Family update at the Vision Breakfast

As summer drew to a close, the Executive Elders gathered together at Mars Hill Shoreline for their quarterly Vision Breakfast with leaders tuning in via video across all our churches. We wanted to share some updates and stories from the day.

The Vision Breakfast is a time for the Executive Elders to communicate what Jesus has been doing in the church, share their vision for the future of our church, and thank leaders for their faithfulness.

An encouraging update on giving

When Vision Breakfasts were first started in the spring of 2012, the giving per adult per week averaged $30. Today that number is now closer to $44. Pastor Sutton Turner expressed his gratitude and praised God that more people than ever are on board with the mission of making disciples and planting churches. Pastor Dave Bruskas added, “Please know, as Paul tells the Philippians, your financial gifts are bearing fruit for the gospel ministry. And we’re so thankful for the people of Mars Hill Church.”

Making disciples and planting churches around the world

Pastor Sutton also shared the desire to grow Mars Hill Global. People from around the world download sermon podcasts from Mars Hill over 12 million times a year. Our leaders want to increase the way they can serve those people. The monthly giving from our extended family of Mars Hill Global has grown from $18,000 to $157,000 in the last two years. What encourages the Executive Elders is that the money is not from a few people giving large amounts, but from many people who love Mars Hill and desire to support the mission.

Speaking of mission, there have been many developments in the last few months with planting Mars Hill churches in the United States. Pastor Ryan Welsh moved to Phoenix to plant our 15th Mars Hill church. He’s in the process of training leaders while looking for a building to meet in. The plan is for their core group to start this month.

Training leaders

The second year of Lead Pastor Residency recently began with five men moving to Seattle and getting plugged in with a local church last week. The Executive Elders are praying about these men planting churches in Spokane, Dallas, and Los Angeles.

Pastor Mark Driscoll talked about plans for Mars Hill to start a Bible college. The school would be a place where high school students could accumulate college credit so when they finish high school and go to college, they have a good biblical worldview to prepare them. They also envision it being a place where people can take anything from a couple classes to earn a four-year accredited degree.

One big outreach

For the first time, Pastor Mark shared his vision for an outreach event to be held next August, tentatively titled Jesus Festival. The event will be geared toward worship and evangelism with the hope of Christians bringing their non-Christian friends to hear the gospel proclaimed. Think Easter in the summer.

Lastly, we spent some time at the Vision Breakfast getting to know some of the leaders who are faithfully serving our church. We wanted to share some their stories with you here:

Andrew goes to Mars Hill Shoreline. He became a Christian a few years ago after his wife found the church by googling, “Where do you go to church when you find God?” He’s excited about the vision the Executive Elders have for all nations. “The vision of the growth within Shoreline compared to what’s happening in Ethiopia is the kind of thing that really inspires me.”

Ethan has been going to Mars Hill since 2005. He says, “I love seeing how God’s grace can influence people’s lives across the globe. Not just the Seattle region but across the state of Washington to Texas to Ethiopia and India. I love seeing people’s lives changed by Jesus. The fact that the Executive Elders have been given this vision that includes so many millions of people is a huge evidence of God’s grace on our leaders.”

“The growth [of Mars Hill] is great.” Says Josh, Shoreline’s lead of production. “The idea of having a Mars Hill Bible college, that’s super exciting to me. Thinking about having that locally, when I heard that I was smiling really big.”

Thank you to all who are serving and on mission at Mars Hill. Our church is knocking on the door of 13,000 people. A busy season has begun and the Executive Elders are looking to the leaders to confidently lead where Jesus is calling them.

Here are some more pictures from the breakfast: