as a ceremony of “police worship,” Kellogg led the congregation in a ritual during which each of them raised his hand and recited the following oath:

    I pledge to do my best to follow the law.
    I pledge to thank a police officer for their [sic] service.
    I pledge to call 911 if I see someone suspicious in my neighborhood.
    (etc)

    …“They were telling people to basically worship government and worship police no matter what,” the astounded and horrified church visitor…

    Just weird.

    Liked by 1 person

  19. You don’t have to look very hard on the net to see this church is all about branding. They have had a tattooing service in the past and not long ago they were an irritant to the community. The music was so loud in this suburban area that the sheriff had to come out multiple times. I don’t know if this issue was ever resolved. So much for getting along with your neighbors. It seems this church likes to court contraversy to get attention. There is nothing wrong with being cutting edge, except when Christ is secondary and becomes irrelevant to the message.

    Liked by 2 people

  20. Just a heads up: that “rap” video was posted on YouTube 2 years ago. I totally get what you’re saying, and it’s a valid point, but this article alluded to the idea that this video just went up after Mark put his stamp of approval on GCCC so former mars hillians would flood in. I agree with your point, but the way you chose to present this feels misleading. Any thoughts?

    Liked by 1 person

  21. You’re right, jack, and I did see the date and failed to mention it in my post (I had planned to). I don’t know that the date makes any difference. They have established themselves as a church that wants to drum up business, whether that be through rap music, twerking, or by inviting an unrepentant and abusive pastor to their podium (again, without even meeting him personally). That really says it all for me.

    Like

  22. Julie Anne said,
    “whether that be through rap music, twerking, or by inviting an unrepentant and abusive pastor to their podium”

    And don’t forget the tats on stage during church services. (I posted about that above, with a link). His church has had people get tattoos during services.

    Like

  23. @Tim:

    Do you know what that rap video screams out to me?

    “Hey look. We’re from an affluent church and we’re appropriating – and making fun of – a music genre created by really poor people who live in a much different segment of society than we do. Aren’t we clever? Our church is where you belong if you too are affluent (or just want to hang out with affluent people) and you like making fun of people.”

    There’s a word for this kind of rap: WHIGGA.

    And “See How Clever I Am? See? See? See?” is ALWAYS a bad sign.

    Like

  24. @Kathi:

    I would bet that they showed this during the worship service. And everyone thought it was hilarious. Unfortunately I’ve seen too many of these in my life.

    Kathi, it WAS hilarious. Just not in the way they intended.

    This looks like something you’d see on South Park, and not in a complementary way.

    Like

  28. Chris the video guy appeared to be the only authentic element in this video.

    And speaking of weird Al, don’t forget It’s All About The Benjamins…

    Liked by 1 person

  30. Tim that is a very good insight I was trying to put my finger on what really bothered me and when I read your point of view it really (sorry to use this word) resonated with me.

    Like

  31. As for MD speaking at the church, if MD came out and said something like, I really messed up, I am sorry to all those I hurt and abused. Please forgive me I need your prayers etc. Then said I will be meeting with local people along with Pastor Kellogg and others to try to reconcile. Then the church prayed for MD and invited the people outside “protestors” in and they all prayed together. Now that would be grace and a true miracle.

    I wont even add one of my “it cant happen” harps, I really think that would be true grace to see something like that happened.

    Liked by 2 people

  32. How many grown men were in this video and ALL thought this was appropriate?? It is no wonder people are turned off of church.

    Like

  33. Repentance; true, honest, heart and gut felt repentance is more often experienced outside of the 501c. 3 church system than within the walls built with human hands, where pride is its cornerstone. Personally, I have never witnessed repentance from church members within the church, but instead, miles upon miles of blaming someone else for sin……no one desires to “man up” or “woman up” to their own personal sins, often using the least of these as their scape-sheep.

    Praise our LORD, I have had the privilege of witnessing true repentance and changed lives outside of the institutional church system where tears and humility bring about mercy, grace, healing and restoration to the Body of Christ. And Jesus said, “the truth shall set you free.” Free, indeed.

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  36. So, my daughter had heard about Gold Creek Church and wanted to go to an event. I clicked on the “Events page” for the Mill Creek Church and there was the face of a rapist. This so called “greeter” with his name badge on and his face pasted on their page, raped me when I was 18 years old. I was a virgin and he claimed to be a Christian. We dated until one night he decided that “no” didn’t mean “no.” I became pregnant from this night and became an unwed teenage mother. I was judged, hated and eventually had to leave the large church I attended because of the judgement. No one knew that I had been raped and even my parents were in denial because they couldn’t process the pain. This Gold Creek “greeter” did NOTHING to provide for my child and even forced her to be poked with needles to prove that she was his child. He refused to be financially responsible for this child and wanted nothing to do with her. I had to take him to court to get him to pay support and his wife was actually sitting in the front row of the courtroom with her head bowed, praying that they wouldn’t lose any of their precious money to support the child he caused by raping a Christian virgin. This man tried to deny the fact that he was a rapist, so when I saw his name badge on their website, I was shocked that he has been able to fool so many people for all of these years. I’ve tried to find the emails for the pastors of this church to let them know that they are advertising for their church by posting the picture of a rapist, but of course they can’t be contacted. I guess this speaks volumes about this church that if you attend, you will be greeted by a rapist!!

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