Welcome to the Mars Hill Worship web site. This site is the voice of our departmental staff and volunteers. Our Worship department is responsible for everything that happens on stage during Sunday services as well as other Mars Hill events with the exception of teaching and preaching. This includes the worship band’s performance, audio, video, lighting, recording and production. It takes literally hundreds of faithful volunteers and a staff of eleven people to pull it all off. I like to say we’re like a little nation of geeks. And as the Herder of Nerds, I suppose that makes me the Chief Geek!

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By Pastor Tim Smith

I am pleased to announce the first Mars Hill Worship studio recording project in over 3 years: Mars Hill Christmas | Silent Night. Although we have begun to release a series of “live” recordings containing material gleaned from Sunday worship services it’s been a while since we’ve spent any time in the studio. There are two simple reasons for this: time and money.

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I grew up in the church with folks that had a very narrow working definition of the word “worship”. Generally, in the evangelical world I was entrenched in, “worship” is essentially translated into Christian-talk to mean “praise and worship music”. Now that I’m a deacon in charge of the sound at Mars Hill church, I’m privy to the ins and outs of service production. So that common, yet narrow definition of “worship” just won’t do anymore.

Worship in the context of the church service doesn’t simply include singing songs of praise, but the technology needed to make that happen. This would include the technology associated with the whole production and the people that operate all the “stuff”.

The tech gear used in our services include-but is not limited to-the use of mixing consoles, video switchers, projectors, microphones, and lighting fixtures. Each is a tool that we believe helps to create texture to draw people into an environment that’s most conducive for worship. (more…)

Over the last ten years, Mars Hill Church has grown dramatically, not only in size but also in our use of technology. In that time we have always been quick to embrace new forms of advancement in the way we do sound, lights, and (now increasingly) video. With the ten year anniversary, the new “Vintage Jesus” series, and branching out to new campuses with video and streaming capabilities, we are witnessing new levels of technology on a weekly basis. But what goes on behind closed doors that make it all possible? (more…)

By Pastor Tim Smith and Deacon Joel Brown

Many people at Mars Hill have recently expressed curiosity as to why the audio levels in our services are mixed at such high volumes. Is it because we want to push the limits of being as loud as possible? Is it because we want to be cool?

This document is an effort to clarify the reasoning behind what we do and why we do it. For a technically detailed explanation of the steps we have taken to ensure safe noise levels please refer to our “Noise Safety” document, which includes data collected by a certified audiologist who is a Mars Hill member. (more…)