Mars Hill Church Implements New Document Destruction Policy

Carrie Dedrick | Updated: Apr 07, 2014

Mars Hill Church Implements New Document Destruction Policy

Seattle-based Mars Hill Church has announced a new policy of destroying staff e-mails after 90 days. The megachurch was recently in the news for pastor Mark Driscoll’s deceitful method of putting his book Real Marriage on the New York Times bestseller list.  Many believe the new email retention policy is the church’s way of destroying incriminating documents in case of lawsuits.

WORLD magazine received an e-mail announcing the change to be implemented today. “We are now shifting to a new email retention policy, which will automatically retain emails only from the last 90 days on our machines, servers, and backups,” the email read.

Former staff, elders, and members of Mars Hill have voiced their concerns that the church is acting in a way to hide evidence.

Kyle Firstenberg, a former staff member said, “Mars Hill leaders say they are ‘repenting,’ yet their actions scream cover up and damage control...Why don’t their words and actions agree?”

Sixteen former members of the church sent a letter to Mars Hill, urging administration to revoke or delay the new policy, as the deletion of old e-mails could be considered negligence by a court.

No lawsuit has yet been filed against Mars Hill Church.



Mars Hill Church Implements New Document Destruction Policy