Introducing the new director of Mars Hill Kids

Dear Mars Hill Church,

Every Sunday, literally thousands of children come to Mars Hill Church. Our opportunity to reach the next generation with the truth of the gospel has never been greater than it is right now. The matter is of such importance that we’ve decided to hire a director of Mars Hill Kids to organize children’s ministry across all of our churches.

Since 2011, Deacon Deborah Rowe has provided tremendous help leading Mars Hill Kids in an interim capacity. We are deeply grateful for Deborah’s service, and we’re glad that she will continue to be a part of Mars Hill Kids. Thanks to her work, we’ve been able to take our time and find the best long-term fit for this role.

On that note, I’m happy to introduce Andrew Weiseth.

Meet Andrew

Andrew has been a part of Mars Hill for over ten years, his family has attended Mars Hill Shoreline since day one, and he has served in Shoreline’s children’s ministry for about five years now. On behalf of Mars Hill leadership, we’re excited to welcome Andrew Weiseth as director of Mars Hill Kids.

Andrew will be based in Bellevue, which is our largest church and has the most kids. From there, he will work with local leads at all 14 of our churches to build the ministry of Mars Hill Kids. Deborah will continue to serve in Bellevue as the local children’s ministry lead, which will allow Andrew the flexibility to visit and help the rest of the Mars Hill churches.

Here’s an introduction from Andrew himself:

Brothers & sisters in Christ,

I am humbled and overjoyed beyond words to step into this role. Glory to God for how he not only saves us from the worst and gives us the best, but he even lets us join in building his eternal kingdom! What an honor we all have in serving him.

Background

The Lord grabbed my heart in fourth grade. Primed by my parents’ persistent prayers and weekly Sunday school lessons, I surrendered to him. Young Life played an invaluable role in my growth through my teen years. From my 20s onward, Mars Hill has had a radical impact on my life.

Having volunteered in our kids ministry now for about 5 years, the Lord has continued to impress upon my heart the value of this work. One of my core convictions is that kids ministry is even bigger than ministry to just kids: it is also ministry to parents, current leaders, future leaders, our church, and the world around us. Ephesians 4:1 tells us to “live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” God is opening some awesome doors to help us more fully minister to kids in a way that is worthy of his calling on us.

Family

My wife, Amber, is a wonderful woman and a joy to be partnered with in life. We have been married 11 years. Together we have four kids: Emelia, age 7, is a bright, beautiful girl and a voracious reader. She also loves horses—so much so that she’s never quite learned how to run; she gallops. Charlie, age 6, loves to read, wrestle daddy, tinker, and tell jokes. Naomi, age 6, is fairly convinced she’s a real princess and that we just live in a funny looking castle. She is from Guatemala, and we adopted her at age 3. Levi, age 4, is Captain Gross-Motor Action. He jumps out of bed every morning and spends every day running, climbing, and crashing. He’s hilarious. Levi was born in Ethiopia, and he joined our family at 6 months of age.

I look forward to getting to know you each better. May God empower and enable me to be a true blessing to him, to you, and to the lives he has called us all to reach.