1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,500 2 00:00:02,583 --> 00:00:06,875 ♪♪♪ 3 00:00:06,958 --> 00:00:09,667 Well, Mars Hill is like one big, crazy 4 00:00:09,750 --> 00:00:11,625 road trip with Jesus as the driver, 5 00:00:11,667 --> 00:00:15,333 and I thought it would be fun to take folks around 6 00:00:15,375 --> 00:00:18,000 and let them see where we've met in the past, 7 00:00:18,083 --> 00:00:19,500 where we're at in the present, 8 00:00:19,542 --> 00:00:21,875 where we're going in the future. 9 00:00:21,958 --> 00:00:25,333 I get the great joy of seeing most of what Jesus is doing. 10 00:00:25,375 --> 00:00:28,000 Most people only get to see their Community Group, 11 00:00:28,042 --> 00:00:31,083 their church, their service, and they don't really get 12 00:00:31,167 --> 00:00:33,708 to share in all the enthusiasm and joy of everything 13 00:00:33,792 --> 00:00:35,625 that God and his people are doing, 14 00:00:35,667 --> 00:00:38,875 so I'm really excited to be able to take folks 15 00:00:38,958 --> 00:00:41,000 around and let them see what I see. 16 00:00:41,042 --> 00:00:44,125 The last thing I ever thought I would be was a pastor, 17 00:00:44,167 --> 00:00:48,500 because growing up Catholic, the pastor is a guy who lives 18 00:00:48,542 --> 00:00:51,708 at the church, is flat broke, is committed to never 19 00:00:51,792 --> 00:00:55,667 having sex, and walks around in a dress. 20 00:00:55,750 --> 00:01:00,583 So pretty much, that was a last career choice 21 00:01:00,667 --> 00:01:02,625 of all possible career choices. 22 00:01:02,667 --> 00:01:04,125 When he got into high school, 23 00:01:04,167 --> 00:01:10,000 he was always into student body president, 24 00:01:10,083 --> 00:01:13,667 journalist on a newspaper, redid the high school— 25 00:01:13,750 --> 00:01:16,125 somehow or another, he got involved in that. 26 00:01:16,167 --> 00:01:17,917 He was always into something. 27 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:20,125 Yeah, I was a nice-- at least I thought-- 28 00:01:20,167 --> 00:01:21,875 nice, moral Catholic guy. 29 00:01:21,958 --> 00:01:25,583 I had a pretty bad temper, did well in school and sports, 30 00:01:25,667 --> 00:01:30,208 was dating Grace as a high school student, 31 00:01:30,292 --> 00:01:31,583 sleeping with her. 32 00:01:31,667 --> 00:01:32,917 She was a pastor's daughter. 33 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:34,833 So definitely, life was put together wrong. 34 00:01:34,875 --> 00:01:37,375 He introduced himself to me in the hallway. 35 00:01:37,458 --> 00:01:39,500 I think it was at our locker or something, 36 00:01:39,583 --> 00:01:42,917 and he asked me if he could have my phone number, 37 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:44,625 and I said sure, and we talked 38 00:01:44,667 --> 00:01:46,708 for 3 hours that night. 39 00:01:46,792 --> 00:01:50,208 And then I got a scholarship-- tuition, fees, and books-- 40 00:01:50,292 --> 00:01:52,208 for leadership, but the situation was 41 00:01:52,292 --> 00:01:56,708 I had to stay in the state of Washington to get that money. 42 00:01:56,792 --> 00:01:58,875 Washington State University had one of the top five 43 00:01:58,958 --> 00:02:00,917 communication programs in the country, 44 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:03,333 so I decided to go there, just because that's where 45 00:02:03,375 --> 00:02:04,625 I got the most money. 46 00:02:04,667 --> 00:02:07,125 So she graduated a year before I did, 47 00:02:07,167 --> 00:02:09,417 and then she was at Pacific Lutheran University 48 00:02:09,500 --> 00:02:12,917 in Tacoma, and I went out to WSU, 49 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:15,708 was in a frat for about a week or so, 50 00:02:15,792 --> 00:02:17,083 didn't really like frat life. 51 00:02:17,167 --> 00:02:19,708 I didn't drink at all, so if you're not gonna drink 52 00:02:19,792 --> 00:02:22,125 or sleep around, being in a frat's pretty much 53 00:02:22,167 --> 00:02:23,500 the worst choice. 54 00:02:23,542 --> 00:02:26,500 I moved out, and then Grace moved out to be with me 55 00:02:26,583 --> 00:02:29,333 in college right after I became a Christian. 56 00:02:29,375 --> 00:02:31,917 She'd given me a Bible, as soon as she figured out 57 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:34,333 I probably wasn't a Christian-- because I said I was. 58 00:02:34,375 --> 00:02:37,708 You know, I believed in God, and I tried to be a good person, 59 00:02:37,792 --> 00:02:39,000 but I didn't know Jesus. 60 00:02:39,083 --> 00:02:42,417 So she gave me a Bible, and I got an opportunity to sit down 61 00:02:42,500 --> 00:02:45,125 and read it in college, primarily out of curiosity. 62 00:02:45,167 --> 00:02:47,917 I just was wondering, you know, what does it say? 63 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:49,667 What does Jesus have to say? 64 00:02:49,750 --> 00:02:51,208 And became a Christian. 65 00:02:51,292 --> 00:02:53,417 I would think in the book of Romans 66 00:02:53,500 --> 00:02:55,583 is where it all started to click for me. 67 00:02:55,667 --> 00:02:57,000 I didn't have a church home. 68 00:02:57,083 --> 00:02:59,208 I had to go find a church home then, 69 00:02:59,292 --> 00:03:00,625 as a brand-new Christian. 70 00:03:00,667 --> 00:03:03,208 I didn't know what I was looking for in a church, 71 00:03:03,292 --> 00:03:04,583 which was scary. 72 00:03:04,667 --> 00:03:07,000 I met some students at the university who, you know, 73 00:03:07,042 --> 00:03:08,917 they were in-- they called them Bible studies. 74 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:10,833 I didn't know what a Bible study was. 75 00:03:10,875 --> 00:03:12,333 And they seemed like nice guys, 76 00:03:12,375 --> 00:03:14,000 and so I checked out their church. 77 00:03:14,083 --> 00:03:16,167 I praise God all the time for that church. 78 00:03:16,250 --> 00:03:17,625 He was a solid Bible guy. 79 00:03:17,667 --> 00:03:19,375 It was Pullman Evangelical Free Church. 80 00:03:19,458 --> 00:03:21,833 Doug Busby was the pastor, just taught through books 81 00:03:21,875 --> 00:03:24,333 of the Bible, taught me all about Jesus. 82 00:03:24,375 --> 00:03:27,000 He had these Bible studies that he led as well, 83 00:03:27,083 --> 00:03:28,917 so I got in a bunch of those. 84 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:31,583 At one point, I think I was in six Bible studies. 85 00:03:31,667 --> 00:03:33,500 I didn't know you weren't supposed to go 86 00:03:33,583 --> 00:03:34,833 to all the Bible studies. 87 00:03:34,875 --> 00:03:36,500 So they passed out a clipboard, said, 88 00:03:36,583 --> 00:03:38,000 "Hey, we've got these Bible studies." 89 00:03:38,083 --> 00:03:40,625 I was like, "Well, I guess now that I'm a Christian, 90 00:03:40,667 --> 00:03:42,333 I should go to these Bible studies." 91 00:03:42,375 --> 00:03:44,708 So I signed up, I think, for all of them. 92 00:03:44,792 --> 00:03:47,875 So I called Grace, and I told her, "I was reading the Bible, 93 00:03:47,958 --> 00:03:49,583 and I think I'm a Christian now." 94 00:03:49,667 --> 00:03:52,208 And then he called me and told me that he had 95 00:03:52,292 --> 00:03:54,083 accepted Jesus, and I was thrilled. 96 00:03:54,167 --> 00:03:56,500 I wasn't sure even what to say. 97 00:03:56,542 --> 00:04:00,208 I remember being very emotional and crying. 98 00:04:00,292 --> 00:04:02,417 So I just started asking a lot of questions, 99 00:04:02,500 --> 00:04:06,125 how it happened and why he wanted to be a Christian. 100 00:04:06,167 --> 00:04:09,500 I was trying to find out if it was for real. 101 00:04:09,542 --> 00:04:11,875 She had become a Christian as a little girl. 102 00:04:11,958 --> 00:04:14,500 Her daddy was a pastor, but then she wasn't walking 103 00:04:14,542 --> 00:04:17,333 faithfully with God in high school, 104 00:04:17,375 --> 00:04:19,417 and she really came back into a very 105 00:04:19,500 --> 00:04:22,833 vibrant relationship with Jesus in college. 106 00:04:22,875 --> 00:04:25,792 When I was in college, I realized I was 107 00:04:25,833 --> 00:04:27,167 quite a hypocrite. 108 00:04:27,250 --> 00:04:31,333 The Lord opened my eyes, and I chose repentance. 109 00:04:31,375 --> 00:04:33,792 And God sort of got her heart and my heart 110 00:04:33,833 --> 00:04:36,125 at about the exact same time, 111 00:04:36,167 --> 00:04:38,500 and so that's when we decided we really did 112 00:04:38,583 --> 00:04:40,708 want to be together, but we'd gone about it 113 00:04:40,792 --> 00:04:42,000 the wrong way, 114 00:04:42,083 --> 00:04:44,917 but we would kind of start over as Christians and do it 115 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:46,292 a different way. 116 00:04:46,333 --> 00:04:48,708 In the springtime, they had a men's retreat they were 117 00:04:48,792 --> 00:04:50,417 advertising at the church. 118 00:04:50,500 --> 00:04:52,417 I had never been to a men's retreat. 119 00:04:52,500 --> 00:04:54,583 I didn't know guys would go in the woods 120 00:04:54,667 --> 00:04:56,292 unless they were going to shoot something. 121 00:04:56,333 --> 00:04:58,917 One of the pastors who was teaching at the men's retreat 122 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:02,125 said, you know, "You guys need to go get some time with God 123 00:05:02,167 --> 00:05:05,000 "and pray and talk to him and spend some time with him." 124 00:05:05,083 --> 00:05:06,708 And okay, I'm going to do that. 125 00:05:06,792 --> 00:05:09,125 So I remember going for a walk alongside the river, 126 00:05:09,167 --> 00:05:12,208 some camp in the middle of nowhere down in Idaho, 127 00:05:12,292 --> 00:05:16,125 and just told him, "All right God, I belong to you 128 00:05:16,167 --> 00:05:19,917 "and I love you and whatever you want me to do, 129 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:22,000 just let me know." 130 00:05:22,083 --> 00:05:24,500 I didn't really know what I was asking. 131 00:05:24,542 --> 00:05:27,917 And God audibly spoke to me. 132 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:30,917 I was wide awake, just going for a walk. 133 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:33,083 And people ask, "Well, what did he sound like?" 134 00:05:33,167 --> 00:05:35,792 Well, he sounded like he was in charge, that's for sure. 135 00:05:35,833 --> 00:05:40,208 He came back from the retreat with just this crazy energy 136 00:05:40,292 --> 00:05:42,708 that oftentimes you have when you come back 137 00:05:42,792 --> 00:05:44,917 from camp or something like that. 138 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:46,708 And he said four things. 139 00:05:46,792 --> 00:05:49,125 He said, "Marry Grace," which I was glad to hear 140 00:05:49,167 --> 00:05:51,833 because that's what I wanted to do. 141 00:05:51,875 --> 00:05:54,917 "Plant churches, train men, preach the Bible." 142 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:57,500 He said four things, and I'm, "Okay." 143 00:05:57,583 --> 00:05:59,917 I didn't know what to do with that information. 144 00:06:00,042 --> 00:06:02,667 I thought, "Well, okay, marrying sounds reasonable. 145 00:06:02,750 --> 00:06:04,875 "We've been dating a little while. 146 00:06:04,958 --> 00:06:06,625 "And pastor? I don't know. 147 00:06:06,667 --> 00:06:08,000 "I don't know about that. 148 00:06:08,042 --> 00:06:11,333 "I mean, I'm a pastor's kid, but what does that look like for us, 149 00:06:11,375 --> 00:06:13,417 "and do we really know if that's possible? 150 00:06:13,500 --> 00:06:15,208 I mean, we're still young." 151 00:06:15,292 --> 00:06:20,083 It was overwhelming, but it was amazing at the same time. 152 00:06:20,167 --> 00:06:22,000 And so I asked her to marry me. 153 00:06:22,083 --> 00:06:25,000 It was around Christmastime, and then we got married 154 00:06:25,083 --> 00:06:29,000 the following spring before school started. 155 00:06:29,083 --> 00:06:33,625 We got married on August 15th and then went back to college. 156 00:06:33,667 --> 00:06:36,083 Grace and I were renting a house in Wallingford, 157 00:06:36,167 --> 00:06:38,583 not far from here, just a couple of miles away, 158 00:06:38,667 --> 00:06:40,708 and we were working at Antioch Bible Church. 159 00:06:40,792 --> 00:06:43,708 I was interning as the college pastor, 160 00:06:43,792 --> 00:06:46,417 and they had a college ministry that was small 161 00:06:46,500 --> 00:06:48,292 and already going. 162 00:06:48,333 --> 00:06:51,417 And during the summers, they actually met in this area 163 00:06:51,500 --> 00:06:52,917 at the park across the street, 164 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:54,375 and they used this church building. 165 00:06:54,458 --> 00:06:55,708 I did not name it. 166 00:06:55,792 --> 00:06:57,000 It's shameful. 167 00:06:57,083 --> 00:06:58,375 They called it Zoo Crew. 168 00:06:58,458 --> 00:07:01,208 In college, we had a group called Zoo Crew, 169 00:07:01,292 --> 00:07:05,000 where we would meet a lot at the Woodland Park Zoo, 170 00:07:05,083 --> 00:07:08,208 and that's where I met them. 171 00:07:08,292 --> 00:07:12,000 That was probably our first ministry outreach 172 00:07:12,083 --> 00:07:13,917 that I can remember from our college group, 173 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:16,500 an extension from Antioch Bible Church, 174 00:07:16,542 --> 00:07:19,500 where we were getting together for volleyball 175 00:07:19,583 --> 00:07:23,917 and just inviting people that didn't know the Lord to that, 176 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:28,667 and I believe, Mark, where he really started preaching. 177 00:07:28,750 --> 00:07:31,333 I would just say a lot of the beginning, 178 00:07:31,375 --> 00:07:36,208 it was--it was a lot of grace from the Lord. 179 00:07:36,292 --> 00:07:38,917 We were going to a church at the time, liked it. 180 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:41,833 We were plugged in and just felt like God was calling us 181 00:07:41,875 --> 00:07:43,500 to go check out this new church. 182 00:07:43,583 --> 00:07:45,000 There was nothing cool about it. 183 00:07:45,042 --> 00:07:47,125 There was no cool music; the music was terrible. 184 00:07:47,167 --> 00:07:49,083 When we started meeting in that room upstairs, 185 00:07:49,167 --> 00:07:50,792 it was hot and musty and dusty 186 00:07:50,833 --> 00:07:53,167 and she had to stop coming because she was pregnant 187 00:07:53,250 --> 00:07:54,500 and it made her sick. 188 00:07:54,583 --> 00:07:56,917 So I couldn't even go to church with my wife. 189 00:07:57,000 --> 00:07:59,083 We felt like God wanted us to be there. 190 00:07:59,167 --> 00:08:00,500 There was no other reason. 191 00:08:00,542 --> 00:08:03,000 And so when we went to launch Mars Hill, 192 00:08:03,083 --> 00:08:04,917 we started a Bible study in the house. 193 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:06,708 It outgrew the house. 194 00:08:06,792 --> 00:08:09,333 And since we had a little bit of a relationship here, 195 00:08:09,375 --> 00:08:11,708 and the pastor at the time was a good guy, 196 00:08:11,792 --> 00:08:14,292 he allowed us to use the building, 197 00:08:14,333 --> 00:08:19,333 and so we started using the youth room upstairs, 198 00:08:19,375 --> 00:08:22,208 mainly because it was free. 199 00:08:22,292 --> 00:08:27,792 We're going up to what is a third-floor, basically, attic. 200 00:08:27,833 --> 00:08:30,875 It was used, I think, at the time, 201 00:08:30,958 --> 00:08:33,208 as kind of a youth room. 202 00:08:33,292 --> 00:08:35,625 So we started meeting, actually, in this room. 203 00:08:35,667 --> 00:08:38,708 I think it was January 1996. 204 00:08:38,792 --> 00:08:40,500 We'd outgrown our home. 205 00:08:40,542 --> 00:08:44,292 Had, I don't know, maybe 15 or 20 people in our house, 206 00:08:44,333 --> 00:08:46,708 and it got too big for our small rental home. 207 00:08:46,792 --> 00:08:50,208 And so we launched the evening service here, 208 00:08:50,292 --> 00:08:52,500 5 or 6 o'clock. 209 00:08:52,583 --> 00:08:53,917 And it was really simple. 210 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:55,875 So I would get up in the morning, 211 00:08:55,958 --> 00:08:58,333 put my sermon together, and then I would write out 212 00:08:58,375 --> 00:08:59,917 the sermon notes, type them out. 213 00:09:00,042 --> 00:09:03,208 I would take them to Kinko's and photocopy all the sermon notes, 214 00:09:03,292 --> 00:09:06,375 and then I would get the Bibles and the books we were going 215 00:09:06,458 --> 00:09:10,333 to give out, load them into my Toyota pickup truck. 216 00:09:10,375 --> 00:09:13,500 We had two speakers that were actually home speakers 217 00:09:13,542 --> 00:09:17,125 that some rocker brought, and jerry-rigged them. 218 00:09:17,167 --> 00:09:21,333 We had a soundboard that we stole from Antioch Bible Church. 219 00:09:21,375 --> 00:09:22,917 What does that mean? 220 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:26,500 Well, they--I was a college pastor at Antioch, 221 00:09:26,583 --> 00:09:29,917 and they had some extra gear in a closet, 222 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:32,583 and so I took it because we needed a soundboard, 223 00:09:32,667 --> 00:09:35,208 and I put it in my truck and drove it over. 224 00:09:35,292 --> 00:09:39,792 As well, we had a little pulpit that somebody built for me. 225 00:09:39,833 --> 00:09:41,167 We've actually still got that. 226 00:09:41,250 --> 00:09:44,625 I saw it at the downtown Mars Hill location. 227 00:09:44,667 --> 00:09:47,000 And we had an overhead projector 228 00:09:47,042 --> 00:09:50,000 because we had to do song slides. 229 00:09:50,042 --> 00:09:52,667 So it was literally just a light bulb, 230 00:09:52,750 --> 00:09:54,500 and then teardown was me. 231 00:09:54,542 --> 00:09:57,208 So then I'd put the cords away, put the overhead away, 232 00:09:57,292 --> 00:09:59,833 and put the chairs away, and put the tables away, 233 00:09:59,875 --> 00:10:01,917 and so we got home really, really late, 234 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:04,083 and we were still working jobs at the time. 235 00:10:04,167 --> 00:10:06,625 And we actually met in this room from January 236 00:10:06,667 --> 00:10:09,333 until probably about September. 237 00:10:09,375 --> 00:10:12,000 We officially went public with the church in October. 238 00:10:12,083 --> 00:10:15,000 So it actually took us that long to fill this room up, 239 00:10:15,083 --> 00:10:17,167 January to September. 240 00:10:17,250 --> 00:10:20,208 And once we got to 30, 40 people, then it started feeling 241 00:10:20,292 --> 00:10:22,375 like a really big deal. 242 00:10:22,458 --> 00:10:25,708 And so then we had to move into their main sanctuary, 243 00:10:25,792 --> 00:10:28,000 and that was $1,000 a month. 244 00:10:28,083 --> 00:10:30,417 We never did collect an offering. 245 00:10:30,500 --> 00:10:33,083 Instead, I left a simple basket in the back 246 00:10:33,167 --> 00:10:35,833 and just told people, as they felt led, they could give. 247 00:10:35,875 --> 00:10:38,167 The worst Sunday we had, our total collective 248 00:10:38,250 --> 00:10:41,917 Sunday offering was $137. 249 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:45,500 And so for the first years, the church budget was just 250 00:10:45,583 --> 00:10:46,917 our personal budget. 251 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:50,292 There were some times that were really brutal, 252 00:10:50,333 --> 00:10:52,500 where we didn't even have the rent money. 253 00:10:52,542 --> 00:10:55,125 So Grace had an old Subaru that she drove, 254 00:10:55,167 --> 00:10:56,917 and I had a Toyota pickup truck. 255 00:10:57,000 --> 00:10:59,000 Between the two vehicles, we literally had almost 256 00:10:59,083 --> 00:11:02,417 half a million miles on the two vehicles. 257 00:11:02,500 --> 00:11:04,833 And Grace's Subaru, she'd leave it parked out 258 00:11:04,875 --> 00:11:07,583 on the street in Wallingford in front of our rental home. 259 00:11:07,667 --> 00:11:10,208 And on multiple occasions, because the streets are narrow, 260 00:11:10,292 --> 00:11:13,333 people would hit and sideswipe that Subaru. 261 00:11:13,375 --> 00:11:15,625 And I think it was at least three times. 262 00:11:15,667 --> 00:11:18,000 People came and knocked on the door and told her, 263 00:11:18,083 --> 00:11:20,125 "I'm sorry, I just hit your car. 264 00:11:20,167 --> 00:11:23,000 Let me give you a couple of hundred bucks to cover it." 265 00:11:23,083 --> 00:11:26,125 And so there were multiple months that we actually paid 266 00:11:26,167 --> 00:11:29,292 our rent and kept the church afloat because people 267 00:11:29,333 --> 00:11:31,000 kept hitting the Subaru. 268 00:11:31,083 --> 00:11:32,833 By the end, it was pretty battered, 269 00:11:32,875 --> 00:11:34,292 but it paid the bills. 270 00:11:34,333 --> 00:11:36,417 Yeah, it was completely-- I mean, there wasn't any 271 00:11:36,500 --> 00:11:37,917 support, for that matter. 272 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:39,833 I mean, there was very little. 273 00:11:39,875 --> 00:11:42,667 You know, it was all about guys that are, you know, 274 00:11:42,750 --> 00:11:44,333 19-22 or 23 years old, 275 00:11:44,375 --> 00:11:46,000 saying, "We're going to plant a church, 276 00:11:46,083 --> 00:11:49,625 and we're going to do this and we have no idea how to do it." 277 00:11:49,667 --> 00:11:52,000 How were you guys learning how to do ministry? 278 00:11:52,083 --> 00:11:54,917 [laughing] 279 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:57,375 Nobody taught us how to do ministry. 280 00:11:57,458 --> 00:11:58,708 How did I get ordained? 281 00:11:58,792 --> 00:12:01,167 I needed to be licensed so I could do weddings 282 00:12:01,250 --> 00:12:03,125 and funerals and stuff, so I ordained myself. 283 00:12:03,167 --> 00:12:05,292 I got a couple of pastors together and said, 284 00:12:05,333 --> 00:12:07,417 "I don't know what it means to be ordained, 285 00:12:07,500 --> 00:12:09,375 "but I know I need to get ordained 286 00:12:09,458 --> 00:12:10,708 "to do weddings and funerals. 287 00:12:10,792 --> 00:12:13,333 "So could you guys go ahead and ask me some questions? 288 00:12:13,375 --> 00:12:15,708 And if you think I passed, just take a vote." 289 00:12:15,792 --> 00:12:17,667 So I basically put together an ordination committee, 290 00:12:17,750 --> 00:12:19,375 and I got myself ordained. 291 00:12:19,458 --> 00:12:21,708 You know, and I thought, for sure, we'd probably 292 00:12:21,792 --> 00:12:23,000 tap out at 200. 293 00:12:23,083 --> 00:12:25,417 I thought if we can get this thing to 200, 294 00:12:25,500 --> 00:12:26,792 that would be amazing. 295 00:12:26,833 --> 00:12:28,500 And I had big vision for more. 296 00:12:28,583 --> 00:12:30,500 I put together a 40-page vision statement. 297 00:12:30,542 --> 00:12:32,500 I said, "We're going to start a school. 298 00:12:32,542 --> 00:12:34,292 "We're going to plant churches. 299 00:12:34,333 --> 00:12:36,000 We're going to do a record label." 300 00:12:36,042 --> 00:12:38,875 I had this whole vision, and I handed it out to, like, 301 00:12:38,958 --> 00:12:41,000 15 people, and they're like, "Are you kidding me?" 302 00:12:41,083 --> 00:12:42,375 So I had big dreams. 303 00:12:42,458 --> 00:12:46,000 But to be honest with you, man, if we could just get up to 200, 304 00:12:46,042 --> 00:12:47,417 I thought that would be amazing. 305 00:12:47,500 --> 00:12:49,625 I don't know, maybe it's different when you're planting 306 00:12:49,667 --> 00:12:51,500 a church in a place that's more Christian. 307 00:12:51,583 --> 00:12:53,500 So maybe you start at a big church, 308 00:12:53,542 --> 00:12:55,167 and then you get some good people, 309 00:12:55,250 --> 00:12:57,583 and they become the core group, and you raise money, 310 00:12:57,667 --> 00:13:00,792 and you go rent a big building, or you go buy a building, 311 00:13:00,833 --> 00:13:02,500 or the denomination writes a fat check. 312 00:13:02,542 --> 00:13:04,167 I mean, we weren't talking about revival. 313 00:13:04,250 --> 00:13:05,875 We were talking about planting the church, 314 00:13:05,958 --> 00:13:07,917 not taking, you know, a bunch of Christians 315 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:10,917 and getting them excited, but planting the church 316 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:12,708 starting from zero. 317 00:13:12,792 --> 00:13:14,875 When I wasn't working, I would literally just go 318 00:13:14,958 --> 00:13:16,208 to a coffee shop. 319 00:13:16,292 --> 00:13:18,792 I would go to an Irish pub in Wallingford. 320 00:13:18,833 --> 00:13:21,917 I would just literally walk up, introduce myself. 321 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:23,208 "Hey, my name is Mark. 322 00:13:23,292 --> 00:13:25,875 "You know, I'd like to talk to you about some stuff. 323 00:13:25,958 --> 00:13:27,208 Do you got a minute?" 324 00:13:27,292 --> 00:13:29,375 And I'd--they were like, "Yeah, what do you want?" 325 00:13:29,458 --> 00:13:31,333 "Hey, Jesus. Where are you at with Jesus?" 326 00:13:31,375 --> 00:13:32,792 If they said, "I'm a Christian," 327 00:13:32,833 --> 00:13:34,917 I'd be like, "Great, I'm starting a church, man. 328 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:36,875 I need some help. I need you to get onboard?" 329 00:13:36,958 --> 00:13:38,833 And if they said they weren't a Christian, 330 00:13:38,875 --> 00:13:41,417 I'd try to close them, and make them into a Christian, 331 00:13:41,500 --> 00:13:43,125 and then try to get them onboard. 332 00:13:43,167 --> 00:13:44,833 The new Christians have the weirdest questions. 333 00:13:44,875 --> 00:13:47,708 Like, one guy got saved, and he had an enormous porn collection, 334 00:13:47,792 --> 00:13:50,125 and I guess it was worth a lot of money. 335 00:13:50,167 --> 00:13:53,000 And I told him, I said, "Dude, now that you're a Christian, 336 00:13:53,083 --> 00:13:55,000 you've got to throw out your porn collection." 337 00:13:55,042 --> 00:13:56,667 And he looked at me, totally shocked. 338 00:13:56,750 --> 00:13:58,125 He said, "Well, it's vintage porn." 339 00:13:58,167 --> 00:14:00,625 I said, "Dude, I don't care if it's vintage porn. 340 00:14:00,667 --> 00:14:01,917 It's porn." 341 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:03,875 He's like, "But I've even got Nazi porn." 342 00:14:03,958 --> 00:14:06,500 I was like, "I didn't even know there was Nazi porn. 343 00:14:06,583 --> 00:14:08,208 I can't believe you have Nazi porn." 344 00:14:08,292 --> 00:14:11,333 And I said, "Dude, you have got to get rid of your massive 345 00:14:11,375 --> 00:14:12,667 vintage Nazi porn collection." 346 00:14:12,750 --> 00:14:14,375 He said, "Okay, well, I'll sell it." 347 00:14:14,458 --> 00:14:16,083 I said, "No, you can't sell it. 348 00:14:16,167 --> 00:14:17,500 "You can't give it to somebody. 349 00:14:17,583 --> 00:14:19,000 Like, you've got to destroy it." 350 00:14:19,083 --> 00:14:20,333 That was everybody. 351 00:14:20,375 --> 00:14:21,667 That was everybody, every day. 352 00:14:21,750 --> 00:14:23,125 Everybody--you know, "I'm a heroin addict." 353 00:14:23,167 --> 00:14:24,625 It's like, "Hey, get in line." 354 00:14:24,667 --> 00:14:26,625 It's like the DMV. Take a number. 355 00:14:26,667 --> 00:14:28,917 These were people who, you know, they were not, 356 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:30,833 to say the least, they were not churched. 357 00:14:30,875 --> 00:14:32,792 These were not the kids who, you know, 358 00:14:32,833 --> 00:14:35,667 grew up in a homeschool co-op, and the girls made their own 359 00:14:35,750 --> 00:14:37,625 dresses, and the boys buttoned their top button 360 00:14:37,667 --> 00:14:39,083 and won the Bible trivia contest. 361 00:14:39,167 --> 00:14:41,417 Like, that's not who we were getting at all. 362 00:14:41,500 --> 00:14:43,625 When I first showed up to Mars Hill Church, 363 00:14:43,667 --> 00:14:45,625 there was no music at the time. 364 00:14:45,667 --> 00:14:47,917 It was just Mark preaching. 365 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:49,208 It was crazy. 366 00:14:49,292 --> 00:14:51,417 I had never been to a church without music. 367 00:14:51,500 --> 00:14:52,708 It was awesome. 368 00:14:52,792 --> 00:14:57,125 I always sat in the front row with my microphone on because 369 00:14:57,167 --> 00:15:00,208 if anything went down, I needed to jump up and take over. 370 00:15:00,292 --> 00:15:03,625 I think it was the first night, we had an arty guy get up-- 371 00:15:03,667 --> 00:15:06,583 we had a lot of arty guys-- get up and read Nietzsche's 372 00:15:06,667 --> 00:15:08,375 "The Madman." 373 00:15:08,458 --> 00:15:10,333 Instead of the Scripture reading, he read Nietzsche's 374 00:15:10,375 --> 00:15:12,417 "The Madman" with all the lights off. 375 00:15:12,500 --> 00:15:13,917 It's dark at night by candlelight, 376 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:15,667 with a flashlight in his face, 377 00:15:15,750 --> 00:15:18,083 screaming and yelling dramatically. 378 00:15:18,167 --> 00:15:20,375 Freaked everybody out who was a Christian. 379 00:15:20,458 --> 00:15:23,500 Everybody just wanted to get up front and turn it into, 380 00:15:23,583 --> 00:15:29,000 like, open mic poetry slam, heretic reading night. 381 00:15:29,083 --> 00:15:32,333 So then, eventually, our bands, all our musicians left. 382 00:15:32,375 --> 00:15:35,417 Like, "Well, if this is going to be one of those Bible places 383 00:15:35,500 --> 00:15:36,917 where you're in charge, we're leaving." 384 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:38,500 So they all left. 385 00:15:38,583 --> 00:15:40,625 We went, I don't know, weeks, maybe months, 386 00:15:40,667 --> 00:15:43,625 no music at all, which just meant I had to preach for, 387 00:15:43,667 --> 00:15:45,833 I don't know, an hour and 45 minutes 388 00:15:45,875 --> 00:15:48,125 to fill up the whole service with nothing-- 389 00:15:48,167 --> 00:15:49,417 nothing but a sermon. 390 00:15:49,500 --> 00:15:51,375 I'm not saying I'm a great preacher now, 391 00:15:51,458 --> 00:15:52,708 but it was not good. 392 00:15:52,792 --> 00:15:56,500 I think I made up for content and clarity 393 00:15:56,583 --> 00:15:58,083 with volume and anger. 394 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:00,375 Ah! 395 00:16:02,167 --> 00:16:06,417 So I would just yell as loud as I could as long as I could, 396 00:16:06,500 --> 00:16:10,125 and apparently at least a few people found that compelling. 397 00:16:10,167 --> 00:16:11,542 Why? I have no idea. 398 00:16:12,250 --> 00:16:14,667 I feel like we traveled around. 399 00:16:14,750 --> 00:16:16,333 We were like nomads. 400 00:16:16,375 --> 00:16:20,167 Yeah, there were certain Sundays that we could not get 401 00:16:20,250 --> 00:16:23,167 a building, and so we'd meet in parks. 402 00:16:23,250 --> 00:16:27,167 We had church in this park next to the zoo 403 00:16:27,250 --> 00:16:29,417 on more than one occasion. 404 00:16:29,500 --> 00:16:33,583 And then when the summers came and the weather was decent, 405 00:16:33,667 --> 00:16:36,167 I got this idea to teach an outdoor Bible study 406 00:16:36,250 --> 00:16:38,917 that people could invite their non-Christian friends to, 407 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:44,167 and that led us to doing an outdoor Bible study down 408 00:16:44,250 --> 00:16:47,333 by the University of Washington, right off the Montlake Cut. 409 00:16:47,375 --> 00:16:51,500 We'd come down here for teaching time and baptisms. 410 00:16:51,583 --> 00:16:54,167 You know, and on a bad night during the summer here, 411 00:16:54,250 --> 00:16:56,792 we'd have 60, and during a good night, 412 00:16:56,833 --> 00:16:59,500 we'd have 100 maybe. 413 00:16:59,583 --> 00:17:02,167 And everybody would just throw blankets and towels out 414 00:17:02,250 --> 00:17:05,792 and sit down, and then I would stand up and teach. 415 00:17:05,833 --> 00:17:09,625 People would ask questions and talk about Jesus. 416 00:17:09,667 --> 00:17:12,917 And then for the people who did become Christians, 417 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:14,917 we'd baptize them right down on the right, 418 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:17,167 just climb down into the boating channel. 419 00:17:17,250 --> 00:17:19,833 Yeah, one of the real draws for the outdoor Bible study 420 00:17:19,875 --> 00:17:21,500 was you could smoke. 421 00:17:21,542 --> 00:17:23,625 You could smoke during the Bible study. 422 00:17:23,667 --> 00:17:26,833 And so folks like the Harlemans and the Hjertagers and such, 423 00:17:26,875 --> 00:17:28,500 they actually came. 424 00:17:28,583 --> 00:17:30,208 It's now Pastor James. 425 00:17:30,292 --> 00:17:34,583 My roommate, Dave, got a DJ job 426 00:17:34,667 --> 00:17:40,625 at a Mexican restaurant by day, a Goth fetish club by night, 427 00:17:40,667 --> 00:17:42,500 and he was going to be the DJ. 428 00:17:42,583 --> 00:17:45,417 So we, a whole bunch of us, decided we would go down 429 00:17:45,500 --> 00:17:47,708 to try and support our friend Dave 430 00:17:47,792 --> 00:17:50,292 at the Goth fetish Mexican restaurant. 431 00:17:50,333 --> 00:17:52,917 We didn't know where to go because in the back room 432 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:54,375 there were crazy things going on. 433 00:17:54,458 --> 00:17:56,500 So we would just-- I would just chain smoke 434 00:17:56,583 --> 00:17:58,708 and we would talk about movies and different things. 435 00:17:58,792 --> 00:18:00,208 He had a great pickup line. 436 00:18:00,292 --> 00:18:01,917 At the time, obviously, we weren't Christians. 437 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:05,708 And he then said, "So, I have all of the X-Files 438 00:18:05,792 --> 00:18:08,167 on videotape at my house." 439 00:18:08,250 --> 00:18:11,292 And I was like, "That sounds like a great idea." 440 00:18:11,333 --> 00:18:14,000 We were dating for 3 years, and that's when I stumbled 441 00:18:14,083 --> 00:18:16,208 into Mars Hill Church with my roommate 442 00:18:16,292 --> 00:18:17,583 and became a Christian. 443 00:18:17,667 --> 00:18:19,708 And I was like, "Oh, what am I doing? 444 00:18:19,792 --> 00:18:22,125 "I'm dating a non-Christian. I don't know what to do. 445 00:18:22,167 --> 00:18:23,833 Do I have to break up?" 446 00:18:23,875 --> 00:18:26,708 I was just like, "God, I've been a Christian for 5 minutes. 447 00:18:26,792 --> 00:18:28,417 What do I do with my relationship?" 448 00:18:28,500 --> 00:18:30,125 He was so excited about the church 449 00:18:30,167 --> 00:18:32,792 and the sermons and all the things that he was learning. 450 00:18:32,833 --> 00:18:34,500 And he would bring me the notes, 451 00:18:34,542 --> 00:18:37,125 and he'd want to walk through them and talk about it. 452 00:18:37,167 --> 00:18:38,417 He was so excited. 453 00:18:38,500 --> 00:18:43,000 I went sometime in early 1998, and I remember it was dark 454 00:18:43,083 --> 00:18:47,208 and brooding and kind of heavy music and candles, 455 00:18:47,292 --> 00:18:48,917 and I thought that was really cool. 456 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,333 Just no Mexican food or fetish club in the back. 457 00:18:51,375 --> 00:18:53,708 No Mexican food, no whippings going on in the back. 458 00:18:53,792 --> 00:18:55,000 So that was good. 459 00:18:55,083 --> 00:18:57,208 I don't remember a specific light-going-on moment, 460 00:18:57,292 --> 00:18:59,500 but shortly after that, I remember feeling led 461 00:18:59,583 --> 00:19:01,167 to take Communion. 462 00:19:01,250 --> 00:19:03,708 My friend, James, who's Pastor James Harleman, 463 00:19:03,792 --> 00:19:07,500 he was going to the Wednesday night Bible studies. 464 00:19:07,542 --> 00:19:10,208 Greg and I were non-Christians together, 465 00:19:10,292 --> 00:19:13,500 hanging out, knew each other since 1992. 466 00:19:13,583 --> 00:19:15,500 Like, we'd do drugs and different things, 467 00:19:15,583 --> 00:19:19,875 and just take summers off, and eventually just invited him 468 00:19:19,958 --> 00:19:22,125 and the gal he was dating at the time 469 00:19:22,167 --> 00:19:24,500 down to one of our summer Bible studies 470 00:19:24,542 --> 00:19:26,083 because we all smoked. 471 00:19:26,167 --> 00:19:27,792 We could smoke, check things out, 472 00:19:27,833 --> 00:19:30,083 didn't go into a church building. 473 00:19:30,167 --> 00:19:32,917 Right around that time, the Lord was really working 474 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:34,417 on both of us. 475 00:19:34,500 --> 00:19:37,333 I came back to just following God, 476 00:19:37,375 --> 00:19:39,833 and she wasn't really into the God thing. 477 00:19:39,875 --> 00:19:42,500 I counted the offering, and we started getting 478 00:19:42,583 --> 00:19:43,917 these bundles of ones. 479 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:46,833 And I was like, "Where are the bundles of ones coming from?" 480 00:19:46,875 --> 00:19:49,125 Greg and I met in a strip club, 481 00:19:49,167 --> 00:19:51,500 where he was a customer and I was a dancer. 482 00:19:51,583 --> 00:19:53,500 And so then Stephanie was a new Christian. 483 00:19:53,542 --> 00:19:55,167 A lot of people were getting saved, 484 00:19:55,250 --> 00:19:57,833 and she didn't know that she couldn't still be a stripper. 485 00:19:57,875 --> 00:19:59,500 And so we eventually told her, like, 486 00:19:59,583 --> 00:20:00,833 "We don't have Christian strippers." 487 00:20:00,875 --> 00:20:02,500 And she literally told me, you know, 488 00:20:02,583 --> 00:20:03,917 "But I'm tithing." 489 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:06,500 It was just like, "Hey, the whole aspect of your life. 490 00:20:06,583 --> 00:20:08,375 "Here's your job and your career 491 00:20:08,458 --> 00:20:09,917 and your financials." 492 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:11,292 And, whew, out the window. 493 00:20:11,333 --> 00:20:13,917 So then she had to go back to the strip club 494 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:16,833 and tell the girls that she got saved and she was leaving, 495 00:20:16,875 --> 00:20:19,417 and she gave them gifts and shared the gospel with them. 496 00:20:19,500 --> 00:20:20,792 And you can ask her. 497 00:20:20,833 --> 00:20:22,708 She might've even left a Bible with them. 498 00:20:22,792 --> 00:20:24,000 And Stephanie is the best. 499 00:20:24,083 --> 00:20:25,375 And Mark was great. 500 00:20:25,458 --> 00:20:26,833 Mark and Grace, they were like, 501 00:20:26,875 --> 00:20:29,000 "We will show you how to make a budget. 502 00:20:29,083 --> 00:20:30,708 "We will show you how to live. 503 00:20:30,792 --> 00:20:33,333 "We will show you what marriage is supposed to look like. 504 00:20:33,375 --> 00:20:35,292 "We'll show you what life as a believer 505 00:20:35,333 --> 00:20:36,625 is supposed to look like." 506 00:20:36,667 --> 00:20:38,792 We ended up getting married there on the dock. 507 00:20:38,833 --> 00:20:40,292 I showed up in 1997. 508 00:20:40,333 --> 00:20:43,000 I was 19, total punk, non-Christian, 509 00:20:43,042 --> 00:20:44,708 wasn't walking with Jesus. 510 00:20:44,792 --> 00:20:46,875 He was a punk at our wedding. 511 00:20:46,958 --> 00:20:48,583 All the family was over from Montana, 512 00:20:48,667 --> 00:20:49,917 and we're at the apartment. 513 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:52,833 I think it was the day before, and we were hanging out 514 00:20:52,875 --> 00:20:54,125 at the apartment complex. 515 00:20:54,167 --> 00:20:56,583 There was a swimming pool there, and we're hanging out. 516 00:20:56,667 --> 00:20:59,958 And he's got his shirt off, and he's got on one of his arms, 517 00:21:00,083 --> 00:21:01,333 there's this smiley face. 518 00:21:01,375 --> 00:21:02,833 It's like pus and oozing junk. 519 00:21:02,875 --> 00:21:04,500 I'm like, "Jamie, what did you do?" 520 00:21:04,583 --> 00:21:06,208 He was like, "Well, we got drunk 521 00:21:06,292 --> 00:21:07,667 and made a tattoo with cigarettes." 522 00:21:07,750 --> 00:21:10,083 The first service I went to was probably at Laurelhurst. 523 00:21:10,167 --> 00:21:13,917 So we met at the other church by the zoo 524 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:17,500 for the better part of a year between core group and launch. 525 00:21:17,583 --> 00:21:20,167 And then there was a church that died, 526 00:21:20,250 --> 00:21:23,000 a Presbyterian church in this area called Laurelhurst. 527 00:21:23,042 --> 00:21:24,917 The church was ultimately going to be sold, 528 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:27,500 but they were willing to rent it for a little while, 529 00:21:27,583 --> 00:21:29,708 just to make some income until it sold. 530 00:21:29,792 --> 00:21:32,875 So we moved here, and this kind of gave us a big boost 531 00:21:32,958 --> 00:21:35,708 because we could have offices here. 532 00:21:35,792 --> 00:21:37,292 So finally, we had an office. 533 00:21:37,333 --> 00:21:38,917 We had band practice space. 534 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,292 There was a kitchen, classrooms. 535 00:21:41,333 --> 00:21:44,167 So I started a midweek-- basically, a small school. 536 00:21:44,250 --> 00:21:46,208 We'd do church history, and Bible, and apologetics, 537 00:21:46,292 --> 00:21:47,583 and trained leaders, 538 00:21:47,667 --> 00:21:49,500 and it felt like it was getting settled, 539 00:21:49,583 --> 00:21:51,875 and it was getting established. 540 00:21:51,958 --> 00:21:54,792 And so we had maybe 100 people when we moved in here 541 00:21:54,833 --> 00:21:57,417 and one night service, I think it was at 6 o'clock. 542 00:21:57,500 --> 00:22:01,625 And then it filled up and we went to two services here 543 00:22:01,667 --> 00:22:05,625 and the church finally started to grow and get some traction, 544 00:22:05,667 --> 00:22:09,708 and then it all fell apart. 545 00:22:09,792 --> 00:22:14,208 So we moved into this building around Christmas 1996. 546 00:22:14,292 --> 00:22:16,375 The church was just a few months old, 547 00:22:16,458 --> 00:22:19,333 and we were here for, I think, a couple of years. 548 00:22:19,375 --> 00:22:21,417 The church that had been here died, 549 00:22:21,500 --> 00:22:24,292 and so we were able to rent a few classrooms, 550 00:22:24,333 --> 00:22:28,208 a few offices, and use the main room here on Sunday nights, 551 00:22:28,292 --> 00:22:30,125 and it was pretty cool at the time. 552 00:22:30,167 --> 00:22:33,167 A lot of paintings from our artists, candles, 553 00:22:33,250 --> 00:22:36,000 and kind of long, dark winter months of Seattle. 554 00:22:36,083 --> 00:22:37,625 It worked out pretty well. 555 00:22:37,667 --> 00:22:41,000 Jesus, don't miss the big E on the eye chart. 556 00:22:41,083 --> 00:22:44,125 It's all about Jesus. 557 00:22:44,167 --> 00:22:46,583 We were having a hard time really growing. 558 00:22:46,667 --> 00:22:49,500 Kind of an obscure area and had a hard time attracting people, 559 00:22:49,542 --> 00:22:52,000 so I decided I'd preach through the Song of Solomon, 560 00:22:52,042 --> 00:22:53,333 and that did it. 561 00:22:53,375 --> 00:22:55,000 We had the attendance really, really grow, 562 00:22:55,083 --> 00:22:57,917 and so this actually filled up all the way to the balcony. 563 00:22:58,000 --> 00:22:59,833 And then we went to two services here, 564 00:22:59,875 --> 00:23:01,208 and they started filling up. 565 00:23:01,292 --> 00:23:03,875 Around this time as well, we finally started to pick up 566 00:23:03,958 --> 00:23:05,208 some more musicians-- 567 00:23:05,292 --> 00:23:08,125 We'd lost our musicians early on over theological issues. 568 00:23:08,167 --> 00:23:11,125 Many of them kind of basically decided not to be Christians.-- 569 00:23:11,167 --> 00:23:12,833 And one of them was Matt Johnson, 570 00:23:12,875 --> 00:23:14,167 who is now Pastor Matt. 571 00:23:14,250 --> 00:23:16,125 I didn't really grow up in the church. 572 00:23:16,167 --> 00:23:17,833 I became a Christian in high school. 573 00:23:17,875 --> 00:23:19,708 So there wasn't like the trappings of, like, 574 00:23:19,792 --> 00:23:22,000 this is how you do traditional church music. 575 00:23:22,042 --> 00:23:24,625 When I came into Mars Hill, I was a touring musician, 576 00:23:24,667 --> 00:23:26,792 sort of in the punk indie rock world. 577 00:23:26,833 --> 00:23:28,792 Early on, man, it was a mess. 578 00:23:28,833 --> 00:23:31,875 The sound usually probably wasn't very good, 579 00:23:31,958 --> 00:23:35,208 and there was always a problem with the sound gear. 580 00:23:35,292 --> 00:23:37,708 And God blessed the guys that volunteered for that, 581 00:23:37,792 --> 00:23:40,417 but probably half of that crew, 582 00:23:40,500 --> 00:23:42,208 they weren't technically sound guys. 583 00:23:42,292 --> 00:23:45,875 They were just guys trying to help out and learn as we go, 584 00:23:45,958 --> 00:23:49,417 and that's sort of indicative to the whole thing. 585 00:23:49,500 --> 00:23:51,333 We were just learning as we go, right? 586 00:23:51,375 --> 00:23:53,708 I mean, we were all just a bunch of jokers. 587 00:23:53,792 --> 00:23:56,625 We got a notice on a Monday that we lost our lease. 588 00:23:56,667 --> 00:23:58,583 We were just on a week-to-week lease here 589 00:23:58,667 --> 00:24:00,583 because they were trying to sell the building. 590 00:24:00,667 --> 00:24:02,000 They ultimately did sell the building. 591 00:24:02,083 --> 00:24:04,000 We got a notice on a Monday, saying, 592 00:24:04,042 --> 00:24:05,333 "You're kicked out. You're done. 593 00:24:05,375 --> 00:24:06,625 "The building has been sold. 594 00:24:06,667 --> 00:24:08,125 You've got to vacate premises immediately." 595 00:24:08,167 --> 00:24:10,000 So I got my truck, showed up, 596 00:24:10,083 --> 00:24:11,917 and we started loading everything up 597 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:16,167 and started moving because we only had a few days to do so. 598 00:24:16,250 --> 00:24:18,500 And that meant the following Sunday, 599 00:24:18,583 --> 00:24:21,375 we had nowhere to hold church. 600 00:24:21,458 --> 00:24:24,292 I was pretty panicked because I had to leave town on Wednesday 601 00:24:24,333 --> 00:24:26,417 to go speak at a conference because that's how 602 00:24:26,500 --> 00:24:27,917 I was still paying my bills. 603 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:30,333 So I went to a pastors' meeting at downtown Seattle. 604 00:24:30,375 --> 00:24:32,000 I think it was on a Tuesday. 605 00:24:32,083 --> 00:24:34,625 And the guys were like, "Do you have any prayer requests?" 606 00:24:34,667 --> 00:24:36,000 I said, "Yeah, I do." 607 00:24:36,042 --> 00:24:37,917 It was my first time at the meeting. 608 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:39,208 "I need a building." 609 00:24:39,292 --> 00:24:41,417 And they said, "Okay well, we'll pray about that." 610 00:24:41,500 --> 00:24:43,583 I was like, "No, I need a building Sunday." 611 00:24:43,667 --> 00:24:44,917 And I think it's Tuesday. 612 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:47,333 "I'm leaving town Wednesday, so I need a building today." 613 00:24:47,375 --> 00:24:49,667 So the Presbyterian Church downtown took us in. 614 00:24:49,750 --> 00:24:52,333 And to be honest with you, I'm shocked that we actually 615 00:24:52,375 --> 00:24:54,500 survived because the next day-- 616 00:24:54,542 --> 00:24:56,208 I think it was Wednesday-- 617 00:24:56,292 --> 00:24:58,125 somebody broke into the church and stole 618 00:24:58,167 --> 00:25:01,000 our only computer that had our entire database. 619 00:25:01,042 --> 00:25:04,083 So we lost everybody's name, address, phone number. 620 00:25:04,167 --> 00:25:07,000 We had no way to notify people that we were moving. 621 00:25:07,042 --> 00:25:09,167 And so we moved and couldn't tell anyone. 622 00:25:09,250 --> 00:25:11,417 I showed up to preach at downtown, 623 00:25:11,500 --> 00:25:13,208 and hardly anybody was there. 624 00:25:13,292 --> 00:25:15,167 It was one of the most discouraging times 625 00:25:15,250 --> 00:25:16,917 in my whole life. 626 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:18,500 Some of the guys approached me, 627 00:25:18,542 --> 00:25:20,000 including a guy named Marc Policani, 628 00:25:20,042 --> 00:25:22,792 who was a friend and still at the church, 629 00:25:22,833 --> 00:25:26,125 and said, "We need to do this thing called a website, 630 00:25:26,167 --> 00:25:28,625 "and then we could put all of the church information 631 00:25:28,667 --> 00:25:31,208 "on this thing called the Internet, and then, 632 00:25:31,292 --> 00:25:33,625 "you know, when we get kicked out, and we're homeless, 633 00:25:33,667 --> 00:25:35,500 "people can find us because we can just 634 00:25:35,583 --> 00:25:36,875 "change that information. 635 00:25:36,958 --> 00:25:40,167 And so they went ahead as a team of volunteers, 636 00:25:40,250 --> 00:25:45,417 and architected and launched the first Mars Hill website 637 00:25:45,500 --> 00:25:49,583 and shortly thereafter started putting the sermons online. 638 00:25:49,667 --> 00:25:51,500 And we were one of the first churches, 639 00:25:51,583 --> 00:25:54,417 I think, to have a website and one of the first churches, 640 00:25:54,500 --> 00:25:56,833 I'm certain, to give away sermons for free, 641 00:25:56,875 --> 00:25:59,208 and that was way back in the late '90s. 642 00:25:59,292 --> 00:26:01,000 Yeah, I mean, you know, everybody said, 643 00:26:01,042 --> 00:26:02,917 "Oh, you've got to do a tape ministry." 644 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:05,833 And then it was, "Oh, you've got to do a CD ministry." 645 00:26:05,875 --> 00:26:07,292 It's like, we got the catalogs, 646 00:26:07,333 --> 00:26:09,667 the church catalogs on how to buy the tape duplicators 647 00:26:09,750 --> 00:26:11,000 and the CD duplicators. 648 00:26:11,083 --> 00:26:13,625 It's like, "We can't afford that. We don't have any money." 649 00:26:13,667 --> 00:26:16,000 I mean, at that point, we didn't have a photocopier. 650 00:26:16,083 --> 00:26:17,375 We couldn't even make photocopies. 651 00:26:17,458 --> 00:26:19,708 If you have money, you don't have to innovate; 652 00:26:19,792 --> 00:26:21,500 you just purchase. 653 00:26:21,542 --> 00:26:23,167 That's why churches try to buy cool, 654 00:26:23,250 --> 00:26:25,333 which is like, "If we don't have anybody cool, 655 00:26:25,375 --> 00:26:27,292 we'll just go out and hire somebody cool." 656 00:26:27,333 --> 00:26:29,000 Well then, everybody knows they're not cool 657 00:26:29,042 --> 00:26:30,333 because they were for hire. 658 00:26:30,375 --> 00:26:32,208 I mean, one thing you'll continually be able 659 00:26:32,292 --> 00:26:34,875 to theme and thread together in the story of God's grace 660 00:26:34,958 --> 00:26:37,292 at Mars Hill Church is that things would go 661 00:26:37,333 --> 00:26:41,500 very, very wrong, very bad, and then it would 662 00:26:41,583 --> 00:26:44,333 force a season of creativity and innovation 663 00:26:44,375 --> 00:26:46,792 and commitment and toughness. 664 00:26:46,833 --> 00:26:49,167 And then the church would do things differently 665 00:26:49,250 --> 00:26:52,125 than other churches, and then the church would grow. 666 00:26:52,167 --> 00:26:56,875 The worst seasons ended up becoming the most innovative. 667 00:26:56,958 --> 00:27:00,083 Out of sheer necessity, when you're flat broke 668 00:27:00,167 --> 00:27:04,333 and on the brink of ceasing to exist, all of a sudden, 669 00:27:04,375 --> 00:27:07,292 in the grace of God, the Holy Spirit brings to you 670 00:27:07,333 --> 00:27:10,208 some creative people or some ideas or resources 671 00:27:10,292 --> 00:27:13,083 to do things in a way that other people, perhaps, 672 00:27:13,167 --> 00:27:15,000 haven't done it to that point. 673 00:27:15,042 --> 00:27:17,875 And then all of a sudden it works, and it opens up 674 00:27:17,958 --> 00:27:19,625 a whole new way of doing ministry, 675 00:27:19,667 --> 00:27:23,667 church planting, Internet use, sermon delivery, media, 676 00:27:23,750 --> 00:27:25,000 all of that. 677 00:27:25,083 --> 00:27:28,333 Once we got kicked out of that building, literally 678 00:27:28,375 --> 00:27:30,333 everything moved back into our house. 679 00:27:30,375 --> 00:27:32,667 So offices in our house across from our bedroom, 680 00:27:32,750 --> 00:27:34,208 interns in the basement. 681 00:27:34,292 --> 00:27:35,667 Poor Grace. 682 00:27:35,750 --> 00:27:37,500 Like, it was so ghetto down there 683 00:27:37,542 --> 00:27:39,792 because, I mean, you know bachelors. 684 00:27:39,833 --> 00:27:41,583 There's like three guys living down there, 685 00:27:41,667 --> 00:27:44,125 and the dishes would just stack up, stack up. 686 00:27:44,167 --> 00:27:47,208 I remember they'd start stinking real bad. 687 00:27:47,292 --> 00:27:49,417 And every couple of weeks, like, 688 00:27:49,500 --> 00:27:50,708 we'd see the dishes done. 689 00:27:50,792 --> 00:27:52,667 I'd come home from work, and I'd say, 690 00:27:52,750 --> 00:27:54,625 "Hey, man, did you do the dishes? Thanks." 691 00:27:54,667 --> 00:27:57,000 He was like, "Nah, I think Grace did them again." 692 00:27:57,083 --> 00:27:59,333 We shared laundry facilities and so, yeah, 693 00:27:59,375 --> 00:28:01,417 I just ended up cleaning half the time, 694 00:28:01,500 --> 00:28:04,417 because it was--I couldn't even stay down there to do laundry. 695 00:28:04,500 --> 00:28:07,125 It was so disgusting. 696 00:28:07,167 --> 00:28:09,667 Sorry, sorry, Grace. 697 00:28:09,750 --> 00:28:12,167 We had just picked up Pastor Tim in Albuquerque, New Mexico, 698 00:28:12,250 --> 00:28:14,208 around that time and he had never played 699 00:28:14,292 --> 00:28:15,625 an electric guitar. 700 00:28:15,667 --> 00:28:17,125 He'd never sung in a band. 701 00:28:17,167 --> 00:28:19,500 He'd never written a song, and he couldn't sing, man. 702 00:28:19,583 --> 00:28:21,917 When he sang, it actually sounded like he got captured 703 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:23,208 by Al-Qaeda. 704 00:28:23,292 --> 00:28:26,125 So we had to pay for vocal lessons and go buy him 705 00:28:26,167 --> 00:28:27,500 an electric guitar. 706 00:28:27,542 --> 00:28:29,875 The kind of worshipers that he is seeking are those 707 00:28:29,958 --> 00:28:32,333 that will worship in spirit and truth, 708 00:28:32,375 --> 00:28:35,125 and that is a thought that has changed every aspect 709 00:28:35,167 --> 00:28:37,083 of how I think. 710 00:28:37,167 --> 00:28:38,500 When I came to Mars Hill, 711 00:28:38,583 --> 00:28:40,792 I had never really been in a band. 712 00:28:40,833 --> 00:28:42,500 I played a lot of acoustic guitar 713 00:28:42,542 --> 00:28:45,125 with hand drums, but I hadn't really been in a band. 714 00:28:45,167 --> 00:28:47,917 I hadn't ever really written a song, 715 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:50,792 and I'd never owned an electric guitar-- 716 00:28:50,833 --> 00:28:54,875 a lot of acoustic, a lot of flannel, a lot of sandals. 717 00:28:54,958 --> 00:28:58,333 Tim and his wife moved out from Missouri 718 00:28:58,375 --> 00:29:00,917 to live in my basement and go work Joe jobs 719 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:03,833 and give it a shot because we met him for 20 minutes 720 00:29:03,875 --> 00:29:05,875 at a conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 721 00:29:05,958 --> 00:29:07,333 Because you weren't at that conference. 722 00:29:07,375 --> 00:29:08,833 No no, it was just him. 723 00:29:08,875 --> 00:29:11,208 You hadn't met these people. You hadn't read these things. 724 00:29:11,292 --> 00:29:14,208 I just came home from New Mexico from this conference 725 00:29:14,292 --> 00:29:16,833 and said, "Hey, what if we moved to Seattle now?" 726 00:29:16,875 --> 00:29:18,792 That was a little harder sell for me. 727 00:29:18,833 --> 00:29:20,917 We had to pray about that for a while. 728 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:22,625 Yeah, because we didn't know anybody here. 729 00:29:22,667 --> 00:29:24,000 No, no. 730 00:29:24,042 --> 00:29:28,833 So in August of 1999, we rolled into 731 00:29:28,875 --> 00:29:31,208 the Driscoll family's driveway. 732 00:29:31,292 --> 00:29:35,625 It was the second time I'd ever seen Pastor Mark. 733 00:29:35,667 --> 00:29:37,917 We talked on the phone a time or two 734 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:39,417 and exchanged a couple of e-mails. 735 00:29:39,500 --> 00:29:41,833 I think we both met Grace here in this basement 736 00:29:41,875 --> 00:29:44,625 while she was doing the laundry. 737 00:29:44,667 --> 00:29:47,625 We had a dining table right here and some chairs, 738 00:29:47,667 --> 00:29:50,417 and there was a futon right here. 739 00:29:50,500 --> 00:29:51,792 It was a little nicer. 740 00:29:51,833 --> 00:29:53,125 The bathroom was nice, right? 741 00:29:53,167 --> 00:29:54,417 Oh, yeah. 742 00:29:54,500 --> 00:29:56,500 I'm not going to-- I'm not sharing that part. 743 00:29:56,583 --> 00:29:59,417 Matt lived in the basement, and I was over there a lot, 744 00:29:59,500 --> 00:30:01,708 and I did silk screening. 745 00:30:01,792 --> 00:30:05,000 I cleaned off my screens in his shower downstairs 746 00:30:05,042 --> 00:30:06,667 and totally stained it. 747 00:30:06,750 --> 00:30:08,500 I think that was permanent. 748 00:30:08,542 --> 00:30:11,917 And so I wrecked his basement. 749 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:14,000 That's the first thing I cleaned. 750 00:30:14,083 --> 00:30:15,500 I'll just say that. 751 00:30:15,583 --> 00:30:17,708 It was okay for a period of time. 752 00:30:17,792 --> 00:30:19,500 We knew it wasn't forever, so-- 753 00:30:19,583 --> 00:30:24,333 Years later, I would ask Mark, I asked him, "Why in the world 754 00:30:24,375 --> 00:30:26,083 "did you do that? 755 00:30:26,167 --> 00:30:28,000 "Because I'm pretty sure you haven't just taken 756 00:30:28,083 --> 00:30:30,167 "anybody else in, and I'm not sure I would 757 00:30:30,250 --> 00:30:31,500 exactly the same way, either." 758 00:30:31,583 --> 00:30:34,917 And he said that he had a dream that God told him 759 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:37,125 that I was moving here, and we were supposed 760 00:30:37,167 --> 00:30:39,833 to work together. 761 00:30:39,875 --> 00:30:43,625 I had no idea what was in store, but apparently God did. 762 00:30:43,667 --> 00:30:45,583 So we started meeting by the zoo, 763 00:30:45,667 --> 00:30:48,333 and then we moved over to Laurelhurst on the other side 764 00:30:48,375 --> 00:30:50,208 of the University of Washington. 765 00:30:50,292 --> 00:30:52,208 Kicked out with 6 days' notice. 766 00:30:52,292 --> 00:30:54,500 The Presbyterian Church downtown kindly took us in 767 00:30:54,583 --> 00:30:56,500 for a Sunday night service. 768 00:30:56,542 --> 00:30:59,500 The building was way too big, the room was way too big, 769 00:30:59,542 --> 00:31:03,875 it didn't work at all, but it was better than being homeless. 770 00:31:03,958 --> 00:31:06,125 Come time for the service to start, 771 00:31:06,167 --> 00:31:08,917 we'd turn off as many of the lights as we could, 772 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:11,083 just have a couple of spotlights on the front. 773 00:31:11,167 --> 00:31:13,417 Sometimes we'd light incense. 774 00:31:13,500 --> 00:31:14,833 It was dark. 775 00:31:14,875 --> 00:31:17,792 It was moody. 776 00:31:17,833 --> 00:31:22,167 At that point, musically, the rule was, "We don't have 777 00:31:22,250 --> 00:31:24,208 "a license to play popular Christian music, 778 00:31:24,292 --> 00:31:25,583 and we never will." 779 00:31:25,667 --> 00:31:27,917 Basically, there was just nothing that you had ever 780 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:29,583 heard of before in church. 781 00:31:29,667 --> 00:31:31,708 There was some things that looked kind of Catholic. 782 00:31:31,792 --> 00:31:33,667 Like, there were candles and stuff all around, 783 00:31:33,750 --> 00:31:35,917 but then there's like a guy playing didgeridoo 784 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:40,000 for the offering piece. 785 00:31:44,083 --> 00:31:59,083 ♪♪♪ 786 00:32:00,083 --> 00:32:03,000 First Pres, downtown, 150 people. 787 00:32:03,083 --> 00:32:05,125 Mark read an entire chapter of the Bible, 788 00:32:05,167 --> 00:32:06,417 and it was incredible. 789 00:32:06,500 --> 00:32:08,125 I'd never heard a preacher do that. 790 00:32:08,167 --> 00:32:11,292 We grew up in churches that tended towards the half of half 791 00:32:11,333 --> 00:32:13,833 of a verse for three points to a healthy marriage, 792 00:32:13,875 --> 00:32:15,917 and Mark read an entire chapter. 793 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:19,917 And I remember walking down that right-hand aisle, leaving, 794 00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:22,333 and God said, "You're going to work for these guys." 795 00:32:22,375 --> 00:32:24,500 And so then that's why we stayed 796 00:32:24,542 --> 00:32:27,500 because I was going to get to work for them somehow. 797 00:32:27,542 --> 00:32:29,417 But what I forgot to ask, though, would be, 798 00:32:29,500 --> 00:32:31,583 how much money was I going to get paid, 799 00:32:31,667 --> 00:32:34,208 and was it going to be a job that I liked? 800 00:32:34,292 --> 00:32:37,125 And it turned out that it was going to be an internship 801 00:32:37,167 --> 00:32:39,500 that paid me nothing at a live, all-ages concert venue, 802 00:32:39,583 --> 00:32:41,917 and I don't like live music, especially not that stuff. 803 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:43,208 So this is the Paradox. 804 00:32:43,292 --> 00:32:46,208 After we were homeless and we started running services 805 00:32:46,292 --> 00:32:48,833 downtown at University Presbyterian Church, 806 00:32:48,875 --> 00:32:50,833 we wanted to get a more permanent home, 807 00:32:50,875 --> 00:32:52,208 so this building opened up. 808 00:32:52,292 --> 00:32:53,917 One of the elders had bought it, 809 00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:55,875 had a vision for putting a church there 810 00:32:55,958 --> 00:32:58,292 and doing a bunch of different things, music and stuff. 811 00:32:58,333 --> 00:32:59,708 It was this old, beat-down theatre 812 00:32:59,792 --> 00:33:02,917 and when we got in there, I don't think it had been used 813 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:05,417 for quite a while, and it was in rough shape. 814 00:33:05,500 --> 00:33:07,833 We did Sunday night services, and then we started running 815 00:33:07,875 --> 00:33:11,333 all-age punk shows underneath the cover of the church-- 816 00:33:11,375 --> 00:33:12,917 not Christian shows. 817 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:14,500 We didn't have Christian bands. 818 00:33:14,583 --> 00:33:16,667 We didn't preach at the kids, no altar calls, 819 00:33:16,750 --> 00:33:19,625 none of that--just hardcore punk bands coming through. 820 00:33:19,667 --> 00:33:21,833 I think we did like eight shows a week 821 00:33:21,875 --> 00:33:24,333 and two worship services a Sunday, 822 00:33:24,375 --> 00:33:26,500 just crusty punk, indie. 823 00:33:26,583 --> 00:33:28,333 It was bad. 824 00:33:28,375 --> 00:33:30,083 I counted it once. 825 00:33:30,167 --> 00:33:33,500 We ran over 1,000 shows in 3 years 826 00:33:33,583 --> 00:33:36,708 and a lot of those shows were like hardcore metal bands 827 00:33:36,792 --> 00:33:40,208 and you'd have 5 to 8 bands in one night. 828 00:33:40,292 --> 00:33:43,125 There was a band once at the Paradox that were from Japan. 829 00:33:43,167 --> 00:33:46,208 I don't even know what kind of music this would be called, 830 00:33:46,292 --> 00:33:48,500 but it's some kind of, like, Pokemon, like, 831 00:33:48,583 --> 00:33:50,583 crazy Japanese stuff. 832 00:33:50,667 --> 00:33:54,000 The rules of the Paradox were obey the law. 833 00:33:54,042 --> 00:33:55,417 So we're an all-ages club, right? 834 00:33:55,500 --> 00:33:59,708 So you don't get naked and you don't drink. 835 00:33:59,792 --> 00:34:02,417 This guy and this gal come over from Japan, 836 00:34:02,500 --> 00:34:05,083 and they're basically, like, performing all these songs 837 00:34:05,167 --> 00:34:07,083 to a CD that they've prerecorded 838 00:34:07,167 --> 00:34:09,708 all these tracks for, so this is kind of like karaoke. 839 00:34:09,792 --> 00:34:11,667 There was this language barrier, 840 00:34:11,750 --> 00:34:16,333 and he took off his clothes in the middle of their set. 841 00:34:16,375 --> 00:34:20,833 The guy proceeds to take off all of his clothes 842 00:34:20,875 --> 00:34:24,208 and chase the girl around the stage, like, 843 00:34:24,292 --> 00:34:27,125 with a giant dog bone. 844 00:34:27,167 --> 00:34:30,667 Josh Norris at the time was, like, walks up: 845 00:34:30,750 --> 00:34:32,833 "No, no, no, no, no!" 846 00:34:32,875 --> 00:34:35,417 And there was this real language barrier, 847 00:34:35,500 --> 00:34:37,708 and he ended up totally embarrassing the dude, 848 00:34:37,792 --> 00:34:41,833 which was deserved because he's nude in an all-ages club. 849 00:34:41,875 --> 00:34:45,417 I would say that that was one of the biggest places where we 850 00:34:45,500 --> 00:34:48,708 saw conversion growth, was through the Paradox. 851 00:34:48,792 --> 00:34:51,833 There was this guy who was an atheist, 852 00:34:51,875 --> 00:34:54,833 straight-edge concert promoter that we were working with, 853 00:34:54,875 --> 00:34:56,125 named Wally. 854 00:34:56,167 --> 00:34:58,333 Wally was the guy that was booking a lot 855 00:34:58,375 --> 00:35:00,417 of the hardcore shows, the straight-edge shows. 856 00:35:00,500 --> 00:35:03,000 And he was pretty antagonistic about the church, 857 00:35:03,083 --> 00:35:05,833 but somehow we had managed to build a bridge. 858 00:35:05,875 --> 00:35:08,000 You know, eventually, he's having these long 859 00:35:08,083 --> 00:35:10,708 conversations with Jeff Bettger, 860 00:35:10,792 --> 00:35:13,708 and they're having these dialogues about Christianity. 861 00:35:13,792 --> 00:35:15,917 So Wally starts showing up to church, 862 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:18,833 you know, and I think he was the guy in the back, 863 00:35:18,875 --> 00:35:21,000 kind of with his arms crossed for a while, 864 00:35:21,042 --> 00:35:22,333 just checking it out. 865 00:35:22,375 --> 00:35:24,000 And by the time we were done, 866 00:35:24,083 --> 00:35:27,000 he had given his life over to Jesus. 867 00:35:27,083 --> 00:35:30,833 He came to Christ, and he's still at Mars Hill. 868 00:35:30,875 --> 00:35:32,833 He's going to the Bellevue church. 869 00:35:32,875 --> 00:35:36,500 To this day, he ended up marrying a single mom 870 00:35:36,583 --> 00:35:42,708 and adopting her child, and he's seeking to be 871 00:35:42,792 --> 00:35:44,667 a godly man and husband. 872 00:35:44,750 --> 00:35:46,833 This is where I met Bubba and Shelly Jennings, 873 00:35:46,875 --> 00:35:48,208 Pastor Bubba. 874 00:35:48,292 --> 00:35:50,625 They showed up, and they were married, 875 00:35:50,667 --> 00:35:52,667 and they looked sober, and so I thought, 876 00:35:52,750 --> 00:35:55,333 "Well, they could be leaders," and that worked out really well. 877 00:35:55,375 --> 00:35:57,708 Yeah, I looked it up online, and since there was 878 00:35:57,792 --> 00:36:00,708 a Sunday night service, it was easier to drive the 65 miles. 879 00:36:00,792 --> 00:36:02,417 I don't think anyone talked to us 880 00:36:02,500 --> 00:36:03,917 the first time we were there. 881 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:05,833 No one said hello. No one greeted us. 882 00:36:05,875 --> 00:36:08,375 It was dark, it was dirty, it was grimy. 883 00:36:08,458 --> 00:36:10,917 Pastor Mark yelled and screamed at us, 884 00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:12,625 told us to repent. 885 00:36:12,667 --> 00:36:15,500 We left that experience and on the drive home, 886 00:36:15,583 --> 00:36:18,125 we would talk about, you know, what had happened. 887 00:36:18,167 --> 00:36:20,292 And I remember looking at her and saying, 888 00:36:20,333 --> 00:36:21,833 "What'd you think?" 889 00:36:21,875 --> 00:36:23,917 And--but that experience, we were like, 890 00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:25,208 "That was awesome." 891 00:36:25,292 --> 00:36:26,583 Yeah. 892 00:36:26,667 --> 00:36:28,292 There was an event at the Paradox, 893 00:36:28,333 --> 00:36:30,208 and Pastor Mark's getting all the guys together. 894 00:36:30,292 --> 00:36:31,667 'Cause guys would repent of sin, 895 00:36:31,750 --> 00:36:34,083 and then they want to meet and they'd be talking. 896 00:36:34,167 --> 00:36:35,500 "Oh, I'm sleeping with my girlfriend." 897 00:36:35,583 --> 00:36:36,875 "Oh, I'm looking at porn." 898 00:36:36,958 --> 00:36:38,333 "Oh, I can't get a job." 899 00:36:38,375 --> 00:36:41,208 "Oh, I don't know what I want to do with my life." 900 00:36:41,292 --> 00:36:44,125 And it got to the point where I couldn't have that many 901 00:36:44,167 --> 00:36:46,792 counseling meetings, so I just decided to bring all the guys 902 00:36:46,833 --> 00:36:49,417 together and absolutely yell at all of them at one time. 903 00:36:49,500 --> 00:36:51,333 And so I called an all-men's church meeting. 904 00:36:51,375 --> 00:36:53,375 People actually flew in to attend. 905 00:36:53,458 --> 00:36:56,583 The instructions are, "Grab two stones. 906 00:36:56,667 --> 00:36:59,500 "Read 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. 907 00:36:59,583 --> 00:37:01,667 "And when you finish, read them again. 908 00:37:01,750 --> 00:37:03,583 And when you finish, read them again." 909 00:37:03,667 --> 00:37:08,708 And we all show up and they hand us a pair of rocks. 910 00:37:08,792 --> 00:37:10,917 We literally filled up every single seat. 911 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:13,500 I met every guy at the door and I told them, 912 00:37:13,583 --> 00:37:16,167 "I want you to shut up. You're not allowed to talk. 913 00:37:16,250 --> 00:37:17,500 "Nobody is allowed to speak. 914 00:37:17,583 --> 00:37:19,667 "You guys all just sit down and shut up 915 00:37:19,750 --> 00:37:21,375 until I'm ready to yell at you." 916 00:37:21,458 --> 00:37:23,792 And you just keep reading 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus; 917 00:37:23,833 --> 00:37:25,208 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, wondering, 918 00:37:25,292 --> 00:37:26,917 "Why do I have these two stones?" 919 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:29,333 I think half the people probably thought he was going 920 00:37:29,375 --> 00:37:32,500 to apologize for some of his harsher rants 921 00:37:32,583 --> 00:37:35,708 that he'd posted online and then say, you know, 922 00:37:35,792 --> 00:37:37,917 "You without sin, cast the first stone." 923 00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:39,917 And that silence was just so palatable, 924 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:43,333 just like, "What's going to happen?" 925 00:37:43,375 --> 00:37:45,000 Like you're waiting for an earthquake, 926 00:37:45,083 --> 00:37:47,083 like, "When's it going to hit?" 927 00:37:47,167 --> 00:37:50,208 And Driscoll had just had it and he was losing his mind. 928 00:37:50,292 --> 00:37:53,708 Pastor Mark then goes off on the guys. 929 00:37:53,792 --> 00:37:56,208 Pastor Mark gets up onstage and just starts yelling! 930 00:37:56,292 --> 00:37:58,000 It seemed like a couple of hours, 931 00:37:58,083 --> 00:38:00,208 just yelling at us about all of our perversion, 932 00:38:00,292 --> 00:38:03,208 all of our laziness, all of our lack of drive and ambition, 933 00:38:03,292 --> 00:38:05,000 all of our ungodly living. 934 00:38:05,083 --> 00:38:07,417 "You belong to Jesus. I'm giving you your stones back. 935 00:38:07,500 --> 00:38:09,875 "It's your church. We've got to fix this building. 936 00:38:09,958 --> 00:38:12,792 "We've got to raise the money. We've got to do this thing. 937 00:38:12,833 --> 00:38:14,708 This is what God told us to do." 938 00:38:14,792 --> 00:38:17,125 So I got up there and I preached a sermon 939 00:38:17,167 --> 00:38:19,000 on what it means to be a man. 940 00:38:19,083 --> 00:38:21,208 I literally think the sermon went about 3 hours, 941 00:38:21,292 --> 00:38:23,125 screamed and yelled at all of the guys. 942 00:38:23,167 --> 00:38:26,833 All of us just completely, like, laid open, and he says, 943 00:38:26,875 --> 00:38:30,292 "You guys are men, and until you find your own stones, 944 00:38:30,333 --> 00:38:31,625 use these." 945 00:38:31,667 --> 00:38:34,708 And then closed in prayer and told them to shut up and leave. 946 00:38:34,792 --> 00:38:37,375 And for a lot of us, this is the first time 947 00:38:37,458 --> 00:38:39,500 we heard this kind of stuff. 948 00:38:39,542 --> 00:38:43,708 Hearing the truth that we needed to man-up 949 00:38:43,792 --> 00:38:46,333 and that God had something better for us, 950 00:38:46,375 --> 00:38:48,500 and we weren't seeing clearly-- 951 00:38:48,542 --> 00:38:50,625 Guys glued those things to their dashboards. 952 00:38:50,667 --> 00:38:52,833 They kept them in their pockets all the time. 953 00:38:52,875 --> 00:38:55,417 It was just this reminder of God has made us men, 954 00:38:55,500 --> 00:38:57,625 and we will be men. Who does that stuff? 955 00:38:57,667 --> 00:39:00,208 We kept hearing that over and over and over again, 956 00:39:00,292 --> 00:39:04,083 sermon after sermon after sermon addressed towards men, 957 00:39:04,167 --> 00:39:08,125 specifically young men, specifically, 958 00:39:08,167 --> 00:39:12,417 taking initiative to lead and love well like Jesus. 959 00:39:12,500 --> 00:39:15,500 And that was life-changing, life-changing. 960 00:39:15,583 --> 00:39:18,500 There was maybe 100-120 guys at that time. 961 00:39:18,583 --> 00:39:20,917 Probably the average age was maybe early 20s, 962 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:22,417 20 years old. 963 00:39:22,500 --> 00:39:23,917 You're talking college guys. 964 00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:26,333 But a lot of those guys, to this very day, 965 00:39:26,375 --> 00:39:28,000 they did it, man. 966 00:39:28,042 --> 00:39:29,500 They're running companies. They're deacons, elders. 967 00:39:29,583 --> 00:39:31,083 They're starting churches. 968 00:39:31,167 --> 00:39:32,833 They've gotten married. They're having kids. 969 00:39:32,875 --> 00:39:35,500 Their lives are changed and they are still, you know, 970 00:39:35,583 --> 00:39:39,917 hands up, chin down, feet forward, getting it done. 971 00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:44,333 And it's just really cool what God did in this place. 972 00:39:44,375 --> 00:39:47,625 So we went from Emmanuel to Laurelhurst building, 973 00:39:47,667 --> 00:39:49,917 got kicked out of there with 6 days' notice, 974 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:52,417 ended up downtown, and we were again on a week-to-week 975 00:39:52,500 --> 00:39:56,208 situation there, so we had to find a permanent location. 976 00:39:56,292 --> 00:40:00,208 I caught word that a church in an area called Ballard, 977 00:40:00,292 --> 00:40:02,917 which, from where we were meeting downtown-- 978 00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:04,375 I'm trying to think about it-- 979 00:40:04,458 --> 00:40:07,208 probably a 35-minute drive out to Ballard, 980 00:40:07,292 --> 00:40:09,125 and Ballard is nowhere. 981 00:40:09,167 --> 00:40:11,167 Ballard is up against the water 982 00:40:11,250 --> 00:40:13,125 so there's not even people there. 983 00:40:13,167 --> 00:40:16,917 It's really far off the freeway, but there was a church there. 984 00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:19,833 The long and the short of it is a number of churches 985 00:40:19,875 --> 00:40:21,708 were vying to get this free building, 986 00:40:21,792 --> 00:40:24,375 even though it was in rough shape. 987 00:40:24,458 --> 00:40:26,625 And to help broker the deal-- 988 00:40:26,667 --> 00:40:29,000 we didn't have Sunday morning services yet-- 989 00:40:29,083 --> 00:40:31,125 I put on a suit. 990 00:40:31,167 --> 00:40:35,833 I had to go get one, and a tie, and got a King James Bible, 991 00:40:35,875 --> 00:40:38,375 and I started rolling over and preaching sometimes 992 00:40:38,458 --> 00:40:41,000 on Sunday mornings to all the older, 993 00:40:41,083 --> 00:40:44,667 more conservative Christian grandmas, 994 00:40:44,750 --> 00:40:48,208 hoping to get them to like this kid with a beard. 995 00:40:48,292 --> 00:40:50,167 I grew a beard so I'd look older. 996 00:40:50,250 --> 00:40:51,917 It came down to it, 997 00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:54,125 us and I think it was a Chinese church, 998 00:40:54,167 --> 00:40:56,083 who was going to get this free building? 999 00:40:56,167 --> 00:40:57,583 Small building, middle of nowhere, 1000 00:40:57,667 --> 00:40:58,917 one parking space. 1001 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:01,125 Hey, but it's a home, and we were homeless. 1002 00:41:01,167 --> 00:41:03,500 And hey, it's 35 minutes away, but it's a home. 1003 00:41:03,583 --> 00:41:06,208 And they voted to give it to the other church. 1004 00:41:06,292 --> 00:41:08,625 At the last minute, it was a huge God thing. 1005 00:41:08,667 --> 00:41:10,708 He just--they just all of a sudden decided 1006 00:41:10,792 --> 00:41:12,625 they didn't want it. 1007 00:41:12,667 --> 00:41:15,333 And the other church then turned them down 1008 00:41:15,375 --> 00:41:17,417 because the building was too small, 1009 00:41:17,500 --> 00:41:20,917 too obscure, middle of nowhere, and needed too much work. 1010 00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:24,167 And so, yay, we got the free building that nobody else 1011 00:41:24,250 --> 00:41:27,167 wanted, and that's when we started our very first 1012 00:41:27,250 --> 00:41:29,583 Sunday morning services. 1013 00:41:29,667 --> 00:41:32,500 The fact that we were now going to have morning church 1014 00:41:32,583 --> 00:41:35,375 was just-- we were ecstatic. 1015 00:41:35,458 --> 00:41:37,375 It was hallelujah time. 1016 00:41:37,458 --> 00:41:39,083 I mean, it was unbelievable. 1017 00:41:39,167 --> 00:41:40,833 We hadn't had morning services 1018 00:41:40,875 --> 00:41:42,583 because we couldn't afford it. 1019 00:41:42,667 --> 00:41:44,000 We were absolutely broke, 1020 00:41:44,083 --> 00:41:46,417 and this guy named Brad showed up at the church, 1021 00:41:46,500 --> 00:41:50,333 and he and his wife were very sweet and very godly, 1022 00:41:50,375 --> 00:41:53,167 and I'll never forget the day they sat me down, 1023 00:41:53,250 --> 00:41:56,000 and they said, "We believe in what God is doing, 1024 00:41:56,083 --> 00:41:58,875 "and so we want to help pay for the renovation 1025 00:41:58,958 --> 00:42:00,917 of this little church building." 1026 00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:02,917 And I said, "Well, that would be great." 1027 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:05,333 And up to that point, I think the biggest check 1028 00:42:05,375 --> 00:42:07,500 we'd ever gotten in the history of Mars Hill 1029 00:42:07,542 --> 00:42:09,000 was like $2,000-$3,000. 1030 00:42:09,042 --> 00:42:13,333 And he and his wife wrote a check for $200,000, 1031 00:42:13,375 --> 00:42:15,000 no strings attached. 1032 00:42:15,042 --> 00:42:18,125 They didn't say, "So, we want you to do this with the money 1033 00:42:18,167 --> 00:42:20,083 or that with the money." 1034 00:42:20,167 --> 00:42:23,000 They just said, "We trust you. We know God is in it. 1035 00:42:23,042 --> 00:42:25,917 "We think God's got big things planned, 1036 00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:28,417 and we want to help." 1037 00:42:28,500 --> 00:42:30,667 And I remember-- to be honest with you, 1038 00:42:30,750 --> 00:42:33,833 I feel like crying just thinking about it. 1039 00:42:33,875 --> 00:42:36,333 I mean, everything had been so hard, 1040 00:42:36,375 --> 00:42:38,708 and you're absolutely broke and you're homeless 1041 00:42:38,792 --> 00:42:40,500 and you're exhausted and you're frustrated. 1042 00:42:40,542 --> 00:42:42,625 And at this point, the critics started piling on. 1043 00:42:42,667 --> 00:42:45,833 And "Mother Jones" had been out, and NPR had been out, 1044 00:42:45,875 --> 00:42:47,917 and everybody's, you know, starting to criticize what 1045 00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:50,500 we're doing, and they don't understand how hard it is, 1046 00:42:50,542 --> 00:42:52,500 and the people that really are getting saved, 1047 00:42:52,583 --> 00:42:54,708 and the good things that are happening. 1048 00:42:54,792 --> 00:42:57,375 And so they wrote that check and we renovated that whole 1049 00:42:57,458 --> 00:42:59,792 building because Brad and his wife were the first ones 1050 00:42:59,833 --> 00:43:03,000 to believe in the possibility of what we were doing. 1051 00:43:03,083 --> 00:43:05,000 And what's really cool is they're still walking 1052 00:43:05,042 --> 00:43:07,125 with Jesus, and they're at Mars Hill Bellevue. 1053 00:43:07,167 --> 00:43:09,167 And it was at that same time 1054 00:43:09,250 --> 00:43:10,917 when we started that morning service, 1055 00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:12,417 that a couple showed up-- 1056 00:43:12,500 --> 00:43:15,000 and we were maybe 80 or 100 people or 200 people. 1057 00:43:15,083 --> 00:43:17,000 I mean, it was just getting started. 1058 00:43:17,042 --> 00:43:20,417 And this couple showed up. I had no idea who they were. 1059 00:43:20,500 --> 00:43:22,583 And I took them out to lunch, and they said, 1060 00:43:22,667 --> 00:43:24,625 "You know, we love what God's doing here, 1061 00:43:24,667 --> 00:43:27,167 "and we love church planters and we love young pastors 1062 00:43:27,250 --> 00:43:29,583 "and we love Jesus, and we think God's got 1063 00:43:29,667 --> 00:43:32,417 big things for Mars Hill." 1064 00:43:32,500 --> 00:43:34,833 And they also, at that time, started being 1065 00:43:34,875 --> 00:43:38,417 very, very, very generous. 1066 00:43:38,500 --> 00:43:41,292 And I won't disclose who they are or what they've done, 1067 00:43:41,333 --> 00:43:45,333 but their generosity, like Brad and his wife's, 1068 00:43:45,375 --> 00:43:50,417 in every way, allowed Mars Hill to get the facilities that would 1069 00:43:50,500 --> 00:43:53,917 allow more growth so that more people could meet Jesus. 1070 00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:56,833 And it was at that time that a few very generous people 1071 00:43:56,875 --> 00:43:58,125 made a difference. 1072 00:43:58,167 --> 00:44:00,375 And had they not, to be honest with you, 1073 00:44:00,458 --> 00:44:02,333 I don't think Mars Hill would've made it. 1074 00:44:02,375 --> 00:44:04,167 We were homeless. We were broke. 1075 00:44:04,250 --> 00:44:07,000 And I think we would've probably just ceased to exist. 1076 00:44:07,083 --> 00:44:09,333 And because of the generosity of a few people, 1077 00:44:09,375 --> 00:44:12,000 that morning service went from 40 to 800. 1078 00:44:12,083 --> 00:44:14,125 That was the absolute game-changer 1079 00:44:14,167 --> 00:44:16,208 in the history of Mars Hill. 1080 00:44:16,292 --> 00:44:18,625 The only thing I can say about what happened 1081 00:44:18,667 --> 00:44:21,708 at the Earl building was God showed up. 1082 00:44:21,792 --> 00:44:24,208 I mean, because it doesn't make any sense. 1083 00:44:24,292 --> 00:44:26,500 It's like, the building nobody wanted 1084 00:44:26,583 --> 00:44:29,333 in the place that nothing is happening, 1085 00:44:29,375 --> 00:44:31,125 with one parking spot, 1086 00:44:31,167 --> 00:44:33,333 that I'm preaching because none of the other elders 1087 00:44:33,375 --> 00:44:34,833 would take it-- 1088 00:44:34,875 --> 00:44:36,417 it felt like punishment-- 1089 00:44:36,500 --> 00:44:39,417 and it goes from 40 to 800, and the building got renovated 1090 00:44:39,500 --> 00:44:41,583 because somebody wrote a check that's 100 times bigger 1091 00:44:41,667 --> 00:44:43,208 than anything we've ever seen. 1092 00:44:43,292 --> 00:44:45,667 Like, all you could say is that's a God thing. 1093 00:44:45,750 --> 00:44:47,917 That's a Holy Spirit thing. That's a Jesus thing. 1094 00:44:48,000 --> 00:44:50,125 God showed up. That's it. 1095 00:44:50,167 --> 00:44:52,583 We definitely were out-punching our weight class. 1096 00:44:52,667 --> 00:44:54,667 I mean, Tim's leading worship for 800 people. 1097 00:44:54,750 --> 00:44:56,417 He doesn't know what he's doing. 1098 00:44:56,500 --> 00:44:57,792 I'm preaching to 800 people. 1099 00:44:57,833 --> 00:45:01,000 I know a lot less about what I'm doing than what Tim's doing. 1100 00:45:01,042 --> 00:45:03,625 You know, Jamie is still trying to get the pot scent 1101 00:45:03,667 --> 00:45:05,125 out of all of his clothes, 1102 00:45:05,167 --> 00:45:07,000 and he's the administrator organizing the whole thing. 1103 00:45:07,083 --> 00:45:08,708 You look at the leadership, it's like, 1104 00:45:08,792 --> 00:45:10,208 "Oh, there's Larry, Curly, and Mo. 1105 00:45:10,292 --> 00:45:11,500 "How is this getting done? 1106 00:45:11,583 --> 00:45:13,500 "Oh, it's the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 1107 00:45:13,542 --> 00:45:15,417 "There's another Trinity behind Larry, Curly, and Mo 1108 00:45:15,500 --> 00:45:17,000 actually putting this thing together." 1109 00:45:17,083 --> 00:45:18,917 So this was our spacious new building. 1110 00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:21,083 The guy who generously gave $200,000 to renovate it, 1111 00:45:21,167 --> 00:45:22,917 he and his really sweet wife, 1112 00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:25,500 he actually painted this building himself as well, 1113 00:45:25,542 --> 00:45:27,625 and their giving allowed us to put up 1114 00:45:27,667 --> 00:45:29,917 some molding and paint and carpet. 1115 00:45:30,000 --> 00:45:32,500 The thing was, when we moved in, absolutely Smurf blue. 1116 00:45:32,583 --> 00:45:34,792 And so this was our massively spacious foyer 1117 00:45:34,833 --> 00:45:36,708 and then you walk into the main room. 1118 00:45:36,792 --> 00:45:39,333 We had chairs, of course, all the way to the back. 1119 00:45:39,375 --> 00:45:41,083 We would pack everybody in. 1120 00:45:41,167 --> 00:45:43,208 We opened up these walls and put in doors 1121 00:45:43,292 --> 00:45:45,417 so we would seat people all the way out, 1122 00:45:45,500 --> 00:45:47,125 and then guys would stand up. 1123 00:45:47,167 --> 00:45:50,083 Men were standing up, you know, to come to church. 1124 00:45:50,167 --> 00:45:52,667 It was ridiculous. 1125 00:45:52,750 --> 00:45:55,667 I remember, like, it got to the point where, like, 1126 00:45:55,750 --> 00:45:58,500 literally, people were sitting on the stairs outside, 1127 00:45:58,583 --> 00:46:00,417 on the concrete stairs in the rain. 1128 00:46:00,500 --> 00:46:03,583 At the time we only had two steps, so the band was on 1129 00:46:03,667 --> 00:46:05,917 the stage and I would preach from a step. 1130 00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:09,000 And then I went on a cruise for an Acts 29 Boot Camp. 1131 00:46:09,083 --> 00:46:11,125 We started Acts 29 around this time. 1132 00:46:11,167 --> 00:46:14,167 And I got some weird vertigo inner ear thing 1133 00:46:14,250 --> 00:46:18,208 so I was dizzy for like a year, and I had to stand on the stair 1134 00:46:18,292 --> 00:46:20,833 and preach all day with pretty massive vertigo 1135 00:46:20,875 --> 00:46:22,792 for about a year. 1136 00:46:22,833 --> 00:46:24,125 This was it. 1137 00:46:24,167 --> 00:46:27,000 And if you can believe it, looking at this room, 1138 00:46:27,083 --> 00:46:30,417 this thing went to 800. 1139 00:46:30,500 --> 00:46:34,083 I remember just that it was a lot of the same people 1140 00:46:34,167 --> 00:46:36,000 working hard every day. 1141 00:46:36,083 --> 00:46:38,292 As fast as it was growing, there was still-- 1142 00:46:38,333 --> 00:46:40,667 it was this small group of people that were there 1143 00:46:40,750 --> 00:46:44,333 every Sunday from 6 in the morning until 10 at night; 1144 00:46:44,375 --> 00:46:47,417 and yeah, there was just-- so much got done 1145 00:46:47,500 --> 00:46:49,625 with so few people. 1146 00:46:49,667 --> 00:46:53,208 I don't remember much of that season 1147 00:46:53,292 --> 00:46:56,083 besides that it was just really intense, really busy, 1148 00:46:56,167 --> 00:46:58,833 and we were just trying to--the guys were just trying 1149 00:46:58,875 --> 00:47:01,917 to keep up with what God was doing. 1150 00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:05,000 And so I think that all of us wives were just kind of 1151 00:47:05,083 --> 00:47:08,125 holding on for the ride with our kids in tow. 1152 00:47:08,167 --> 00:47:11,417 This is when we first got to do real children's ministry. 1153 00:47:11,500 --> 00:47:13,125 We had kids' classes. 1154 00:47:13,167 --> 00:47:15,333 So families started coming. 1155 00:47:15,375 --> 00:47:17,417 There was just one small men's bathroom, 1156 00:47:17,500 --> 00:47:20,917 one small women's bathroom. 1157 00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:23,333 I mean, this is it, if you can believe this. 1158 00:47:23,375 --> 00:47:24,792 This is a church of 800. 1159 00:47:24,833 --> 00:47:27,000 That's the men's room. 1160 00:47:27,083 --> 00:47:29,667 So I had to carefully time my going to the bathroom 1161 00:47:29,750 --> 00:47:31,625 between services because you couldn't get jammed up 1162 00:47:31,667 --> 00:47:33,000 in the line. 1163 00:47:33,083 --> 00:47:35,917 A couple of nursery rooms, so we had rooms for little kids. 1164 00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:38,833 Just a couple, but for us it was a really big deal 1165 00:47:38,875 --> 00:47:40,500 because people were starting to have babies. 1166 00:47:40,583 --> 00:47:42,917 I mean, now we've got almost 2,000 kids a Sunday, 1167 00:47:43,000 --> 00:47:45,125 most of them under the age of 10, 1168 00:47:45,167 --> 00:47:49,125 but it all started with just a couple of classrooms. 1169 00:47:49,167 --> 00:47:53,500 I remember showing up for the first service of the evening 1170 00:47:53,583 --> 00:47:56,000 here a half hour early. 1171 00:47:56,083 --> 00:47:58,000 People are in their seats eating dinner. 1172 00:47:58,083 --> 00:48:00,500 They showed up because they knew if you show up 1173 00:48:00,542 --> 00:48:02,208 10 minutes early, you're going to be 1174 00:48:02,292 --> 00:48:04,292 in the basement or outside. 1175 00:48:04,333 --> 00:48:06,000 You show up on time, 1176 00:48:06,083 --> 00:48:08,208 you're going to have to park 6 blocks away. 1177 00:48:08,292 --> 00:48:12,000 We drilled a hole from the upstairs main room 1178 00:48:12,042 --> 00:48:14,917 and just used a home video camera. 1179 00:48:15,000 --> 00:48:17,500 I think it was my dad's, like, old VCR camera. 1180 00:48:17,542 --> 00:48:19,208 It was gigantic. 1181 00:48:19,292 --> 00:48:20,917 It was like probably about that big. 1182 00:48:21,000 --> 00:48:22,833 You had to put it on your shoulder. 1183 00:48:22,875 --> 00:48:25,500 But I set it up with a tripod and I think it works. 1184 00:48:25,542 --> 00:48:27,417 And some Sundays, you could have 100 people 1185 00:48:27,500 --> 00:48:30,000 sitting on chairs and standing up down here, 1186 00:48:30,083 --> 00:48:32,708 just watching what was going on upstairs 1187 00:48:32,792 --> 00:48:34,708 because the whole main room was full. 1188 00:48:34,792 --> 00:48:36,875 The side overflow room was full. 1189 00:48:36,958 --> 00:48:38,333 Sometimes we'd leave the doors open 1190 00:48:38,375 --> 00:48:41,000 and people would stand up outside and listen in and watch. 1191 00:48:41,042 --> 00:48:43,417 So that's when we just kept adding services. 1192 00:48:43,500 --> 00:48:46,000 So it went from 1 to like 5 services here, 1193 00:48:46,083 --> 00:48:48,417 4 or 5 services here in, like, 6 months. 1194 00:48:48,500 --> 00:48:50,583 I mean, so you're talking about adding a service 1195 00:48:50,667 --> 00:48:52,000 every 4 or 5 weeks. 1196 00:48:52,083 --> 00:48:54,208 I don't even know how many we were doing 1197 00:48:54,292 --> 00:48:55,917 because we were still doing services downtown 1198 00:48:56,000 --> 00:48:57,708 and were doing services in the Paradox, 1199 00:48:57,792 --> 00:49:01,000 and we started a service in South Seattle. 1200 00:49:01,042 --> 00:49:03,125 I wasn't teaching that one. 1201 00:49:03,167 --> 00:49:06,208 I was teaching the one downtown at night. 1202 00:49:06,292 --> 00:49:08,375 I was teaching two more, I think, 1203 00:49:08,458 --> 00:49:10,500 in the Paradox in the University District. 1204 00:49:10,583 --> 00:49:12,917 I was doing three in the morning here, 1205 00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:15,333 and then I think we added a night one here. 1206 00:49:15,375 --> 00:49:17,000 I don't even remember. 1207 00:49:17,083 --> 00:49:20,083 I think at the height, I was preaching 7 times a Sunday 1208 00:49:20,167 --> 00:49:22,792 in 3 locations, driving between them, 1209 00:49:22,833 --> 00:49:25,417 preaching an hour to an hour and a half, 1210 00:49:25,500 --> 00:49:29,333 sometimes as much as an hour and 45 minutes in one sermon, 1211 00:49:29,375 --> 00:49:32,708 doing 6 or 7 of those for quite a few years. 1212 00:49:32,792 --> 00:49:35,000 I was probably depressed for a decade, 1213 00:49:35,083 --> 00:49:37,917 literally, clinically depressed. 1214 00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:39,833 Had God not spoken to me and said, 1215 00:49:39,875 --> 00:49:42,125 "Do this," no way. 1216 00:49:42,167 --> 00:49:43,833 There is no way. 1217 00:49:43,875 --> 00:49:48,917 It was just heavy to carry the load of responsibility 1218 00:49:49,000 --> 00:49:52,333 and all the people's lives, and Mark felt that weight 1219 00:49:52,375 --> 00:49:54,375 of those people that were coming. 1220 00:49:54,458 --> 00:49:58,125 Looking back, I mean, I regret probably 10-12 years 1221 00:49:58,167 --> 00:49:59,708 of my life. 1222 00:49:59,792 --> 00:50:02,417 And Grace and I, our friendship started to wane. 1223 00:50:02,500 --> 00:50:05,708 We just didn't get--I mean, we got people living with us. 1224 00:50:05,792 --> 00:50:08,833 The church lost its offices so we had the church office 1225 00:50:08,875 --> 00:50:10,625 across from our bedroom, 1226 00:50:10,667 --> 00:50:13,417 and a few thousand people a year coming through our home, 1227 00:50:13,500 --> 00:50:15,833 and a bunch of singles and college students 1228 00:50:15,875 --> 00:50:17,667 and homeless kids knocking on the door, 1229 00:50:17,750 --> 00:50:20,208 nights, weekends, interrupting, coming through. 1230 00:50:20,292 --> 00:50:24,000 I mean, so our friendship was not what it should've been, 1231 00:50:24,083 --> 00:50:28,875 you know, and then Mars Hill just kept going. 1232 00:50:28,958 --> 00:50:31,500 It was not a happy, joy-filled experience, 1233 00:50:31,583 --> 00:50:37,000 and I was depressed and angry and frustrated 1234 00:50:37,042 --> 00:50:39,333 and screaming at people. 1235 00:50:39,375 --> 00:50:43,917 And yeah, I mean, it was--it was horrible. 1236 00:50:44,000 --> 00:50:46,125 And people say, "Oh, and God used it," 1237 00:50:46,167 --> 00:50:49,208 and it was horrible, and, "Oh, it's amazing," 1238 00:50:49,292 --> 00:50:51,417 and it was horrible. 1239 00:50:51,500 --> 00:50:53,792 And it was just the absolute worst, 1240 00:50:53,833 --> 00:50:55,500 but God was saving people. 1241 00:50:55,583 --> 00:50:58,083 And what's really crazy is a ton of those people 1242 00:50:58,167 --> 00:50:59,833 are still with us. 1243 00:51:00,000 --> 00:51:01,833 Many of them, even if they've moved away, 1244 00:51:01,875 --> 00:51:03,500 are still walking with Jesus. 1245 00:51:03,583 --> 00:51:05,000 Tons of them have gotten married 1246 00:51:05,042 --> 00:51:06,917 and they got kids, and now, you know, 1247 00:51:07,000 --> 00:51:08,833 I mean, it's weird for me because, like, 1248 00:51:08,875 --> 00:51:10,500 I'll drop the kids off at nursery, 1249 00:51:10,583 --> 00:51:12,500 and it's, like, oh, there's all these people, 1250 00:51:12,542 --> 00:51:14,625 and you wouldn't know today because they met Jesus, 1251 00:51:14,667 --> 00:51:16,083 and he's changed their lives. 1252 00:51:16,167 --> 00:51:18,125 So many years down the road, it's like, 1253 00:51:18,167 --> 00:51:19,500 yeah, it was awesome. 1254 00:51:19,542 --> 00:51:22,375 Praise God, it was worth it, but in the middle of it 1255 00:51:22,458 --> 00:51:24,333 it's just like, "God, do you hate me?" 1256 00:51:24,375 --> 00:51:26,500 And I mean, I remember literally having multiple conversations 1257 00:51:26,542 --> 00:51:28,417 over the course of the decade with God. 1258 00:51:28,500 --> 00:51:30,125 It's like, "Okay, I know you're sovereign. 1259 00:51:30,167 --> 00:51:32,000 "I just don't know if you're any good. 1260 00:51:32,083 --> 00:51:35,167 "I know you're in charge, but I just don't know if you're nice. 1261 00:51:35,250 --> 00:51:38,917 "It seems like you hate me because this is horrible. 1262 00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:41,167 "Why would you do this to somebody 1263 00:51:41,250 --> 00:51:43,208 and make them go through this?" 1264 00:51:43,292 --> 00:51:46,292 And that was, I don't know, 10-12 years. 1265 00:51:46,333 --> 00:51:48,000 Did he ever give you any answers? 1266 00:51:48,083 --> 00:51:50,625 No, he never answered those questions. 1267 00:51:50,667 --> 00:51:52,500 Never answered those questions, man. 1268 00:51:52,542 --> 00:51:54,500 I was asking the wrong questions, 1269 00:51:54,583 --> 00:51:57,125 and he never answered those and-- 1270 00:51:57,167 --> 00:51:59,000 What are the right questions? 1271 00:51:59,083 --> 00:52:02,292 You know, I should've--the question I should've asked was, 1272 00:52:02,333 --> 00:52:04,667 "God, how are you trying to change me?" 1273 00:52:04,750 --> 00:52:08,583 Because, obviously, I had a lot to learn and repent of and grow, 1274 00:52:08,667 --> 00:52:10,500 and I don't believe that God does evil, 1275 00:52:10,583 --> 00:52:13,500 but I believe he uses evil to do good. 1276 00:52:13,583 --> 00:52:16,167 And he put me in a hard situation 1277 00:52:16,250 --> 00:52:19,708 because I was pretty stubborn and tough and difficult. 1278 00:52:19,792 --> 00:52:22,917 I still can be and often am, sadly. 1279 00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:24,833 And so, yeah, I should've asked questions like, 1280 00:52:24,875 --> 00:52:27,000 "All right God, what am I supposed to learn? 1281 00:52:27,083 --> 00:52:28,500 "How am I supposed to change? 1282 00:52:28,542 --> 00:52:30,333 What do you need me to do?" 1283 00:52:30,375 --> 00:52:33,292 I should've asked questions like that instead. 1284 00:52:33,333 --> 00:52:36,000 And sadly, I was asking God questions 1285 00:52:36,083 --> 00:52:39,000 instead of asking me questions. 1286 00:52:39,042 --> 00:52:40,917 That's when we decided, ultimately, we were going 1287 00:52:41,000 --> 00:52:43,000 to need to consolidate everything 1288 00:52:43,042 --> 00:52:44,625 and get one big building, 1289 00:52:44,667 --> 00:52:47,667 and that led to the big Ballard building. 1290 00:52:47,750 --> 00:52:50,667 So Pastor Jamie negotiated the deal, 1291 00:52:50,750 --> 00:52:52,292 and he's the best. 1292 00:52:52,333 --> 00:52:55,833 Got us the old hardware store built by the Mormon guy, 1293 00:52:55,875 --> 00:52:58,167 that was later converted into the boat store. 1294 00:52:58,250 --> 00:53:01,292 It was 40,000 square feet, which was way bigger than we thought 1295 00:53:01,333 --> 00:53:02,917 we could ever use. 1296 00:53:03,000 --> 00:53:05,083 At the time, we were a church of 800, 1297 00:53:05,167 --> 00:53:07,917 thought, "Well man, we could get 1,000 seats into here," 1298 00:53:08,000 --> 00:53:11,417 which is way more than we thought we'd ever fill. 1299 00:53:11,500 --> 00:53:13,708 The bank told us, "You guys are so young, 1300 00:53:13,792 --> 00:53:16,167 "so poor, so broke, there's no way in the world 1301 00:53:16,250 --> 00:53:18,917 "that you're going to be able to cover this mortgage, 1302 00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:22,292 "so you have to go out and get a tenant to rent from you, 1303 00:53:22,333 --> 00:53:24,083 "somebody that has a stable business history, 1304 00:53:24,167 --> 00:53:26,708 "unlike your church, and that we can guarantee that their revenue 1305 00:53:26,792 --> 00:53:29,583 will help cover the cost of the mortgage on the building." 1306 00:53:29,667 --> 00:53:33,000 And we can only afford it if we get NAPA Auto Parts 1307 00:53:33,083 --> 00:53:36,500 to rent 5,000 square feet, where the children are right now. 1308 00:53:36,583 --> 00:53:39,292 So it was going to be Jesus and auto parts. 1309 00:53:39,333 --> 00:53:41,167 So they did all the drop ceilings. 1310 00:53:41,250 --> 00:53:44,125 It was configured all in the same way that it is now. 1311 00:53:44,167 --> 00:53:46,917 I mean, NAPA paid for all that to be developed, 1312 00:53:47,000 --> 00:53:49,625 and then they pulled out, like, right as we launched. 1313 00:53:49,667 --> 00:53:54,125 I just remember that right away we needed the space back, 1314 00:53:54,167 --> 00:53:55,583 and so we were really concerned. 1315 00:53:55,667 --> 00:53:58,500 Are we going to have to go to NAPA now and say, 1316 00:53:58,542 --> 00:54:00,208 "Hey, can we have that space back?" 1317 00:54:00,292 --> 00:54:01,708 And NAPA's coming to us saying, 1318 00:54:01,792 --> 00:54:03,625 "Hey, can we give you the space back? 1319 00:54:03,667 --> 00:54:05,000 It's not working for us." 1320 00:54:05,042 --> 00:54:07,125 It was probably $100,000 worth of work they put 1321 00:54:07,167 --> 00:54:08,500 into our space for us. 1322 00:54:08,542 --> 00:54:11,625 What was to be an auto parts store is now actually 1323 00:54:11,667 --> 00:54:14,917 our children's ministry, and we do need all the square footage. 1324 00:54:15,000 --> 00:54:18,083 And had we not seen God save us from ourselves, 1325 00:54:18,167 --> 00:54:20,500 we would have no place to put all the kids 1326 00:54:20,542 --> 00:54:22,000 at Mars Hill Ballard. 1327 00:54:22,042 --> 00:54:25,708 Mars Hill Ballard blew up, completely outgrew the building. 1328 00:54:25,792 --> 00:54:27,917 And the church grows again. That's what you want. 1329 00:54:28,000 --> 00:54:30,500 You want the church to grow, but that becomes your problem 1330 00:54:30,583 --> 00:54:33,417 and so you've got to figure out how we're going to grow 1331 00:54:33,500 --> 00:54:35,833 sustainably, and what we were doing wasn't sustainable. 1332 00:54:35,875 --> 00:54:38,208 It wasn't sustainable for the leaders or the congregation. 1333 00:54:38,292 --> 00:54:40,000 We're burning out volunteers. 1334 00:54:40,083 --> 00:54:41,708 It's almost like you're using up volunteers 1335 00:54:41,792 --> 00:54:44,375 and we're asking them so much and we're asking so much 1336 00:54:44,458 --> 00:54:47,000 of the staff, and we had to figure out what's next. 1337 00:54:47,083 --> 00:54:49,417 And at that point, we realized we had to do 1338 00:54:49,500 --> 00:54:51,583 something different, something outside the box, 1339 00:54:51,667 --> 00:54:53,625 something we'd never done before. 1340 00:54:53,667 --> 00:54:58,917 And that's when the discussion of doing video came about. 1341 00:54:59,000 --> 00:55:02,667 People were talking about video and multisite, 1342 00:55:02,750 --> 00:55:05,625 and I thought, "Man, I don't know. 1343 00:55:05,667 --> 00:55:09,375 "My Shrek-sized head yelling at people for an hour on a screen, 1344 00:55:09,458 --> 00:55:11,083 who's going to show up for that?" 1345 00:55:11,167 --> 00:55:12,833 The first time I met Pastor Steve, 1346 00:55:12,875 --> 00:55:14,625 it was after service at Ballard. 1347 00:55:14,667 --> 00:55:18,208 I saw this red-headed guy who tucked his shirt in 1348 00:55:18,292 --> 00:55:21,125 and looked like he had a job, had never been in rehab, 1349 00:55:21,167 --> 00:55:25,167 no tattoos, sensible haircut, and his son was with him, 1350 00:55:25,250 --> 00:55:27,833 and they had a big bag and they were walking around 1351 00:55:27,875 --> 00:55:29,375 picking up trash. 1352 00:55:29,458 --> 00:55:33,208 Sam, who was 6 at the time, he could crawl under the chairs, 1353 00:55:33,292 --> 00:55:36,792 right along the--and he would come out in the end with stuff, 1354 00:55:36,833 --> 00:55:39,667 and we would work together as a team, 1355 00:55:39,750 --> 00:55:41,500 and it was a blast. 1356 00:55:41,583 --> 00:55:45,500 I enjoyed that because I got to serve with my son in a way 1357 00:55:45,583 --> 00:55:47,500 that he got to enjoy it. 1358 00:55:47,583 --> 00:55:50,875 And I thought, "Well, that guy looks unlike the others, 1359 00:55:50,958 --> 00:55:54,875 "employed, has a child not out of wedlock. 1360 00:55:54,958 --> 00:55:58,167 He's a whole new kind of guy at Mars Hill." 1361 00:55:58,250 --> 00:56:00,333 So I went over and introduced myself, 1362 00:56:00,375 --> 00:56:02,333 and I thought--man, I really--something just about 1363 00:56:02,375 --> 00:56:03,917 Pastor Steve I really liked. 1364 00:56:04,000 --> 00:56:06,333 Finally, he tells me, "Well, I've got two degrees in 1365 00:56:06,375 --> 00:56:08,000 "theology, and I'm a burned-out church planter 1366 00:56:08,083 --> 00:56:10,417 "and I just want to go to church and serve, 1367 00:56:10,500 --> 00:56:12,625 "but I'm really not looking to become an elder 1368 00:56:12,667 --> 00:56:15,000 "and I don't want to get back in ministry 1369 00:56:15,083 --> 00:56:16,500 "so don't try and sell me. 1370 00:56:16,542 --> 00:56:18,167 You know, please give me a break." 1371 00:56:18,250 --> 00:56:20,125 I was like, "No, no, no, no, man, 1372 00:56:20,167 --> 00:56:21,833 "you've got a great family, awesome wife, 1373 00:56:21,875 --> 00:56:23,125 "great daughter, great son. 1374 00:56:23,167 --> 00:56:24,833 "You love Jesus. You've been in ministry. 1375 00:56:24,875 --> 00:56:26,500 "God's called you to be an elder. 1376 00:56:26,583 --> 00:56:28,708 "You're going to be a pastor at Mars Hill. 1377 00:56:28,792 --> 00:56:30,417 We've got to get you on staff." 1378 00:56:30,500 --> 00:56:32,125 And so Steve did join our staff. 1379 00:56:32,167 --> 00:56:34,292 And when we sent him up to do Shoreline, 1380 00:56:34,333 --> 00:56:36,000 it was because he lived right there, 1381 00:56:36,042 --> 00:56:37,667 and he was godly, dependable, hard-working, trustworthy. 1382 00:56:37,750 --> 00:56:40,167 And so Pastor Steve did that and killed it. 1383 00:56:40,250 --> 00:56:42,583 We started with one service here. 1384 00:56:42,667 --> 00:56:45,167 It seats maybe a couple of hundred people. 1385 00:56:45,250 --> 00:56:47,500 We were part of that Shoreline thing, 1386 00:56:47,583 --> 00:56:49,417 and I thought it was crazy. 1387 00:56:49,500 --> 00:56:53,833 Like, who is going to come watch Mark on a screen? 1388 00:56:53,875 --> 00:56:56,417 I just--I thought it was ludicrous. 1389 00:56:56,500 --> 00:56:58,500 But we were supposed to help with it, 1390 00:56:58,583 --> 00:57:00,083 so we did. 1391 00:57:00,167 --> 00:57:02,000 Yeah, the poor people that were there first, 1392 00:57:02,083 --> 00:57:04,417 the video quality was horrible because we tried all these 1393 00:57:04,500 --> 00:57:06,167 different methods of technology. 1394 00:57:06,250 --> 00:57:07,917 Half the time, the sermon wouldn't work. 1395 00:57:08,000 --> 00:57:10,500 I know Pastor Steve is there sitting in the front row. 1396 00:57:10,583 --> 00:57:12,500 "Am I going to have to preach today? 1397 00:57:12,542 --> 00:57:14,417 Am I going to have to preach today?" 1398 00:57:14,500 --> 00:57:16,833 And he's always on call, which is a horrible way 1399 00:57:16,875 --> 00:57:18,125 to live your life. 1400 00:57:18,167 --> 00:57:20,792 And there were many times that the service had started here, 1401 00:57:20,833 --> 00:57:23,417 we were in the middle of singing, 1402 00:57:23,500 --> 00:57:26,667 the band was on the stage, and we had no DVD. 1403 00:57:26,750 --> 00:57:28,333 We had no sermon. 1404 00:57:28,375 --> 00:57:31,583 And I was looking for someone to run through the back door 1405 00:57:31,667 --> 00:57:34,500 and for them to go like this, or to go, you know, 1406 00:57:34,542 --> 00:57:37,917 "Take more time. We don't have it yet." 1407 00:57:38,000 --> 00:57:41,000 And it was--it was just nerve-wracking. 1408 00:57:41,083 --> 00:57:44,333 Being half-prepared to probably not preach, 1409 00:57:44,375 --> 00:57:50,833 but maybe you have to preach, is not a good place to be. 1410 00:57:50,875 --> 00:57:54,875 I specifically remember being in the room with the elders 1411 00:57:54,958 --> 00:57:58,417 and praying for what God would have us to do, 1412 00:57:58,500 --> 00:58:01,208 and none of us were confident in this. 1413 00:58:01,292 --> 00:58:04,417 We were like, "I don't know what is going to happen, 1414 00:58:04,500 --> 00:58:07,917 but it's the only option we've got left to try." 1415 00:58:08,000 --> 00:58:13,208 We had no idea that that would actually be the way forward 1416 00:58:13,292 --> 00:58:15,500 for church planting for us. 1417 00:58:15,583 --> 00:58:19,708 What was crazy is even with a setup, teardown, no offices, 1418 00:58:19,792 --> 00:58:23,667 no midweek, and video that's not working, 1419 00:58:23,750 --> 00:58:26,083 we still grew like crazy. 1420 00:58:26,167 --> 00:58:28,500 Went to one, two, three services, 1421 00:58:28,583 --> 00:58:30,917 had to add a night service, outgrew this building, 1422 00:58:31,000 --> 00:58:34,167 had to go to an entirely new building 1423 00:58:34,250 --> 00:58:37,208 because God just kept saving people here too, 1424 00:58:37,292 --> 00:58:39,333 like he had everywhere else. 1425 00:58:39,375 --> 00:58:41,083 Here's the deal. 1426 00:58:41,167 --> 00:58:42,833 No model works in itself. 1427 00:58:42,875 --> 00:58:46,000 What works is preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. 1428 00:58:46,083 --> 00:58:49,708 And where that is done faithfully and powerfully, 1429 00:58:49,792 --> 00:58:54,333 God draws people to hear it and be changed by it. 1430 00:58:54,375 --> 00:58:59,500 And I think the model is a lot less important than that heart 1431 00:58:59,583 --> 00:59:05,083 of proclaiming the truth and the glory of Jesus. 1432 00:59:05,167 --> 00:59:08,500 And that's what he said because he said he builds his church. 1433 00:59:08,542 --> 00:59:10,000 It's not all on us. 1434 00:59:10,083 --> 00:59:13,167 And certainly we work hard, and certainly we want to steward 1435 00:59:13,250 --> 00:59:16,333 his blessing and the grace that he's given to us in every way 1436 00:59:16,375 --> 00:59:19,417 possible, but what makes this thing happen is God. 1437 00:59:19,500 --> 00:59:22,208 He's the author and the sustainer, 1438 00:59:22,292 --> 00:59:24,167 and we point to him. 1439 00:59:24,250 --> 00:59:26,292 We want people to know him. 1440 00:59:26,333 --> 00:59:29,500 And as that happens, by some crazy fluke of his grace, 1441 00:59:29,583 --> 00:59:32,208 people show up and are changed by it. 1442 00:59:32,292 --> 00:59:35,833 And for us to try to take credit for that in the middle of it 1443 00:59:35,875 --> 00:59:40,417 would be arrogant and a complete deception on our part. 1444 00:59:40,500 --> 00:59:43,208 Well, once we were able to go multisite, video, 1445 00:59:43,292 --> 00:59:44,833 beginning here at Schirmer auditorium, 1446 00:59:44,875 --> 00:59:48,000 that opened up the possibility of Mars Hill 1447 00:59:48,083 --> 00:59:50,000 to forever be changed. 1448 00:59:50,083 --> 00:59:52,625 We were not limited by a building or my presence. 1449 00:59:52,667 --> 00:59:54,583 We were able to go from 6 services, 1450 00:59:54,667 --> 00:59:56,125 which was killing me, 1451 00:59:56,167 --> 00:59:58,292 to more than 30 services today; 1452 00:59:58,333 --> 01:00:01,625 from 1 state to 4 states, and that allowed the church 1453 01:00:01,667 --> 01:00:05,583 to go from a stuck church of 5 or 6,000 in one location 1454 01:00:05,667 --> 01:00:09,833 to now it's doubled, a church of 12,000+ a Sunday, 1455 01:00:09,875 --> 01:00:14,583 and we're asking God for 15,000 at some point before Easter. 1456 01:00:14,667 --> 01:00:17,500 And that allowed us to do the biggest thing we'd ever done, 1457 01:00:17,542 --> 01:00:19,833 and that was to try and bring everybody together, 1458 01:00:19,875 --> 01:00:21,583 at least those people from Mars Hill 1459 01:00:21,667 --> 01:00:23,917 in the greater Seattle area, 1460 01:00:24,000 --> 01:00:26,167 for our big, epic Easter service. 1461 01:00:26,250 --> 01:00:28,708 Happy Easter, Mars Hill Church! 1462 01:00:28,792 --> 01:00:33,083 [cheering] 1463 01:00:33,167 --> 01:00:38,000 The reason we believe that Jesus Christ is the only God 1464 01:00:38,042 --> 01:00:42,125 is because Jesus Christ repeatedly, emphatically, 1465 01:00:42,167 --> 01:00:47,917 unapologetically, openly, publicly declared himself 1466 01:00:48,000 --> 01:00:50,333 to be God! 1467 01:00:50,375 --> 01:00:53,500 Jesus Christ is God! 1468 01:00:53,583 --> 01:00:56,417 Jesus Christ is the only God! 1469 01:00:56,500 --> 01:00:58,625 It was the biggest church service in the history 1470 01:00:58,667 --> 01:01:01,417 of the Pacific Northwest, in what used to be 1471 01:01:01,500 --> 01:01:03,833 the least-churched region in the least-churched city 1472 01:01:03,875 --> 01:01:05,625 in the country. 1473 01:01:05,667 --> 01:01:10,583 Twenty thousand people at Qwest Field worshiping Jesus. 1474 01:01:10,667 --> 01:01:12,583 I mean it sounds kind of cheesy, 1475 01:01:12,667 --> 01:01:16,000 but to see the Jesus flag raised was incredible, 1476 01:01:16,083 --> 01:01:19,917 and to see that many people there for Jesus. 1477 01:01:20,000 --> 01:01:22,375 When the Jesus flag was raised, 1478 01:01:22,458 --> 01:01:24,083 I just starting bawling. 1479 01:01:24,167 --> 01:01:25,792 I lost it like a little baby. 1480 01:01:25,833 --> 01:01:27,625 I was just in tears crying. 1481 01:01:27,667 --> 01:01:31,375 I couldn't believe that God was doing this in my city. 1482 01:01:31,458 --> 01:01:37,375 I was both fired up about the gospel and fired up about 1483 01:01:37,458 --> 01:01:40,083 what God was doing, and the fact that we just had 1484 01:01:40,167 --> 01:01:42,417 17,500 people show up. 1485 01:01:42,500 --> 01:01:45,000 It's the only time in the history of Mars Hill when 1486 01:01:45,083 --> 01:01:48,833 everyone had been in one space since it was probably 1487 01:01:48,875 --> 01:01:51,417 in Mark's living room. 1488 01:01:51,500 --> 01:01:54,833 For me, it was a great encouragement to see 1489 01:01:54,875 --> 01:01:56,708 that many people worshiping Jesus. 1490 01:01:56,792 --> 01:01:59,125 It was a great encouragement to see that many people 1491 01:01:59,167 --> 01:02:00,833 meeting Jesus. 1492 01:02:00,875 --> 01:02:03,917 To see so many people meet Jesus and to see hundreds 1493 01:02:04,000 --> 01:02:05,917 and hundreds and hundreds of baptisms. 1494 01:02:06,000 --> 01:02:07,208 It felt miraculous. 1495 01:02:07,292 --> 01:02:09,417 It felt like a little tiny, tiny, tiny taste 1496 01:02:09,500 --> 01:02:11,833 of what heaven will be like with all those people 1497 01:02:11,875 --> 01:02:14,417 worshiping and are going to be there because of what Jesus 1498 01:02:14,500 --> 01:02:15,917 did for them and his work. 1499 01:02:16,000 --> 01:02:18,208 Seeing the guy who painted our old building 1500 01:02:18,292 --> 01:02:20,792 and paid for its renovation, 1501 01:02:20,833 --> 01:02:24,000 actually get to see his daughter profess faith in Christ 1502 01:02:24,083 --> 01:02:26,083 and come down and be baptized, 1503 01:02:26,167 --> 01:02:28,500 those were the things that meant the most to me. 1504 01:02:28,542 --> 01:02:31,167 Yeah, big deal is cool, and 20,000 people is cool, 1505 01:02:31,250 --> 01:02:34,125 and, you know, being in a stadium is cool, 1506 01:02:34,167 --> 01:02:36,500 but really, it was people meeting Jesus. 1507 01:02:36,583 --> 01:02:38,417 That's what's cool. 1508 01:02:38,500 --> 01:02:44,167 I think people think that at some point in the last 1509 01:02:44,250 --> 01:02:48,333 15 years, we sat down and developed a master plan for 1510 01:02:48,375 --> 01:02:52,333 where this is going to be, and the rest has been execution. 1511 01:02:52,375 --> 01:02:53,667 And you've got to-- 1512 01:02:53,750 --> 01:02:55,000 [laughing] 1513 01:02:55,083 --> 01:02:56,500 Yeah, exactly. 1514 01:02:56,583 --> 01:03:00,583 It's mind-blowing to see what God was putting together, 1515 01:03:00,667 --> 01:03:02,375 and we had no idea. 1516 01:03:02,458 --> 01:03:04,000 I sit here. 1517 01:03:04,042 --> 01:03:07,208 Like, I'm just totally humbled by the grace of God. 1518 01:03:07,292 --> 01:03:10,500 And what that makes me want to do is continue to share Jesus 1519 01:03:10,583 --> 01:03:14,125 with others because I know that he's not done working. 1520 01:03:14,167 --> 01:03:16,625 So it was very humbling and very sobering. 1521 01:03:16,667 --> 01:03:20,208 But to be honest with you, it wasn't like this "wow" day. 1522 01:03:20,292 --> 01:03:22,292 It was like, "No, Jesus is alive. 1523 01:03:22,333 --> 01:03:24,333 This is what we're supposed to do." 1524 01:03:24,375 --> 01:03:27,000 We're really privileged to be one of those churches that he 1525 01:03:27,042 --> 01:03:30,208 has chosen to pour out an excessive amount of grace on, 1526 01:03:30,292 --> 01:03:33,125 and now we're just trying to figure out how to be good 1527 01:03:33,167 --> 01:03:35,917 stewards and leverage that so that we can maximize 1528 01:03:36,000 --> 01:03:37,208 the opportunities. 1529 01:03:37,292 --> 01:03:40,125 The truth is this is one of those grace-waves that you don't 1530 01:03:40,167 --> 01:03:43,500 know how long it goes, but you want to ride it faithfully 1531 01:03:43,542 --> 01:03:47,167 as long as you possibly can, and then get off your board 1532 01:03:47,250 --> 01:03:49,083 and tell the story to your grandkids. 1533 01:03:49,167 --> 01:03:51,500 Marry Grace-- that's our family. 1534 01:03:51,583 --> 01:03:54,125 Preach the Bible-- that's Mars Hill Church. 1535 01:03:54,167 --> 01:03:56,500 Train leaders-- that's Resurgence, 1536 01:03:56,583 --> 01:03:59,875 which is now the number one Christian leadership blog 1537 01:03:59,958 --> 01:04:02,000 and website that there is. 1538 01:04:02,083 --> 01:04:05,000 And then plant churches-- which is Acts 29. 1539 01:04:05,083 --> 01:04:07,792 It's planted more than 400 churches. 1540 01:04:07,833 --> 01:04:10,500 Last Easter, we had a combined total attendance 1541 01:04:10,583 --> 01:04:13,208 of 175,000 people. 1542 01:04:13,292 --> 01:04:17,292 We have a 98% success rate, which is the most successful 1543 01:04:17,333 --> 01:04:20,000 church-planting network I'm aware of, 1544 01:04:20,083 --> 01:04:22,708 and we're adding a couple of churches every week, 1545 01:04:22,792 --> 01:04:26,292 planting a church every other day or so. 1546 01:04:26,333 --> 01:04:29,500 The four things that God told me to do at 19, 1547 01:04:29,583 --> 01:04:32,500 that's what I've been doing every day since, 1548 01:04:32,583 --> 01:04:34,292 and he's been nothing but faithful. 1549 01:04:34,333 --> 01:04:35,833 All right, here's the bottom line. 1550 01:04:35,875 --> 01:04:38,000 The sun's going down. I've been out all day. 1551 01:04:38,042 --> 01:04:41,333 I want to go home and kiss Grace and eat dinner with the kids. 1552 01:04:41,375 --> 01:04:45,125 Mars Hill has often really just, quite frankly, 1553 01:04:45,167 --> 01:04:48,417 stunk at giving, and I think the last thing to be saved 1554 01:04:48,500 --> 01:04:50,167 is a person's wallet. 1555 01:04:50,250 --> 01:04:53,792 And so I'm just going to tell you that most of the people 1556 01:04:53,833 --> 01:04:56,833 in the church need to be giving a whole lot more. 1557 01:04:56,875 --> 01:04:58,625 Some of you are being generous. 1558 01:04:58,667 --> 01:05:00,417 I'm not talking to you. 1559 01:05:00,500 --> 01:05:03,000 For those people, we'll have a separate conference for you 1560 01:05:03,042 --> 01:05:04,667 in a phone booth. 1561 01:05:04,750 --> 01:05:08,292 For everybody else, the sad, cold, hard truth 1562 01:05:08,333 --> 01:05:11,917 is about 24% of people at Mars Hill this year, 1563 01:05:12,000 --> 01:05:14,417 have given nothing. 1564 01:05:14,500 --> 01:05:19,375 In addition, another 41% have given $500 or less. 1565 01:05:19,458 --> 01:05:24,333 So that's 65ish percent of Mars Hill, 2/3 of Mars Hill's 1566 01:05:24,375 --> 01:05:29,125 12,000 people who are giving nothing or nearly nothing, 1567 01:05:29,167 --> 01:05:31,125 and I get it. 1568 01:05:31,167 --> 01:05:33,625 I get, "Hey, what about the single moms? 1569 01:05:33,667 --> 01:05:35,792 "Hey, what about the college kid who's, you know, 1570 01:05:35,833 --> 01:05:37,417 "eating Top Ramen? 1571 01:05:37,500 --> 01:05:39,583 "Hey, what about the kids that just got saved? 1572 01:05:39,667 --> 01:05:41,500 Hey, what about the guys that are non-Christians?" 1573 01:05:41,583 --> 01:05:43,000 Great, understood. 1574 01:05:43,083 --> 01:05:44,625 Sixty-five percent? 1575 01:05:44,667 --> 01:05:46,208 That doesn't count. 1576 01:05:46,292 --> 01:05:49,000 There can't be 65% of people that are unemployed 1577 01:05:49,042 --> 01:05:51,083 or in dire circumstances. 1578 01:05:51,167 --> 01:05:55,708 We're not asking people to give what we are 1579 01:05:55,792 --> 01:05:57,708 demanding them to give. 1580 01:05:57,792 --> 01:06:00,708 We're asking them to give what God convicts them to give. 1581 01:06:00,792 --> 01:06:03,625 And I want you to ask this question of yourself. 1582 01:06:03,667 --> 01:06:06,833 At the end of the year, how much do you anticipate 1583 01:06:06,875 --> 01:06:09,417 that God wants you to give? 1584 01:06:09,500 --> 01:06:13,333 We're at that place now where it is going to take everyone being 1585 01:06:13,375 --> 01:06:17,167 very generous to open up an opportunity to welcome 1586 01:06:17,250 --> 01:06:21,000 9,000 more people, all the new churches, 1587 01:06:21,083 --> 01:06:23,667 seats, opportunities. 1588 01:06:23,750 --> 01:06:25,583 So is it about the money? 1589 01:06:25,667 --> 01:06:30,375 Yes, it's about spending the money to reach people for Jesus. 1590 01:06:30,458 --> 01:06:33,125 Everything costs something. 1591 01:06:33,167 --> 01:06:35,417 And we think that if you love Jesus 1592 01:06:35,500 --> 01:06:37,500 and you believe people are going to hell, 1593 01:06:37,583 --> 01:06:41,292 you should give at least as much money to that as toilet paper, 1594 01:06:41,333 --> 01:06:43,208 and many of you aren't. 1595 01:06:43,292 --> 01:06:45,167 Bottom line, you can do better. 1596 01:06:45,250 --> 01:06:48,625 We love you and we trust in the grace of God. 1597 01:06:48,667 --> 01:06:51,500 You will be more generous. 1598 01:06:51,583 --> 01:06:53,917 People are getting saved more than ever. 1599 01:06:54,000 --> 01:06:56,417 Churches are getting planted more than ever. 1600 01:06:56,500 --> 01:06:59,000 Leaders are rising up more than ever. 1601 01:06:59,083 --> 01:07:02,333 Opportunities are surfacing more than ever. 1602 01:07:02,375 --> 01:07:05,417 And this is the best possible time to get onboard, 1603 01:07:05,500 --> 01:07:08,625 to pray, give, serve, because I promise you, 1604 01:07:08,667 --> 01:07:11,500 what comes next is the kind of thing that you're going 1605 01:07:11,583 --> 01:07:13,500 to tell your grandkids about. 1606 01:07:13,583 --> 01:07:24,833 ♪♪♪