The article states that Bell’s controversial book about the existence of hell “put pressure on the people around Bell, who found themselves having to defend statements they might never have heard, let alone approved.” It quotes Bell’s wife, Kristen, saying that she stayed away from Mars Hill some weeks after the book was published because she was exhausted by stories about former members criticizing her husband’s writing.

Fallout from Rob Bell’s bestselling “Love Wins” book pushed him to leave the West Michigan megachurch he founded, according to The New Yorker. And the television show Bell went to work on in California has stalled, Kelefa Sanneh writes in the magazine’s Nov. 26 issue.

In a profile of Bell called “The Hell-Raiser,” Sanneh chronicles the former Mars Hill Bible Church pastor’s personal “search for a more forgiving faith,” and concludes that he might fit better on the beaches of southern California than in a West Michigan pulpit.

The article states that Bell’s controversial book about the existence of hell “put pressure on the people around Bell, who found themselves having to defend statements they might never have heard, let alone approved.” It quotes Bell’s wife, Kristen, saying that she stayed away from Mars Hill some weeks after the book was published because she was exhausted by stories about former members criticizing her husband’s writing.

“There was a cost,” Kristen Bell said. “And part of the cost was, we couldn’t keep doing what we were doing at Mars Hill.”

Sanneh reports that Bell and “Lost” producer Carlton Cuse failed to get approval for a pilot of “Stronger,” a spiritual drama to which ABC bought the rights. Instead, Bell and Cuse are teaming on “a faith-inflected talk show,” and Bell’s doing a lot of surfing.

Read More