Former Mars Hill Pastor Mark Driscoll definitely knows what it's like to be in the eye of the storm. After all, he was forced to step down from his Seattle megachurch back in October 2014 because he was accused of an unhealthy ego, plagiarism, and bullying.
It even seemed like Driscoll would be unable to recover from this scandal. But recover he did as he started another church called The Trinity Church in Scottsdale, Arizona.
During the church's official opening on Sunday, Driscoll said his past mistakes and challenges helped him build a new church, and that he is thankful for everything he's been through.
"[W]e tend to think if things go well it's from the Lord and if things are hard it must be from Satan. Let me [tell you,] sometimes hard things come from God," Driscoll said during his sermon, according to NBC's Seattle King 5.
"Sometimes God will allow us to endure hardship for two reasons: to change who we are and where we are," he added.
It's difficult to see the beauty in bad situations, but Driscoll says Christians have to learn how to trust God and let Him take control of their future.
"Our family is here because of a storm, a storm in our own life. And in the middle of it, we prayed and God gave of His word to my wife and myself at two separate times. We surrendered to the Lord in the midst of our storm so that God could do work in us and move us to this place for mission," he says.
The church building where The Trinity Church is now situated is a 1,400-seat Glass and Garden Church located at 8620 McDonald Drive, according to The Christian Post.
Purchasing the church building was no easy feat, since the Maricopa County Assessor's Office revealed that the church's evaluated cash value for fiscal year 2017 is a whopping $21,265,300. But Driscoll said The Trinity Church family received a lot of "generous donations" not only from church members, "but also from friends of The Trinity Church that just want to help support this new Church plant."
