One of Pastor Mark's good friends, Pastor James MacDonald, is the host of the Elephant Room, an event for which Pastor James gathers some of the top pastors around the nation and let them hash out the hot topics batting around the modern church, "the conversations you’d never thought you’d hear." Elephant Room Round 2 will take place this January, and will be simulcast at our very own Mars Hill Downtown Bellevue. For Round 2, Pastor Mark will be participating in two discussions, the first with Bishop T.D. Jakes about the major doctrines of Christianity.

What are the "majors" of Christian doctrine that cannot be diluted or denied for a person to be a Christian? How can we help one another move beyond the bare minimum of accepted belief, to a pursuit of robust, soul-satisfying, biblical substance? How should we relate to those who do not yet embrace the benefit and priority of sound biblical doctrine? Is there a difference between a person in error and a wolf in sheep’s clothing? What benefits derive from keeping the majors on a separate list and not letting the "minors" divide us? Is it possible to love the truth without compromise and still work passionately for unity?

Pastor Mark will also talk with Pastor Jack Graham about the future of denominations:

Is there a future for denominations? Will networks simply replace them, or will they reinvent themselves? What can denominations offer that networks of churches cannot? Describe the health of world missions and missionaries as you see them serving around the globe. Is the model of sending missionaries through a mission agency still effective? Or is church planting through healthy churches the way to go? Is there a lack of accountability plaguing most missionaries? How can that be changed? How does para-church help or hinder the local church in world missions?

Pastor Mark will also moderate a discussion between Graham and Jakes on the issue of race and segregation within some of the country's largest churches. For a full list of seven panels and participants, visit the Elephant Room site. For a taste of what these discussions are like, check below for videos from Round 1, which took place last March, where Pastor Mark and Pastor Perry Noble of NewSpring Church in South Carolina addressed culture in the church vs. church in the culture (How far should Christians go into culture? What can we receive, reject, redeem?). In that round, Pastor Mark also debated with Evangelist Greg Laurie about loving the gospel vs. sharing the gospel, a video which is also embedded below. This year, we’ve got a few tickets that we want to give away. To be eligible to win, you must tweet out anything with this link http://jesus.to/tbOcWY and the hashtag #ER2Bel. From there we’ll randomly select 4 winners who’ll receive free tickets to the event on January 25. An example of a tweet can simply be, "All I want for Christmas is to win the Elephant Room Giveaway! http://jesus.to/tbOcWY #ER2Bel" As long as it has the link and hastag, you’re good to go. Register by this Friday, December 2, and snag the Early Bird registration price of just $79, twenty bucks off the regular price of $99. Are you a broke undergrad or starving grad student? No worries: Students get their ticket for just $29.