Performing "Manly" Worship Music: Gender and Timbre at Mars Hill Church

Ten years ago, Mars Hill boasted fifteen campuses and 15,000 members. Amid mounting allegations of abuse and mismanagement leveled against founding pastor Mark Driscoll, the church famously collapsed, closing its doors at the end of 2014. Driscoll had built Mars Hill’s core brand around his opposition to the perceived feminization of the Christian mainstream, and appointing himself the “leader of a heterosexual male backlash” in the church and broader culture. While Driscoll’s muscular Christianity stands in a wide historical stream, Mars Hill long led the charge in establishing a youth-oriented, hipster brand of hypermasculine Calvinism. And while rhetoric and theology played a central role, the church’s punk, grunge, and indie rock-derived music ministry also contributed significantly to the establishment of an identifiably “masculine” Christian movement.This paper explores how Mars Hill’s worship leaders intentionally manipulated timbre to reflect and perform prevailing masculine ideals. Theoretically, I draw from Nina Eidsheim's theorization of timbre at intersection with gender studies and performance theory, analyzing instrumentation, effects, vocal technique, and range. Further, this study demonstrates how idealized masculinities morph across time, dependent upon their broader social context. Even though Mars Hill no longer exists, this paper offers perspectives for considering how music performance participates in the production and maintenance of power hierarchies, an important lens for music leaders across Christian contexts.