The Executive Elders of Mars Hill Church gathered together yesterday morning to speak to all 15 churches in five states via video for their quarterly vision breakfast. The building where they met may have appeared to be a fortress, a solid concrete wedge in the heart of the city, but to the members of Mars Hill Church Everett, it’s just their new home.
In just six days, the people of Mars Hill Everett will meet together for the first time in their new building, a place they are hoping will be an outpost for the gospel in Snohomish County for hundreds of years.
“I truly believe Jesus will bring hundreds of people through the doors of this building and they will meet Jesus,” Pastor Ryan Williams, lead pastor of Mars Hill Everett, told the 68 local leaders gathered. “And Jesus will save those people and we will baptize them and plug them into a new community and a new family.”
As Mars Hill Everett prepares for their soft launch this week, they have an even bigger date in mind, January 12, 2014. On that Sunday, they, along with three other churches, will officially replant in new buildings, and Mars Hill Phoenix will become the newest church. It’s the beginning of what Pastor Mark Driscoll says will be the most ambitious and aggressive year we’ve ever had.
Following on the heels of January 12, will be Easter, where Pastor Mark is praying 25,000 people will hear the gospel preached from one of our 15 churches. Then, in August, we will have our first ever Jesus Festival, bringing thousands more to Marymoor Park in Redmond, Washington for a time of family fun, worship, and gospel-preaching. The summer will see more preachers come for My Best Sermon Ever. In the fall, Pastor Mark will launch his new book, tentatively titled My Problem with Christianity is…, that will explore nine of the biggest objections people have with Christianity. It will be the biggest evangelistic project we’ve ever done.
The year wouldn’t be complete without planting churches. Pastor Dave Bruskas communicated this morning that we hope to plant in Spokane, Los Angeles, and hopefully somewhere in Texas, either Austin or Dallas.
All of this wouldn’t be possible without the faithful giving of the local family and Global Extended Family of Mars Hill Church. Pastor Sutton Turner said tithing has been up in the last year. So have contributions, which is above-and-beyond giving to the church. The Extended Family of Mars Hill Global has been beyond generous with their contributions. As a result of this, more people are meeting Jesus through Mars Hill in five states and around the world.
The Executive Elders are hoping to increase the ability of planting new churches with the Endowment Fund through Mars Hill Foundation for Planting Churches. The aim of the Endowment Fund is to create a fund that repays itself and plants churches in perpetuity. Donors give to a restricted fund where the principal corpus can be lent to local churches for their church-planting expenses. Once the church is planted, the funds are paid back to the Endowment Fund over a 5- to 10-year period. The beauty is that each church plant effectively funds the next.
Pastor Mark emphasized, “This is a really exciting time at Mars Hill but it’s not normative. We need to remember what Jesus has done. We need to keep preaching and teaching the Bible and calling people to repent of their sin. Then people who don’t know Jesus can meet Jesus, and people who do know him can be strengthened in their relationship with him.”
Even during the strongest and healthiest time in the history of Mars Hill Church, the work isn’t close to being finished. Pastor Mark’s vision of 50 churches with 50,000 people remains strong as we pray Jesus will continue to use Mars Hill Church to make disciples and plant churches.
Below are highlights from some of the churches:
Pastor Ryan Williams—Mars Hill Everett
“We need to know what Jesus said about love. We need to know how Jesus loved his disciples. So we can love one another how Jesus loved.”
Pastor Donovan Medina—Mars Hill Albuquerque
“When we look at Jesus’ disciples, they are already set in their careers, they knew who they were and what they had to do, and Jesus comes in and collides with their world and way of life. Jesus said you’re doing this but I want you to do this. What does it look like for you to be on mission within your context and your surroundings? What does it look like for you to preach the kingdom of God and the kingdom of repentance?”
Pastor Matt Wallace—Mars Hill Huntington Beach
“We’ve seen many evidences of God’s grace, one being that we’re still here. We launched in Orange County almost two years ago and have been very nomadic with tons of transitions. The fact that the church is still here is God’s grace. The fact that, on Sunday, we met in the new space is God’s grace. This isn’t the finish point. We’re just getting started.”
