[5] In 2001, Mark Bunker and Jeff Jacobsen, a fellow critic of the Church of Scientology, were refused service by businesses operated by Scientologists in Clearwater.

Bunker, Jacobson, and other members of the Lisa McPherson Trust saw this as a sign of the escalating control the Church of Scientology held over the town.

In 2008, Bunker posted a video to YouTube critical of the Internet-based group "Anonymous" and asked them to tone down their campaign against the Church of Scientology; a movement called "Project Chanology".

[9] In the video "Message to Anonymous", Bunker urged the group to work legally and pursue peaceful ways to protest Scientology.

[10] According to NPR's Morning Edition, Bunker has "become a revered voice to many members of Anonymous",[11] and they refer to him as "Wise Beard Man".

[13] When actor Jason Beghe decided to leave Scientology in 2008, he contacted Andreas Heldal-Lund, founder of Operation Clambake, who convinced him to meet with Bunker.

[14] Bunker published a 3-minute portion of the 3-hour interview to YouTube in mid-April 2008,[15] and in the video Beghe calls Scientology "very dangerous for your spiritual, psychological, mental, emotional health and evolution".

But on April 17, 2008, the day before Bunker had planned on posting the full interview, his YouTube account was taken down due to a DMCA claim for an unrelated video.

Bunker was part of a group of five demonstrators walking outside the entrance to Scientology's Gold Base in Hemet, California following a meeting earlier in the day of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors where protesters and church members debated a proposed anti-picketing ordinance.