What The Heck Is Mars Hill T.R.T.?

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.”