Update. We’ve reached out to Trinity Church and they told us in a statement that ‘The claim that minors have been asked to sign NDAs is categorically false.’
Pastor Mark Driscoll has been accused of making minors as young as 12 years old sign non-disclosure agreements (NDA’s), according to a former congregant who once dated Driscoll’s daughter.
Vincent Manuele was 15 years old when he started attending Trinity Church in the summer of 2020 and became involved with the worship team. Before long, he and Driscoll’s 17-year-old daughter started spending more time together and developed feelings for each other.
Driscoll found out about this and set up a meeting with father and son in his office, where he told the boy that the relationship must stay in the friendship stage and that they had better not kiss.
After they continued seeing each other and shared a kiss, Driscoll found out and was livid, leading to the family being shunned from church and ultimately surveilled by a team of professionals. (more about this story here)
Following their departure, Manuele released several YouTube videos about the incident, discussing his feelings and his disdain for how their family was treated. He also became a husband and father, working a sales job while doing anti-abortion ministry on the side.
Then, six months ago, he announced that he was writing a book about his experience:
After torching Mars Hill, Mark Driscoll fled Seattle in disgrace. At Trinity Church, he promised redemption, but behind the curtain it’s the same corruption, control, and abuse.
I know, because I was inside. Dating his daughter gave me a front-row seat to Driscoll’s world, and I kept everything: private texts with his family, direct conversations with Driscoll, and stories his staff prayed would never surface.
What I reveal here isn’t speculation, it’s bombshell evidence of a cult built on lies and manipulation. This book doesn’t just tell the story of Trinity, it exposes it for what it really is: a cult hiding behind the disguise of a church.
Notably, while the book is on pre-order and Manuele says he has received hundreds of orders, in 2023 he also released a trailer for an upcoming documentary he was going to direct and produce, called Driscoll’s Downfall, which never materialized.
As part of the promo for his book, however, Manuele released what he purports to be a portion of an NDA that he signed, which, among other things, prohibits Jr. Interns who work at the church from discussing certain information with parents.
“Parental Disclosure Restriction>
The intern understands that certain information shared by The Church is not to be discussed with parents, guardians, or any outside parties, regardless of age or familial relationship, unless specifically approved in writing by Church leadership.”
He claims he has spoken to “dozens of people who went through similar experiences” and is sharing on their behalf.
About these NDA’s, Manuele further alleges that minors were told not to tell their parents about them.
It is unclear at this time what the consequences were for breaking the NDA.
We reached out to Manuele and Driscoll for comment.
9 responses to “Mark Driscoll Accused of Making Minors Sign NDA’s”
This kid smells money because his girlfriend’s pastor father didn’t like him putting the moves on his daughter.
Sorry if I stand with Driscoll here.
Minors cannot legally enter into any kind of contract in the United states. Mark is an evil serpent.
Minor’s cant enter into any kind of a contract including MDA’s.
I can’t imagine the Lord being very pleased with this. He should’ve conveyed this information, holding the church accountable as a duty to the Lord. Not as a way to sell books. There are souls at stake. Eternal ramifications. You don’t put a price on that. You don’t use things like that to enrich yourself. You don’t hold souls hostage for money. You tell someone they’re being led astray, and for the low, low price of X dollars you’ll tell them how? It’s a disgrace.
This is about as bad as the catholic “church” selling indulgences.
If he needs money, he needs to follow the Apostle’s example in 2 Thess. 3, and do some honorable work. If he wants to sell books, he needs to find something else to write about.
The Lord gave His life for us for free, giving us the free gift of God, eternal life. Let’s honor His decision to make it free.
It’s like the money-changers. That’s a better comparison. Their sin was profiting off of God’s forgiveness. Essentially charging a premium for God’s forgiveness. Making people pay extra in order to purchase a sacrifice for the cleansing of their sins.
There’s nothing wrong with reasonable profit (parable of the Talents, for example). Nothing wrong even with making a profit on money exchange. But you certainly do not do it in God’s house. And you don’t do it at all anywhere, if the purpose of the exchange is the Lord’s business, and is something you should not be profiting from.
This young man is too young. Not anywhere close to spiritually mature and tested enough. Some Godly men close to him need to sit him down and have a talk, before he goes down this path any further. I don’t know who’s worse, him or driscoll.
It’s about like charging admission for a church service. Or a preacher giving an alter call and saying, now give me $19.99 and I’ll tell you how to be saved.
You cannot conflate profit and charity. Both cannot exist at the same time. If it’s a charitable work, and should be a charitable work, then you need to get your “profit” from somewhere other than those you’re claiming to be helping. Because the point at which you are getting your funds from the same people you should be helping, it’s no longer charity, it’s extortion.
There’s a time and place for profit. There’s a time and place for charity. And it take maturity, the leading of the Holy Spirit, the implanted word, testing, being seasoned in the faith, wisdom and understanding and knowledge (which scripture tells us also come from the Holy Spirit), to know when and where one of the other is pleasing to the Lord according to His standards. Right. This sort of thing used to be pretty much common sense, but with the reprobate fallen away state of mankind these days, you just about have to explain it on the level of “see spot run”. For example: Doing honorable work for a profit to take care of your family, to fulfill obligations to the Lord = good. Charging an admission fee for a church service = not good.
It’d be about like Protestia putting the Gospel behind a paywall. Right. There’s certain things you just don’t put behind paywalls. Like when it’s something people need to know, and you have an obligation to the Lord to tell them, that’s not something you charge money for. You put other stuff behind paywalls.
It must also be said, that what you do with the money is fairly irrelevant. You could give it all to charity. But you’d still be extorting the same people you’re supposed to be helping.
Scripture doesn’t tell us what the moneychangers were doing with their profit. They could’ve been giving it right to the church. But we’re not told. Why? Because it’s not relevant, that’s why.
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