Our student ministry has officially launched for Mars Hill in 2013! Over the past few weeks, we kicked off regional hubs around the Puget Sound with just over 430 students in combined attendance, and we’re celebrating with the 31 young people who professed faith in Christ. This week, the Albuquerque church became the latest church to launch their Students Ministry, so be sure to be in prayer for them and the leaders there.
Jesus is doing so many incredible things in our junior high and high school students—here are just a few of the stories of what God has done at Mars Hill Students over one week:
- Michele, a senior at Eastlake High School in Sammamish, met Jesus last November and was baptized in December. Michele brought a friend along to the Mars Hill Students launch in Sammamish where she too surrendered to Christ in a powerful way!
- Ray, a former gang leader living on the East Coast the last two years, recently moved back home in Rainier Valley “get his life together.” He has been working with Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission, at whose Hope Place the Rainier Valley church meets. When he volunteered as a security guard at our launch last week, he heard the gospel and trusted his life to Jesus!
- A young man at Shoreline came up to me after the service last Thursday night with an iPhone full of notes, a new Bible, and a big smile on his face because he had just become a Christian. He was only 12 years old.
- Both the West Seattle and Shoreline churches have recently formed worship bands made up almost entirely of high school students, who lead their peers in excellent worship every single week.
- Josiah, a student from Everett, accepted the invitation to commit his life to Jesus. He said he had been feeling convicted over the past two weeks (he was raised in the church but never committed his life to Jesus). We gave him a Bible and prayed with him. There were tears of joy as we celebrated with Josiah!
A movement has begun in the younger generation of Mars Hill Church! More than just providing a ministry for students, Mars Hill Students is about equipping your students with the gospel for ministry in their schools, sports teams, families and friends.
For the parents
If you’re a parent of a junior high or high school student, here are three big things you should know are coming up:
- We just started a new midweek series titled, Sent: Found People Find People. If you haven’t yet, please bring your son or daughter during the week to your nearest Mars Hill church with a student ministry, where we will teach on how boldly to live out the mission of God.
- Junior High Camp (for students going into grades 6, 7, 8) will be held July 17–20 this year at the Island Lake camp by Poulsbo, WA. Details will be coming out next month, but save the date now!
- High School Camp (students going into grades 9–12, plus graduating seniors) will be held August 27–30 this year at the Washington Family Ranch camp in central Oregon. These camps are the most strategic and life-transforming events on our calendar, and we can’t wait to share them with your student.
