When the news of Mark Driscoll’s resignation from Mars Hill hit today, Karen Schaeffer, once his personal assistant, logged onto a Facebook site reserved for former and current female members of the church. Many had left feeling abused and traumatized by Mars Hill’s lead pastor, so you might think that they would be celebrating.

Not at all. “They’re enraged,” Schaeffer tells Seattle Weekly.

“Of course, it had to happen,” Schaeffer elaborates, meaning Driscoll’s departure. The once mighty church has imploded in the last year after after a cascading series of allegations about the swaggering pastor, including misuse of funds, misogynistic remarks and tyrannical rule that cast aside any who dared question him.

The reason for the uproar, she says, is that Driscoll was far from “humble or repentant” in his resignation. “It appears he’s playing the victim instead of apologizing to the thousands of people he’s hurt.”

Rob Smith, another former Mars Hill parishioner, one who organizes weekly gatherings for men disillusioned with the church, expresses a similar view. “He’s saying his family is hurting,” Smith notes, alluding to a resignation letter from Driscoll quoted in a statement today by Mars Hill’s board of overseers. “It would be best for the health of our family, and for the Mars Hill family, that we step aside from further ministry at the church,” Driscoll wrote in the letter.

What he’s not saying is that he is responsible for that pain. And the overseers aren’t saying that either. They make a point of noting that the resignation caught them by surprise; it was not solicited. They also reveal the long-awaited findings of a church investigation into allegations against Driscoll: While the pastor was, at times, arrogant and domineering, “we do not believe him to be disqualified from pastoral ministry.”

“These folks have no backbone,” comments Smith, who says the findings allow Driscoll to go out and lead a new church. Meanwhile, he says, the one Driscoll is leaving is “in shambles.” A sharp drop in attendance and donations forced the church to close branches last month.

Schaeffer, for one, would like to see Driscoll—said to have amassed a fortune while working at Mars Hill—pay restitution to the struggling church. “If he’s really as concerned as he says he is, he should make sure the church goes forward.”