It can be painful to have to watch something fade away.
First Congregational Church of Tacoma lived in that tension for years, if not decades, literally in its structure. The vaulted ceiling of the 104-year-old main sanctuary has paint that is falling off, and cracks snake in between the bends in the dome. The 38,000-square foot building is a labyrinth of rooms and staircases, cobbled together over the years and construction projects. There are winding staircases, hidden rooms, attics scattered with newspapers from decades ago, and beveled windows draped in cobwebs at least that old.
With all the age comes a good deal of history; notably, Pilgrim Hall, one of Tacoma’s first theaters, and a creaky hardwood-floored gym that housed soldiers on leave from Fort Lewis in World War II. Around the corner, is “The Little Chapel,” where those soldiers were commissioned—and some hastily married—before their being deployed. It’s a prim room with much of the original pews and imperial-looking chairs, and even an illustrated Holman Bible from 1881. Walking through it feels somehow like trespassing, as if you’re in a museum display where you’re allowed to touch the items.
But one sunny morning this fall, new life is being breathed into this church.
On the ground
At 9 a.m., over three dozen volunteers show up to help the building get in shape for its biggest event in ages: the inaugural Vision & Prayer Night of the Mars Hill Tacoma church plant. Some wipe down the pews and vacuum the faded carpet, while others clear out debris that’s in the way and move in the sound and lighting equipment. By early afternoon, the production teams shows up, and a white-haired gentleman named Joe ambles up and starts grabbing tripods and c-stands to take inside. Later, we hear that Joe also bought lunch for all the volunteers earlier in the day.
Deacon Tammy Rohrbaugh has literally been praying for this day for years. She and her husband, Paul (also a deacon), will be part of the Tacoma church, after spending the last seven years driving up from their home in Gig Harbor to attend the Ballard church once a week, with Tammy making extra trips to teach women’s midweek studies. Now, to have the church comparatively right in her backyard (or at least a hop, skip, and a jump over the Narrows Bridge), is the beginning of new fruit for her. “This is like watching the seed start to grow in a whole new way, stuff that we hope for and prayed for for a really long time,” she says excitedly. “It’s like, ‘Are you kidding, God?’ How cool is that?”
By late afternoon, there are Kids Ministry rooms set up, a photo booth in the chapel (with the stoic chairs as props), and tables awaiting coffee and desserts. Pastor Bubba Jennings, who’ll lead up the Tacoma church, is ducking in and out, checking in with different team leaders to make sure everything is on task. It is.
Jake and Ariel are one young couple who are at the heart of the new church’s mission. The two, recently engaged, go on dates where they walk through the streets and pray for the city. “[Tacoma] is hugely community-based,” says Ariel, 21, who works as a barista. “It always kinda embodied what Mars Hill was talking about, and we’d always hoped that [the church] would come up here, even before we were a part of Mars Hill.”
A few weeks earlier, Jake hosted one of the Tacoma church’s Community Groups—to which over 30 people showed up at the first evening. “We had people on the stairs, in the kitchen, sitting on the floor—everywhere, we couldn’t even fit it,” he recalls.
As he leads the group, he’s got Matthew 5:13–16, the city on a hill passage from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, on his heart in particular. “Community Groups are just like candles,” he says. “[We’re] just praying, ‘God, let there be more Community Groups.’” He talks about seeing hundreds of groups throughout the city: “Those are lights. ‘[God,] let there be more Community Groups here, more lights, and just let us join as one, big light.’”
“It just gets me fired up to talk about Jesus, you know?” he says. “I mean, I’m tired from this long day, but as soon as I talk about Jesus, I get more energy.”
He’s gonna need that energy—the main event is just getting started.
What ensued that night
It’s 6 p.m. and just under 500 people have shown up, including 80 kids. With a packed room, the evening begins.
Pastor Bubba welcomes the crowd, and the band launches right in to a couple up-tempo rearranged hymns. Those who’ve been around the church for a while would have recognized Pastor Bubba’s wife, Shelly, up on the stage on vocals. The Jennings served for over a decade back when Mars Hill met at just one location in Ballard, and Shelly, a deacon, was a part of many of the bands there. The music is fills the room. Someone in the foyer makes a joke about more paint falling off under the noise; another misses the joke part and goes to verify. Thankfully, the paint is staying put for now.
After the worship, Executive Pastor Sutton Turner opens with a teaching out of 2 Corinthians, using the analogy in the text of sowing and reaping to delve into a financial update on how the week-to-week budget breaks down for the church, and also the price tag ($1.5 million) on the renovations that the church will need before launching its first services in the fall of 2013. Then Network Pastor Dave Bruskas, who is at the helm of the local Mars Hill churches and ministries, gives an update (family photo-album style) of the other churches in the greater church family.
Next up is Pastor Mark Driscoll, the church’s founding and preaching pastor, who grew up in nearby Sea-Tac and for whom the entire night feels like a reunion both of his actual family and the church family. “I walk in, I see someone that I went to high school with,” he says, noting that his sister, brother, cousin, and aunt are all there with their families. “I mean, I’m from the South End, and there are a lot of familiar faces here and some of you, I’ve had the honor of seeing you meet Jesus, some of you I’ve officiated your weddings. Many of you I’ve baptized. I really do love you. I’m very excited for what God has for us together.” If anybody was expecting a fiery Pastor Mark message, they would have been disappointed, because on this night he’s positively sentimental.
Teaching out of 1 Thessalonians 1, Pastor Mark thanks for the congregation for being faithful, and encourages them by telling them how well the church has been received by other churches in the area. “We thank God for you,” says Pastor Mark as he wraps up his message. “And we thank God for all of you.”
Pastor Bubba then takes the stage to deliver his message and the vision for Mars Hill Tacoma. He teaches out of Luke 4:18–19, when Jesus comes to the temple and opens the scroll of Isaiah, reads the prophecy, and then says that Spirit of the Lord is on him. “In doing that,” explains Pastor Bubba, “[Jesus] was saying, ‘Look, the promises of God that we see in Scripture, I’m the fulfillment of those. The hope that you’re longing for, I’m the fulfillment of that.’” For all the ache and want that there is in Tacoma to fulfill its motto of “City of Destiny,” Pastor Bubba says, Jesus is the hope and destiny for the city.
“As we plant this church, we do so in a way to where we don’t say, ‘Look at us, we’re great.’ No. We say, ‘Look at Jesus, he’s amazing,’” Pastor Bubba tells the congregation as the night draws to a close. “We were the oppressed. We were the ones who were blind. We were the ones who were held captive—and look at what Jesus has done: he’s forgiven our sins, he’s redeemed us, he’s made us a new creation. So that’s what we’re about: Jesus. And my hope and prayer is that in the years ahead, we would see a region flourish.”
