Read the Introduction from Pastor Mark below. Curriculum from the text will be posted weekly here.

From Pastor Mark Driscoll(see trailer here)

Jesus was a rebel, outlaw, renegade, and hardcore, sanctified troublemaker. He never sinned, but He lived His life by a set of rules that His culture did not approve of, especially the stuffed-shirt religious types. Examples include healing on the Sabbath, throwing over tables in the temple, eating with godless sinners, and not washing His hands before eating. Clearly, Jesus was no coward who conformed to social pressure.

Jesus was ultimately murdered in an attempt to stop Him from literally turning the world upside down, which was as effective as blowing on the head of a dandelion to exterminate it. Nonetheless, Jesus endured the cross, as Hebrews 12:2 says, “for the joy that was set before him” and never lost His joy even in the midst of betrayal, poverty, injustice, loneliness, pain, suffering, slander, and even death. Jesus was single-minded in His mission to pursue God’s glory in heaven and our salvation on earth. Jesus lived without those things that we would typically associate with joy, such as health, wealth, sex, and comfort, yet He is the freest and happiest person who has ever lived. Jesus is the most joyful person who has ever lived because He was the most obedient, God-glorifying, humble, sacrificial person who has ever lived. Paradoxically, He had joy despite being a “man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3).

Following his conversion, Paul patterned his life after Jesus and also lived as a rebel, outlaw, renegade, and hardcore, sanctified troublemaker. He too was single, broke, often homeless, and so hated that he got run out of more than a few towns after taking a good beating. Paul writes Philippians while he is sitting on the floor of a filthy Roman jail (Philippians 1:1317)-a brutal place and nothing like the Paris Hilton Camp Cupcake Clubhouses that we see today. Alone in his jail cell, flat broke, tired, hungry, sick, abandoned, and facing the prospect of a brutal death, Paul sat down to write a letter to his friends in Philippi, who enjoyed one of the few churches written to in the New Testament that did not sound like it had been taken over by drunk carnival workers.

Founded by Paul in roughly 50 AD, the church at Philippi was the first church in Europe. The church began when the team of Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke met with some Jewish women at their place of prayer in Acts 16. Their first converts were a wealthy upper class Asian businesswoman, Lydia, and her family; a demon-possessed lower class Greek slave girl; and a middle class Roman jailer and his family. Despite racial, economic, gender, and political differences, the church grew to be very healthy and filled with joy as they grew together in their love for and service of Jesus Christ.

(more…)

Mike O’Dea | Mars Hill Theology Response Team

At your next Community Group meeting, look around the room.  Consider that everyone present is there by “Divine Appointment”.  Somewhere and sometime at some location each of those  persons had some sort of divine appointment in which God in His providence caused someone to introduce them to Jesus. (Eph. 1:11)

One cannot find the term “divine appointment” in Scripture, yet we know it when we observe it.  For instance in Acts 8:27 we see how Philip was guided by the Holy Spirit to meet with the Ethiopian eunuch.  In Acts 8:35 Philip presented the Gospel and the eunuch was saved.

As I have matured in my Christian walk I have some regret that I have missed many divine appointment opportunities.  I am resolved to put an end to that.  I am beginning to realize that God is continually putting divine appointments in my path.  At this point I am aware of at least one per week.  Three weeks ago, my wife and I were enjoying dinner at Marie Calendar’s in Northgate.  We struck up a conversation with a young lady.  Her name was Pualani.  We told her about Mars Hill Church and how God has been blessing our ministry. She got so interested that she got up from her table and stood before us and took notes on where Mars Hill was located and the times of the services.  She told us she was a single mom and she wanted to get her child into some constructive activities.  I do not know if she showed up at Mars Hill, but her enthusiasm would indicate she probably did. (a divine appointment)

Two weeks ago, Bonnie and I were having dinner at Louie’s in the lounge.  While I was sneaking peeks over Bonnie’s shoulder watching the USC/Nebraska game a middle aged woman came in and sat no more than 4 feet from us.  Bonnie (a hair stylist) said to her, “My, your hair is lovely”.  That simple “ice breaker” resulted in a long conversation. USC was beating the @$#%&# out of Nebraska so I lost interest in that and I joined the conversation.  I asked Edith (we had learned her name by now) if she had heard of Mars Hill Church.  She said she certainly had and that she had seen the TV coverage of the Baptisms we had at Alki Beach the night before.  Once again, she was a single mom, and she had a 14 year old son.  We told her a lot about Mars Hill and we emphasized the Proxy teen age ministry.  She got very excited and we agreed to meet her the following day at the 5:00 PM service.  She not only showed up but she wanted to sit in the front row; and we did that.  Mark was pretty revved up but I think he only spit on us two or three times.  Anyway, she loved it and agreed to meet us again next Sunday.  (a divine appointment)

Again, a day ago, my wife had a client named Malka show up for her hair appointment. Malka is a Jewish, born in Israel, Hebrew and English speaking lady.  I often discuss Scripture with her.  I asked her if she had seen the publicity about the Mars Hill Baptism service.  She said she had.  I pulled out the photos I had taken at that service.  One of the photos was of my wife Bonnie speaking to pastor Mark.  Malka said, “Bonnie, what were you speaking to him about?”  Bonnie said, “Malka, I was asking him to pray for you.”  That happens to be the God’s honest truth and Bonnie was not going to lie about it.  Bonnie followed that up by saying, “Malka, would you like to join us at Mars Hill at the 5:00 PM service on Sunday?”  Malka said yes! (Another divine appointment)   

My point is that if you are alert to it and you pray to our Lord to put “divine appointments” in your path, it will happen.  Shall we resolve to grow our community groups with Jesus loving people by showing up and recognizing our divine appointments?  It is easier than you think because God knows who to put in your path and it may be someone you least  expect.  Maybe it is your barber, your mail man, your doctor, your grocer, your client, your neighbor, etc. Go for it in Jesus name.  (See Col. 3:17)

Do I hear an Amen?

Community Group Leaders!

Mars Hill Ballard is requesting your help in a very important manner. We are in the process of recruiting new communion servers and wanted to present the opportunity to our community group leaders. We wanted members of our church leadership to be a visible part of this crucial element of worship. Although it is a vital part of our worship and Sunday services, it is not a huge commitment. Please let Samson know if you are available to serve communion at the service you attend. I appreciate your time and thank you in advance for your help.

Contact samson@marshillchurch.org for more information.

Foundry:

Historically, a foundry was a location where tools and weapons were forged and fashioned. It was a place where iron would sharpen iron, which corresponds to the biblical concept of community (Prov. 27.17).

As Mars Hill¹s one-day educational program, Foundry fosters community and spiritual refinement through one-day (Saturday morning) classes.
Participants can take the content beyond the classroom setting using an optional study guide, provided for further individual study, family devotions, and/or Community Group discussion. Foundry is open to members and church attendees.

EVENT:

If you are interested in better understanding Jesus in the Old Testament, there¹s an important event on the Mars Hill calendar for you.

On October 6 at the Ballard Campus, a course called ³Emmaus Road: Seeing Christ in all of Scripture² will be offered.

Luke 24:27 ³And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he [Jesus] interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself²

Just as Jesus taught the disciples on the Emmaus Road after His resurrection to see himself in the Old Testament, this class will lay the foundation of the overarching Biblical story, studying Jesus in the Old Testament and our role within God¹s story.

This Saturday seminar is a great opportunity to grow in your knowledge of Jesus and to gain a broader view and respect for the story of God found within the Old and New Testament. Come by yourself, with your Community Group, or with your family for this valuable teaching seminar.

Schedule for the day:

9:00-9:45 Big Picture Overview (Pastor Gary Shavey)

9:45-10:15 Seeing Christ in the Old Testament: Garden of Eden

through the Exodus (Deacon Greg Joines)

10:15-11:00 Seeing Christ in the Old Testament: Conquest through the

Church (Pastor Bill Clem)

11:15-12:00 Breakout:

Track A: Christ in the Wisdom Literature (Pastor Zack

Hubert)

Track B: Christ in the Psalms (Deacon Andrew Pack)

Track C: Christ in the Prophetic Literature (Deacon Wendy

Alsup)

12:00-12:30 Conclusion (Pastor Bill Clem)

Here¹s the link to register.

https://www.sporg.com/pom/registration?cmd=event_info&event_id=93902

I recently read through the book of Deuteronomy.  It is a book of remembering.  It reviews Israel’s history with a strong admonition to not forget. In fact, every time the Lord did something awesome for them, He encouraged them to declare it a holiday reminding themselves to never forget the occasion.  Passover is a great case in point. There are a lot of Jewish holidays on the calendar.

 A couple of examples from Deuteronomy are chapter four verse 9, “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children.” and verse 23, “Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you.”

In my journal I wrote the following: “Lord, help me never forget who you are and who I am in you. To never forget what you are all about in my life; never forget your holiness and your expectations for me; never forget your love and power. I don’t want to forget anything about you; your plans, your purpose for me. I don’t want to forget that it’s all about you and not me.” 

I often find myself remembering things I should forget and forgetting things I should remember.

When things are not going well for me, either at home, in my personal life or in my work, I tend to forget God’s promises, his power and his faithfulness.  I remember my inadequacy and forget his adequacy. I remember my finiteness and forget his infiniteness.  I remember what I’m doing and forget what He’s doing. I remember the stupid and sinful things I do and forget his forgiveness and mercy. It causes me to be discouraged and lose hope.  It’s so hard to see when my eyes are on my.  One of the devil’s main jobs is to get me to take my eyes off Jesus and put them on myself. He tempts me to forget all that He is and remember all that I’m not!

Paul makes an interesting statement in Philippians 3 where he says in verse 13, “brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do; forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.” Sometime it is flat out hard to forget the things that should be forgotten and remember the things that should be remembered.  I should forget the sinful things that have been confessed and forgiven and not let the devil rub my nose in it; constantly remind me of what is under the blood of Christ.  He has been and will forever be the accuser of the brothers.who accuses us day and night before our God.”-Revelation 12:10. A friend once told me that when the devil knocks at the door send Jesus to answer it.  I go to the door by myself way too often and mostly get defeated.

Are you experiencing the enemy reminders of things you should be forgetting; things from your past that he keeps bringing up? Do you, like me, easily forget God’s gracious promises to you? Peter refers to them as precious and very great (II Peter 1:4).  Jump into the middle of these thoughts and share with me, and others who respond, your experiences in remembering and forgetting.  What has enabled you to live more in victory and less in defeat?

Leaders,

Read this post by Pastor Dick. This is an opportunity for the people in your group to serve not only the church, but the city by providing hospitality to families that need to hear about Jesus.

-I am so excited about this new season at Mars Hill with the expansion to the multi campus model and Ballard being the training center in which to send from. This affects each ministry as we raise up leaders, trained teachers and volunteers to fill positions now in their communities reaching their neighbors. As you know Wedgwood launches in Oct. and the Eastside and downtown are soon to become realities, therefore, we will be sending many trained people from Ballard to these campuses.

The fact that we are on mission is exciting and the fact that so many people come to Mars Hill because they believe in the mission of seeing lives transformed for Jesus in and around the city of Seattle is nothing short of miraculous. But part of sending trained people out is filling those now empty spots. We are sending up to 50 trained people (just in Children’s ministry) in the next few weeks and months and therefore need those who are committed to the Ballard campus to step up and fill the holes of those who are being sent. I write this for Children’s Ministry but in reality every ministry is sending and every ministry needs people to fill these positions. If you are on mission with us the easiest way to find out about the needs and opportunities in the church is to go to the serve desk in the main foyer as it is a one stop shop of ministry opportunities in the church. If you see yourself serving the little MH culture please email  renee@marshillchurch.org

Pastor Dick McKinley

Children’s Ministry Pastor

By  Mike O’Dea 
Mars Hill Theology Response Team

Okay!  I just gave it away.  Most folks at Mars Hill have no idea and many have never heard of the Theology Response Team.  In three years I have not seen mention of the TRT in any of the Loop Notes or handouts.  Also, no mention on the pre-service overheads, etc. Pastor Mark did mention TRT briefly in one sermon when he was preaching in 1st Corinthians while discussing Spiritual Gifts.  There was also a column that appeared for two or three months in the Vox Pop (about 18 months ago) which was called, “What The ology” but it died for reasons known to God and somebody at Vox Pop.

Pastor Zack Hubert is the supervising pastor of TRT and he has recently assigned me to the position of Lead.  I think that means “pointman”.  Other Marshillians on the team are Wendy Alsup, Dwayne Forehand, and Andrew Pack.  Our job is to respond to questions that come to Mars Hill by e-mail, snail mail, telephone, etc. which have to do with theology issues. Some questions come from Mars Hill members or attendees but most come from all over the world.  We have responded to inquiries from places like England, Germany, Costa Rica and even Tulsa, Oklahoma.  You are probably aware that people by the thousands (I think now over a million per year) download Mars Hill audios and videos.  Those sermons generate questions and we respond to them.

We especially enjoy responding to inquiries from local people because we know we may be able to point them to Jesus and Mars Hill.  Sometimes the questions and the responses result in an email exchange that occasionally lead people to check out Mars Hill.  I am aware of at least three people I have communicated with that became attendees.  All three joined community groups and two have become members.  I am sure the other TRT folks have similar stories.  

Back to Tulsa; a young lady was a long time member of a church there that apparently was very legalistic.  She stated that she knew at least half the people in her church drank alcohol but that nobody talked about it.  She said she was tired of the hypocrisy and wanted to know how Mars Hill handled that issue.  I pointed her to Mark’s sermon called the “Weaker Christian” (1 Corinthians 8:1-13) in which Mark discussed alcohol, pot smoking, tattoos, etc. She was so impressed that she recently came to Seattle to peek in on us.  She became even more impressed and sent an email saying she planned to move here.

At TRT we think that we are only touching the “tip of the iceberg”.  This ministry is fun to do, and it is a tremendous joy to see fruit coming forth.  Pastor Zack has a vision of creating a tie-in between community group leaders and TRT people.  Consider this as an invitation to anyone reading this to send theology questions to theology@marshillchurch.org.  This especially applies to C.G. leaders and hosts.  I have attended community groups for almost three years and I know that sometimes issues come up that do not get adequately explained and dealt with.  We want to help you with that.  We would like to see our ministry grow so we can have others join our TRT team.  Mostly, we desire Mars Hill people to know their Bibles well and to feel comfortable sharing that knowledge with others as we team up to grow the City within the City.  Any questions (theology of course)?

Do I hear an Amen?

Proverbs 3:13  “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding.”

If you’re like me, you probably ponder over seemingly trivial and ordinary stuff. You may ask yourself why certain things are the way they are.like how M&M’s chocolate candy got it’s name or why moss only grows on the north side of trees. Have you ever wondered why the majority of Mars Hill Community Groups meet on Tuesdays?

Through sharing my journey through the community group family tree, I hope to shed light on why Tuesday is such a popular night of the week.

In August 2003 I started attending Mars Hill Church and joined a community group during my first week of school at the UW. We met on Tuesday nights in the U-District. One reason why I plugged into this community group so quickly was because is was small at the time. I was blown away by the passionate discussion about Jesus and the bible as well as the valued prayer time, fellowship, having meals together, etc. It was something I had never quite experienced before. It was real community! No wonder why our group grew so fast! Within one school year, we had already replicated twice. Replication was bittersweet. Parting with half the group was sad, but I understood it was essential for healthy hospitality and growth. Since then, I’ve been through 4 additional group replications, one of which replicated three ways. All of these groups continued to meet on Tuesday nights. It is my observation that replicated groups tend to keep to the same meeting time/day as it’s former group.

While it may be overwhelming to see 7-8 Tuesday Greenlake/Greenwood Groups on the web listings, I am encouraged. This means that groups are replicating so that they can welcome many more into community. Hmmm, if my assumption is correct, I wonder if the first community group at Mars Hill met on Tuesdays? It is also exciting to see Wednesday and Thursday groups grow in number too. Let’s keep the new groups coming!