It’s that time of year again. The sun has started shining for days at a time, the Mariners still have a shot, and smiles are sneaking their way onto the faces of Seattle people. This can only mean one thing: Spring Training.
Once every year, Pastor Mark Driscoll and the senior leaders of Mars Hill gather from the furthest corners of the church to plan out the coming year of ministry. This intensive series of meetings aligns everybody’s vision, gets all of the leaders across Mars Hill on the same page, and gives these leaders the rare chance to enjoy one another’s company over the course of two jam packed days of training. This is their chance to evaluate, plan, reset, prepare, and strategically build the next season at the church. Kind of like the Seahawks preparing for another championship, our pastors evaluate their schedules, strategies, and foreseeable snags.
This year’s spring training took place at Mars Hill U-District. Lead and executive pastors filled the sanctuary for worship, workshops, and training sessions covering everything from vision to growth to financials. They met corporately in addition to breaking up into smaller groups.
Mars Hill’s fiscal year begins on July 1st. Holding Spring Training in May gave each local church’s leaders time to prepare a plan for the entirety of the coming financial year, preparing the church to use its resources in the most effective manner for ministry.
“Spring Training was a great opportunity to gather together and discuss our ministry priorities for the next year. After much prayer and planning, we outlined what we believe will be the way to produce the greatest fruit in making disciples and planting churches. Ultimately this is accomplished through seeking simplicity, consistency, and unity around the message that it is all about Jesus.”
–Pastor Jason Skelton, Executive Pastor of Ministries
“It’s always good to get everyone together and visibly see that Mars Hill is one church in multiple locations. The Executive Elders had a clear vision for the upcoming year. The morale of the men was high. Relationships continue to develop across the board, increasing the unity between the teams leading the local churches and the teams supporting them. Jesus is still on the throne. Jesus is still building his church. Jesus is still seeking and saving the lost. That gets me excited to get back to the work Jesus is doing at Huntington Beach.”
–Pastor Matt Wallace, Lead Pastor of Mars Hill Huntington Beach
“It’s been an honor for Mars Hill U-District to be able to host this event again this year and also a great reminder of Jesus’ grace and God’s sovereignty. To think that in 1996 Pastor Mark sat in the back of this building during a ‘sermon’ on nuclear war and prayed that we would be able to own it so the gospel would be preached and now to see that happening every week makes hosting this event even more special.”
–Pastor Drew Hensley, Lead Pastor of Mars Hill U-District
