Jeremy L. Berg

Rob Bell’s final Sunday at the church he founded has now come and gone. I am looking forward to listening to his final words to his beloved Mars Hill on my drive home today. I should take a moment to share some of my own appreciations for Rob’s ministry that has been so influential to so many of my generation.  Love him or hate him, you certainly cannot ignore Rob Bell’s voice in the wilderness of post-modern evangelical Christianity.  Until I take time to share my own thoughts on Rob’s ministry, I will be lazy and share another’s reflections.

Aaron Niequist, a member of Mars Hill, offers his thoughts on Rob’s teaching and influence at Mars Hill these past years. I think he puts his finger on a lot of gems worth sharing.  Thanks, Aaron.  Well put.  Here it is:

I just read the letter that Rob Bell wrote and read to the Mars Hill community on his final Sunday.  It was stunning and quirky and beautiful and poetic and weighty and inspiring and Rob at his absolute best.
(You can read it here.)  It brought a flood of thoughts…

First, I’m just so thankful to have been a part of  the Mars Hill community.  When I met Rob in 2002, I was in a pretty dark place spiritually, and he was one of the primary voices that God used to invite me into something more beautiful.  I honestly don’t know if I’d still be a Christian without Rob (and Willard’s “Divine Conspiracy” and McLaren’s “A New Kind of Christian”).  And although there were some very painful moments, something came alive in me during those years that I hope never goes out.

Here are a few things I learned from Rob (in no particular order)…

-Deconstruction is easy.  It takes no courage to point out what’s wrong.  Spend all your energy on lifting up what is most right, most compelling, and most beautiful.

-Modern rock is only a small slice of the historical worship pie.  What about spirituals?  What about liturgical?  What about funk?  What about…God forbid…country?

-If the idea is compelling enough, you don’t need to dress it up.

-Repentance is not just feeling bad and trying to not be such a terrible person.  Repentance is “returning to who you were made to be.”

-The mark of a great message (or worship time) is how many great ideas you leave on the cutting room floor.  Relentlessly edit down to the core insight.

-The worship leader’s job is NOT to energize the room with loud music.  The worship leader’s job is to harness the energy of the community and unleash it upward.

-We must understand every scripture verse and concept in context of the whole story.  (He began nearly every message with Genesis 1)

-Truth is a person, not an abstract idea.

…and those are just off the top of my head.  If I sat for an hour I could probably list a hundred more.  Rob’s approach to the scriptures, perspective on art, articulation of the Kingdom, example of following your passion, vision for what the people of God could be together, and encouragement to me through the years have marked my life profoundly.  And I guess I just wanted to take a moment to say thanks.

It’s going to be fascinating to see what this next season looks like for Rob.  Knowing him, it’ll be surprising and inspiring and controversial and really compelling.  I sincerely wish him all the best.