This month marks the 16th birthday of Mars Hill Church. What started as a sense of calling from Jesus to Grace and me has turned out to be proof of Jesus’ promise, “I will build my church.”
The following are, in no particular order, 16 reasons why I am very glad to be serving at Mars Hill Church:
1. Jesus always shows up
Since Day 1 when we had no building, no money, and, frankly, no clue, Jesus has always been true to never leave us nor forsake us. Jesus is not a concept, but an actual living person who is the senior pastor at our church, and who has never failed us.
2. I am free to preach the Bible
I get to teach longer and harder than anyone I know. I have preached through whole books like Genesis and Luke. I have preached on the wrath of God and yelled until I was hoarse. I am under authority when I preach, but I enjoy the rare freedom of preaching without caring much about the giving, the attendance, the clock, etc.
3. We have very resilient people
Our congregation has moved so many times, I have lost count. We now have so many leaders in so many locations with so many services and so much constant transition that our people have proven to love the family of God and just roll with it.
4. Lots of people are becoming Christians
To see over 1,200 people baptized in the past year alone literally chokes me up. For 16 years since we started as a small Bible study in our rental home, Jesus has saved more people every single year.
5. Lots of Christians are growing
People are repenting of sin, working through sins committed against them, connecting in community, learning the Scriptures, discovering their spiritual gift to serve, learning to steward their money better, and becoming more like Jesus by the Holy Spirit’s power. In the next year, as the latest candidates complete a rigorous and lengthy season of training and qualifying, we will have as many as 150 pastors/elders—most of them volunteers—which is mind-boggling.
6. Lots of couples are getting married
We started as mainly college students and singles, but we are now seeing dozens of weddings a year. Just yesterday, while I was out running errands, a young woman came up to me with tears in her eyes. She explained that she was in a relationship with a guy who treated her poorly. She then started growing at Mars Hill, broke up with the guy, and later met another guy who loves Jesus and has treated her with complete integrity. She has no father, so he has gone out of his way to guard her heart and honor her mom and sisters, who adore him. He has asked her to marry him and she became very emotional talking about how safe, loved, honored, and cherished she feels with him as they pray together and he points her to Jesus and Scripture over and over. I rejoice that this is happening over and over and over.
7. Lots of hurting people are getting hope, help, and healing.
Through Redemption Groups, we are seeing those with deep hurts, including sexual assault victims, get help through God’s Spirit, Word, and people. A young woman came up to me in a coffee shop this week and told me she was a sexual assault victim who is new to our church and has felt great release from the shame she has wrongly carried, now that she has learned about her identity in Christ. This has happened to me at no fewer than a half-dozen coffee shops in the past year, as different people have approached me to tell the story of Jesus at work in their lives.
8. Lots of children are being born and adopted into loving Christian families
For the first few months of the core group gatherings for our church, we did not have childcare because no one had children. Then, a few families started showing up. My loving mother-in-law, Linda, started watching all of the kids. Today, we have what is approaching 3,000 kids under the age of 10 on Sundays! I’ve been teaching theology to students on Wednesday nights at the Shoreline church, and a bunch of the 10- to 12-year-olds are the children of people who got saved and/or married at Mars Hill years ago.
9. There has been a loving generosity to other churches and ministry leaders
Mars Hill has generously given millions of dollars and countless hours over the years to help church planting through organizations like Acts 29, and to help serve leaders through ministries like Resurgence. We don’t just love our church—we love every church that loves Jesus.
10. Our people are not known for being negatives
Admittedly, I am a lightning rod for controversy. But our people are not known for being Internet trolls who flame-throw other churches and Christian leaders, or as negatives who define themselves by what they are against. Our people love our church, but they also love the whole Church.
11. There is a never-ending, gospel-inspired creative energy
Whether it’s music, technology, blogs, books, ministries—you name it—there has been more content and creativity than we can even handle. We have some very gifted, hard-working, creative men and women who are inspired and inspiring.
12. In God’s providence, we started around the same time as the Internet rose in popularity
Without the Internet, we would not be the kind of church we are today. We are not part of a denomination (and all of the infrastructure and support that comes with it), and much of what we do has been made possible by the fact that we started around the same time as the world migrated onto the web, and as a bunch of young creative types started working at a start-up called Microsoft. We’ve had a website and free sermon downloads since our earliest days.
13. Satan hates us
We have more opposition, criticism, and trouble than makes any sense. It seems everything we do is hard. But that’s good news, as Satan shoots those he thinks are enemies capable of helping to advance Jesus’ kingdom.
14. New technology allows us to not limit our ministry to one building
We love being one church and 14 churches. We are glad that the reach of our love is not limited to the number of seats and services we can contain under one roof. Our church is a family, and each of the 14 kids shares a family resemblance. But each one is also unique, and we love being a big church family.
15. I have grown, and by grace will continue to grow as a Christian, husband, father, and leader because of Mars Hill
Mars Hill has been very sanctifying to me. The load I bear, the friendships I enjoy, the rebukes I receive, and the encouragements I hear have all been used of God to help me mature. While there is much sanctification remaining in my life, any that has occurred is in large part by God’s grace through my time at Mars Hill.
16. My family and I deeply love Mars Hill and are honored to serve the people we care so much about
Since the beginning, my wife, Grace, has always been our most devoted church member. She loves the church, serves the church, and prays for the church. Our children share her heart, and we are deeply blessed as the Driscoll family to be part of this great family called Mars Hill. Thank you for being a church that we love and that loves us. It is our hope that I/we will be serving one church for my entire ministry career, as I/we don’t want to be anywhere else with anyone else.
