Mars Hill Church - Lawsuit Fund
Donation protected
It is time for Christians everywhere to stand up and say, "Enough!! We will no longer put up with pastors who reach for honor for themselves and who enrich themselves at the expense and harm of those they claim to be shepherding!"
When leaders in the Church choose to stay silent, others must speak up. Paul’s mandate to Timothy regarding leaders who persist in certain sins (1 Timothy 5:19-20) must not be ignored by the Church. Most of those who were leaders at Mars Hill Church have chosen to remain silent.
Please help us discover and make clear the truth about what happened at Mars Hill Church by contributing to this fund for a RICO lawsuit against the former top leaders of Mars Hill.
For information about the Mars Hill situation, you could start at this Seattle Times article - http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/mars-hill-church-reeling-as-pastor-mark-driscoll-quits/.
Information about the lawsuit can be found at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/warrenthrockmorton/2014/12/26/letter-the-legal-case-against-mars-hill-church/.
All five of the named defendants in the letter linked above continue to be involved in some way in church leadership. We believe the sins they committed against the congregation at Mars Hill Church and the Church at large, before a watching world, are egregious. Failing to speak up is not loving to these men, nor healing to those who were hurt by them.
Our ultimate desires are transparency, repentance, reconciliation, and restitution. We realize, though, we cannot force repentance and reconciliation, so we will focus on transparency and restitution. We initially attempted to go to mediation with the former Mars Hill leaders, but that attempt has failed. None of the named possible defendants have responded.
Brian Fahling, our attorney, is almost ready to file the RICO lawsuit. However, fully uncovering the fraud will require many witnesses, depositions, and experts, as well as a voluminous document production, etc. Filing a lawsuit of this magnitude without adequate funding would be a disaster and would expose our attorney to sanctions.
So far we’ve raised about $11,100, net of fees. This amount has been paid to our attorney, but we still owe him about $3,700 for time already put in. He has said he would feel comfortable starting with a fund of $70,000, including what has been raised so far. An anonymous donor has offered $40,000 in matching funds. To this point, about $4,300 has been matched.
The anonymous donor will double-match the next $11,000 given.
We have decided it is best if the plaintiffs handle the GoFundMe page. Since we were not able to make this change to the previous "Mediation Fund" page, we have set up this new page. All money given, including online donations to date, matching funds, and any offline donations, will be tracked here.
Our goal is $70,000. This means in addition to the matching funds we will need to raise another $25,000. Anything given in excess of this amount will give us more flexibility in pursuing this matter.
REMEMBER, THE NEXT $11,000 IN CONTRIBUTIONS WILL BE DOUBLE-MATCHED.
All funds donated through this GoFundMe page are charged an 8% handling fee. If you wish to save this fee by sending a check, you can make it out to Brian Jacobsen. Please include a note on the memo line indicating it is for the Mars Hill lawsuit. Also, if you want your giving to be anonymous, please include the word "anonymous." The mailing address is:
Brian Jacobsen
PO Box 556
Snoqualmie, WA 98065
If you want to use PayPal or donate in another manner, please contact Brian Jacobsen by clicking on the envelope next to his name near the top of this page.
The following people have given permission to include their names as supporters of legal action to discover and make clear the truth about what happened at Mars Hill Church. If you would like your name added to this list or would like to discuss the possibility of joining the lawsuit by becoming a plaintiff, please contact Brian Jacobsen.
Mark & Denise Hopeman
Brian & Connie Jacobsen
Ryan & Arica Kildea
Rob & Merle Smith
When leaders in the Church choose to stay silent, others must speak up. Paul’s mandate to Timothy regarding leaders who persist in certain sins (1 Timothy 5:19-20) must not be ignored by the Church. Most of those who were leaders at Mars Hill Church have chosen to remain silent.
Please help us discover and make clear the truth about what happened at Mars Hill Church by contributing to this fund for a RICO lawsuit against the former top leaders of Mars Hill.
For information about the Mars Hill situation, you could start at this Seattle Times article - http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/mars-hill-church-reeling-as-pastor-mark-driscoll-quits/.
Information about the lawsuit can be found at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/warrenthrockmorton/2014/12/26/letter-the-legal-case-against-mars-hill-church/.
All five of the named defendants in the letter linked above continue to be involved in some way in church leadership. We believe the sins they committed against the congregation at Mars Hill Church and the Church at large, before a watching world, are egregious. Failing to speak up is not loving to these men, nor healing to those who were hurt by them.
Our ultimate desires are transparency, repentance, reconciliation, and restitution. We realize, though, we cannot force repentance and reconciliation, so we will focus on transparency and restitution. We initially attempted to go to mediation with the former Mars Hill leaders, but that attempt has failed. None of the named possible defendants have responded.
Brian Fahling, our attorney, is almost ready to file the RICO lawsuit. However, fully uncovering the fraud will require many witnesses, depositions, and experts, as well as a voluminous document production, etc. Filing a lawsuit of this magnitude without adequate funding would be a disaster and would expose our attorney to sanctions.
So far we’ve raised about $11,100, net of fees. This amount has been paid to our attorney, but we still owe him about $3,700 for time already put in. He has said he would feel comfortable starting with a fund of $70,000, including what has been raised so far. An anonymous donor has offered $40,000 in matching funds. To this point, about $4,300 has been matched.
The anonymous donor will double-match the next $11,000 given.
We have decided it is best if the plaintiffs handle the GoFundMe page. Since we were not able to make this change to the previous "Mediation Fund" page, we have set up this new page. All money given, including online donations to date, matching funds, and any offline donations, will be tracked here.
Our goal is $70,000. This means in addition to the matching funds we will need to raise another $25,000. Anything given in excess of this amount will give us more flexibility in pursuing this matter.
REMEMBER, THE NEXT $11,000 IN CONTRIBUTIONS WILL BE DOUBLE-MATCHED.
All funds donated through this GoFundMe page are charged an 8% handling fee. If you wish to save this fee by sending a check, you can make it out to Brian Jacobsen. Please include a note on the memo line indicating it is for the Mars Hill lawsuit. Also, if you want your giving to be anonymous, please include the word "anonymous." The mailing address is:
Brian Jacobsen
PO Box 556
Snoqualmie, WA 98065
If you want to use PayPal or donate in another manner, please contact Brian Jacobsen by clicking on the envelope next to his name near the top of this page.
The following people have given permission to include their names as supporters of legal action to discover and make clear the truth about what happened at Mars Hill Church. If you would like your name added to this list or would like to discuss the possibility of joining the lawsuit by becoming a plaintiff, please contact Brian Jacobsen.
Mark & Denise Hopeman
Brian & Connie Jacobsen
Ryan & Arica Kildea
Rob & Merle Smith
Organizer
Brian Jacobsen
Organizer
Snoqualmie, WA