About a month ago I decided I’d love to write an entry on why I became a member of Mars Hill- I am deeply convicted that it’s vital to the spiritual health of our church family, so I can’t think of a better topic to write about for this blog than why I chose to become a member and how Jesus has worked since! My life has been so changed, so blessed, and I literally praise Jesus on a daily basis for the work He’s doing in my family through the ministry of Mars Hill Church. We love serving here, and never for a moment have I regretted our decision to get involved and commit to membership, nor do I want to be at any other church.

Are you sufficiently convinced that I love being a member? Good. Because here’s where it gets weird- I agreed nearly a month ago to write the entry. It’s so far back I can’t even find it in my e-mail. And, being that I have been consigned to my home for awhile due to a back injury, I’ve had nothing but time to get ‘er done. I love to write, have a fantastic ergonomic keyboard, and a blazing fast internet connection. Everything has been pretty much lined up as the perfect circumstances for a person to testify to others about how becoming a MHC-Ballard member has been a fabulous experience.

Yet… I haven’t eked out a single word. Many a time I have sat down to write and… nothing. Being forced for fake really isn’t my style, so I have tried playing around with ideas, but then I’d realize they absolutely sucked, and eventually I’d walk away hoping tomorrow would be different. It never was, and as days stretched into weeks I have felt rather perturbed with myself for not having anything encouraging to say about something that has been one of the best times of my life, and that has completely redefined my relationship with Jesus and how I relate to everything through Him. How could I, famous (infamous?) for talking far too much have not. A. Single. Word. about something so meaningful and beautiful and downright awesome in my life?

Then, when inspiration seemed dead and I pondered how to tactfully pen the “Dear Jane” letter to the lovely editor of this blog, I had an amazing conversation with a beloved friend a few nights ago. We actually call each other ‘hermano’ and ‘hermana’, the Spanish words for brother and sister (we’re not Latino, just awesome) because we’ve been extremely close for coming on ten years. We were in youth group together in high school and went to the same university and church in our college era. He’s since moved to the East coast and, essentially, decided that God doesn’t exist. After months of skirting around the subject, we had a ‘no holds barred’ session of laying things on the line. As words like “when Jesus chooses to reveal Himself, He does, and if He chooses to reach down and bring you face to face with Him then He will. Until then (God willing that you are elect), believing the Bible will be ignorance and you’ll believe yourself smarter than that” tumbled from me, I realized that being under the teaching of such a solid church had completely changed me.

The old me would have apologized for the Truth; the reformed me was sharing the truth in a blunt and loving way with a person who does not know Jesus. Despite an emotional experience that seemed like Christianity, he never met the real Jesus, decided it’s all a fraud to make us feel better about being losers, and here I am busting out the big guns of election and the fact that he’s the foolish one! I found myself praying constantly for the wisdom and insight of the Holy Spirit, filled with belief that He would grant me all that I asked (James 1:5-8), and let the words hit the screen.

By the end of the conversation my defensive friend had softened, quit hiding behind smokescreen arguments of esoteric knowledge vs. logic/reason, and admitted that he’s just looking for the truth, and that if Jesus is the truth then bring it on. He agreed to listen to some of Mark Driscoll’s sermons, and I walked away grateful that I finally know exactly where he stands. I’m better equipped to pray for and share Jesus with him.

Just yesterday another friend from my past, this time a girl I taught when she was a youth and I was in college, contacted me via the sweet ministry tool that is Facebook, and I had the opportunity to gain insight into her life. She, too, is struggling in her faith and leery of returning to the church I met her in, because it’s extremely legalistic and has no room for anyone that doesn’t fit a specific, zombied-down mold of a person with no personality. She, too, is going to start listening to Mark’s sermons and said that I was an answer to her prayers for a friend who would accept her as she is and allow her to just be real. Praise Jesus for choosing to work in her life (and mine!) to bring her closer to Himself where she can rest in Him and stand on the solid ground of truth and not the defecation wasteland that is religious legalism.

In praying for these people so dear to my heart, I have realized that I am immensely blessed to be at Mars Hill, under solid teaching and Jesus-seeking leadership. There is a peace beyond words that comes from being connected to such a solid ministry- though I don’t take it for granted! My husband and I pray for Mars Hill daily. I could write about various ways our lives have been blessed by serving (actually, I already have! You can read about it here) or gush about how incredible our community group experience has been (I’ll save that for a later entry- this is long enough!), but if I’m being raw and real then the way Jesus is working in me, right now, through the ministry of Mars Hill is to pour me out into others. I’m humbled, but so blessed and honored because the desire for people to know, love, and live out a life of surrender for Jesus is quickly becoming a primary passion in me.

My husband and I primarily became members so that we could serve in the ministry that was quickly changing our lives into ones lived solely for Jesus- now He’s using us to spread the ministry of Mars Hill into the lives of people outside of Seattle, be it 300 or 3,000 miles away. I don’t care about things like the color of the carpet or whether the Sunday services are at times that fit my preferred schedule- I just long to see my beloved ‘hermano’ in heaven. If I do, it will be directly linked to how Jesus used Mars Hill in my life after making the commitment to get involved at the Ballard campus and become a member.

Honestly, if you’ve been going to Mars Hill consistently, but haven’t joined, why not? What are you waiting for? Jesus is working here. The Holy Spirit is changing lives. Stop sucking up resources and start stewarding all that Jesus has blessed you with by connecting to and serving this body of Christ where He has placed you. Seriously- become a member. Pray for a clear conscience from Jesus, but if this is your church home become a member. Don’t leave room for Jesus to move on from you and use someone else to do the work He prepared specifically for you (Ephesians 2:10) and forfeit your own growth and maturity in the process. Get connected to a community group, start serving, and join this church we’re all blessed to be a part of. In 6 months you could be the person writing for this blog about how joining Mars Hill has changed your life for Jesus!

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The “Changed by Jesus” series features stories about how Jesus is working through the ministry of Mars Hill Church to change lives. If God has used Mars Hill to transform your life, please consider emailing your account to testimony[at]marshillchurch.org.

In May, a man named David sent us the following note:

I was saved on Sunday at the 5pm service. My life began to change 4 weeks ago when I was basically challanged to attend a service. I went and was moved. I made it to 3 services in 4 weeks. When called to come up and be saved I rose out of my seat and was stunned to find myself walking into the arms of Jesus. I truly believe I would still be lost in my comfortable life if I had not accepted the challenge to go to your church. I appreciate the straightforward and sometimes brutally honest education I recieve when I attend Mars Hill. Thank you for bringing me home to God. I have really missed him.

This Thursday, David and many others will be baptized at the Ballard Beach Baptism. Here is the rest of his story…

I was raised a Catholic in a Franciscan and then Benedictian Monastery where I attended boarding school. I tried to be a good Christian, praying every night and going to mass every day as an altar boy for the Monks and Brothers. I loved the pious Monks and wanted to be like them. Sometime during college I got lost in the ritual. After countless repetitions I simply could not hear the words I was saying. My sins grew but I justified them as I twisted God’s words to fit my lifestyle. I plucked the messages I wanted, leaving my belief in Jesus fragmented as I worshiped my idols.

Still, Jesus pursued me. He sent many messengers to intervene. Each one I rejected. Each one I persecuted. I judged true Christians and sentenced them in my mind. I slandered them behind their backs. I did many evil deeds of commission and omission to hurt the Christians that were sent to bring me back to Christ.

The final messenger came into my life at work. He attends Mars Hill Church. He boldly rebuked anything except the true message. I intended to go to his church so I could mockingly watch the show. I entered and sat, waiting to pull apart the message based on my patched together ideas of God. During that service I was moved to tears. I silently begged for forgiveness. I praised Jesus in song and in prayer that very day. I needed to be there…

Four weeks into regular attendance at Mars Hill, Pastor Mark invited anyone who wanted to be saved to come to the stage. I had absolutely no intention of accepting that challenge. Believe my testimony: The Holy Spirit raised my body from my seat and sent me to the stage…I began a new life. Before that day my life was comfortable, but my heart was heavy. My heart has swollen with tremendous joy these last 14 weeks.

Jesus took me and I will never again look away. My eyes see the same things. My ears hear the same. I, however, am different. Everything has taken on a rich taste and a smooth texture that I struggle to describe. I was born again and freed from the bondage of my sins. I do not deny Jesus at work, with friends, or non-Christians. My water cooler talk is often about Jesus. I tell you I was saved by the intentional discipleship of a coworker. I am now that intentional disciple as others have followed me to Mars Hill and to Jesus.

Posted by Pastor Jamie Munson

A story came to us this week of great redemption. Jesus has taken so many evils and wrongs in this woman’s life and used them for her good and his glory. I trust you’ll find her story encouraging.

The “Changed by Jesus” series features stories about how Jesus is working through the ministry of Mars Hill Church to change lives. If God has used Mars Hill to transform your life, please consider emailing your account to testimony[at]marshillchurch.org.
A New Family — Changed by Jesus #2

I always knew God was there, but I was scared of him. I didn’t know how to trust him. Sometimes I went to mass when I was a little girl, because my dad was Catholic. At mass I heard about God and hell, which just made me fear that I wasn’t good enough. Then my dad ran off and my mom turned to drugs. It was pretty terrible growing up. I have ten brothers and sisters, and my mom couldn’t take care of us. She actually sold my brothers and sisters for drugs. When I was fourteen I was emancipated from my mother and became the head of our household. I did what I could to put food on the table for my younger siblings, but most of the time it was just pancakes. We had meat maybe once a week.

Eventually I had a string of abusive relationships with men and an abusive relationship with alcohol. I drank to forget the bad things. At this time I considered myself a moral person, so when I was raped and became pregnant, I kept the baby. Soon after I met the man who is now my husband, and together we raised my beautiful daughter.

When my daughter was a teenager some friends of ours invited us to Mars Hill Church. We had tried going to church in the past, but they were really legalistic and religious, and we didn’t feel like we fit in. We walked into Mars Hill Ballard on a Sunday morning, and they were playing some crazy loud music. My daughter thought it was awesome. I was stunned to discover that all these young people were going to church and they were all really warm, nice people. Then I heard Pastor Mark talk about his family and I could tell how much he loved them. I decided that I wanted to be around these people and find out more about them, so we started attending Mars Hill regularly.

Every week it seemed like Pastor Mark knew exactly what was going on in our home. My husband and I would talk about something Saturday night, and then somehow Pastor Mark would preach about it on Sunday. It was a little scary. God used that teaching to soften my heart, but I was still struggling. I knew God was there, but I wasn’t sure I trusted him. I wanted him to come down from heaven and talk to me.

On New Year’s Eve we went to the Mars Hill bowling night. I showed up with my husband and daughter, and we got assigned to a lane with another family. I was a little shocked when we arrived at our lane to find Pastor Mark and his family putting on their bowling shoes. It didn’t take too long until I realized that they were just a regular family. My daughter fell in love with Mark’s kids, and my husband got along great with Mark; the whole evening was just fantastic. That night I started to realize something: God was talking to me. He did come down from heaven, and the whole Bible was him talking to me. Every Sunday at church Pastor Mark was just speaking God’s words to me.

Now I can’t get enough of reading the Bible. God is changing our family life and making my husband into a strong leader. He used to not be very social, but now if you get him talking about Jesus he won’t shut up. We’re still not perfect, but Jesus is working on us. This Easter my husband and I both got baptized together at Mars Hill, and our friends who invited us that first Sunday were there to watch. My family wasn’t great growing up, but now I have a new family that loves me and a Father who I can trust will never leave me.

The number loomed before me, taunting me. While shopping for my wedding dress, a Christian friend who’d known me for 5 years- long enough to know I’d never dated nor even kissed a man until age 24 when I met the man I was then preparing to marry- quipped about how few women could actually wear white on their very special day with a clear conscience. But, according to her, thank the Lord that I could. The guilt bubbled up in me, the words crawling toward the top of my esophagus and threatening to spill forth. I choked them down, far too humiliated to tell my beloved friend the truth.

I was no longer a sweet and innocent virgin.

I had done the unspeakable for a Christian girl claiming to love Jesus.

I had sex before marriage.

It was easy enough to blame it purely on that fateful July evening when we crossed what my fiancé and I considered to be the big red line of sin, going the dreaded (but so longed for) “all the way”. But, when we were honest with ourselves, it began months and months before in a singular late-November phone call, when we were still separated by 3,000 miles, where we blurred the lines between sin and righteousness and put our own standards for holiness on our relationship. Disgusted by legalist views being forced on us, we egregiously mistook our freedom in Christ for an opportunity to sin and follow our own deceitful and fleshly desires. We thought that because we had never gone “all the way” it was ok, and we applauded ourselves on how much better we were than those legalistic people trying to force their interpretation of the Bible on us.

Crazily enough, however, our logic of “freedom in Christ” quickly became drowned out by hormones and we flirted with that big red sin line until we finally crossed it. We swore it would never happen again. Then, a few weeks later, it happened again. And then again.

And then again.

Four times.

I can’t remember the exact occasions that it happened, but I know that it was four times, and I will always know that it was four times. Me, the girl who met Jesus at 16 and vowed to love Him alone until marriage; the same me who was determined to break the generational sin of women pregnant as they said their vows… and I was not pregnant when I married my husband, but I was by no means pure. We stood before family and friends, all of them believing us to be chaste and holy; we took communion, bringing judgment on ourselves because we had never truly repented of the sin. To be sure, we felt awful, but guilt and repentance are as similar as Payless and Manolos (or T-Ball and the MLB, for the fellas); they simply aren’t on the same playing field, let alone the same team.

We brought the sin into our first few months of marriage, and we sought Jesus but continually found ourselves frustrated. We were in a church that refused to call sin by its name- SIN. Missing the mark. Offending God. Incurring the wrath of God. Forfeiting God’s blessing. SIN. When we confessed our sin in pre-marital counseling to our pastor, he made a joke about what a lucky guy my husband was that it was me pushing the boundaries, and he jumped right on past the issue to say something about agreeing on finances together. This same leader was the manifestation in the pulpit of the heart of the leadership – accountability was a good theory but not something intentionally structured into the church, and Sunday mornings were for encouraging Christians to hear some anecdotes and stories about other people who were happy living the Christian life, so that the congregation could walk out the doors and into their world… happy. No conviction, no challenge, no repentance… just happy that they were followers of happy-clappy-nice-guy-in-the-sky Jesus who enabled their kids to win soccer games. Happy happy happy while their lives – and the church – fell apart due to unrepentant sin.

One November evening “it just so happened” that we chose to go hear some guy we’d never heard of deliver a talk entitled “The Gods Aren’t Angry Anymore” with some friends (I won’t say his name, but we learned quickly enough that he is an integral part of the emergent church, and, well, his actual speech was a bunch of fluff and left us feeling completely dissatisfied, like watching a reality show all season long only to have the DVR cut off right as the winner’s name is announced on the finale) and on the way home “it just so happened” that one of the friends mentioned some guy named Mark Driscoll from a similarly named Mars Hill Church in Seattle and that he had solid sermons on iTunes. Our interest was piqued when the friend stated to us one of his favorite quotes that Mark had said in a sermon:

“Soft words produce hard people. I preach hard words in order to develop soft people.”

We immediately went home and filled up our iPods, and in 3 days we had listened to a collective 30 sermons between the two of us. We were hooked. We continued serving in our current church while being fed all day long by Mars Hill’s teaching. Within a few weeks Jesus clearly told us to leave our current church, to entrust Him to deal with it as He willed and stop trying to save it ourselves, and to join the ministry of Mars Hill. We obeyed, and have never looked back.

That was in November of 2007, almost one year to the day from our first phone conversation that strayed from Jesus’ path of the straight and narrow regarding issues of guarding one’s heart and sexual sin. Our lives have been turned upside down, if that’s not too overly clichéd in its usage. We took the last old-school version of the membership class in January and became members in March, and have been involved in an incredible community group since the beginning of the year. We officially became part of the Ballard campus when we renewed our membership on The City in April, and Mars Hill has become an integral part of our existence for these numbered days we have on earth.

In our day to day lives, I have been humbled to see my husband stand up as a man of God and lead our small family of two as a real man, one who loves Jesus first, me second, and other people third. The Lord Jesus has dug into my own heart, bringing me face to face with my own issues of sin and idolatry; He has long been my Lord but daily Jesus is becoming more and more my Master and as such He refuses to let me ignore my sin issues with food, comfort, and obesity any longer. My husband discovered a true God-given gifting for serving on the Theology Response Team, and recently has begun pursuing Jesus’ call to be a community group leader. I just began serving in the Wedding Coordinators ministry and am looking forward to using my love for writing on this Ballard blog. Additionally, we serve as greeters as needed and find it a great honor to serve communion each week.

I tell you these things not to our credit, but because Jesus chose two people who were living on their own terms, sinning all the day long, and slapping His name on it. We, like Paul, consider ourselves the worst of all sinners. No one less deserves to stand as man and wife and serve communion to sinners coming to honor Jesus, remembering Him and repenting of sin. Yet, by no work of our own, Jesus chose us, brought us to this amazing church, and bestowed upon us the honor of serving alongside Him. To His credit alone Jesus has called us to leadership, and I fully believe it’s so that we can minister to others who are burdened and shamed by their sin, keeping it in the dark for fear that the light will ruin their lives.

Just yesterday my husband and I were having lunch, and he told me how amazed he is at the change in our lives in these last 6 months. Our focus for so long was on what we could get away with, how far we could go before it became sin. Now, we desire to live according to

Ephesians 5:3—
But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named
among you, as is proper among saints.

Some translations say “not even a hint”, and that is our goal – for our lives to be so immersed in identity with Jesus Christ that there is no question of hidden sin in us. We long to become increasingly open about our sin, naming it, and putting it to death, so that Jesus’ name will be made great.

That’s a far cry from the couple who exchanged vows with forced smiles on their faces, her in white, while the words “four times” echoed hauntingly in their heads. Praise Jesus for changing our lives, praise Jesus for His conviction, and praise Jesus for a church unafraid to call sin by its name so that people can repent and be used by Jesus to share the gospel with His beloved city of Seattle where the Good News so desperately needs to be proclaimed.

Yeah, it may seem something of a silly wordplay, calling Mars Hill’s annual men’s weekend an “advance” rather than a “retreat.” But it’s an effective metaphor, nonetheless, and I saw it expressed in reality this weekend.

Now, some people may have the idea that the Men’s Advance is not much more than a testosterone-laden excuse for our men to spend a weekend away from home, consuming large quantities of cured meats
and goofing off. Thankfully, there was plenty of food for everyone, meat (and veggies) included, and sufficient time for normally busy guys to get off the grid and enjoy some recreation, but the true hallmark of the weekend was a constant and unflinching focus on following Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

If you’ve been around Mars Hill for any amount of time, this shouldn’t come as a surprise, but it bears repeating that our unity is only to be found in Jesus. As I saw hundreds of men interacting with each other over the weekend (over 400 men attended), I couldn’t help noticing how diverse a crowd it was. I don’t mean “diverse” just in limited, ethnic terms, but in a much broader sense that includes the cultural nuances that inform the general categories of culture we see expressed and embraced all around us. I don’t have time to go into a discussion of this diversity, but I want to make the point that there is nothing that would unite these hundreds of men except that they have been chosen by Jesus to live as brothers in this time and place, to the glory of God.

On Saturday morning, Pastor Bubba spoke to the Ballard men, calling us to turn from sin, to place our faith solely in Jesus, to make Jesus the only source and recipient of our worship, and to let our response to Jesus be contagious, that we might be used to build faith in others. At the end of this session, Pastor Brad House explained the tremendous opportunity we have at the Ballard campus, specifically the opportunity to build authentic, Jesus-centered communities that Jesus will use to transform people’s lives. He then outlined the need for many new leaders (75 more by year’s end) and invited those Jesus was calling as leaders to respond by stepping forward. Twenty-six men left their seats and stood before their brothers, committing to serve as leaders!

My faith grew as I was humbled to see the enormous responsibility Jesus has entrusted to us as a church, and as I saw so many men respond in obedience to Jesus. As we “look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising its shame,” we cannot help but grow in our faith as he calls us to advance as a community that glorifies him in our struggle against sin and in our pursuit of holiness.

Even if you weren’t able to attend the Men’s Advance, you can still respond to Jesus’ call to advance in faith. If Jesus is calling you to respond, please email ballard@marshillchurch.org so we can encourage you and assist you in your response to Jesus.

Dayna began attending Mars Hill a year ago and was baptized on Easter Sunday.

“On Easter I was twenty minutes late and already feeling the conviction of tardiness. I had no idea what was in store. Of course being so late put me in the very last row, of the congregation of hundreds that had sacrificed their Easter morning of sleep to start their day with the glorious mercy of Christ on this day of passover.

As I sat down Pastor Mark began his sermon on the resurrection of Christ and the beauty of this day that we rejoice in every year. Once Pastor Mark was finished, he invited our campus pastor Bubba up. And now it was the moment everyone had been waiting for . . . and the only one I had completely forgotten about. The baptisms. I watched as the two women walked on stage calm and collected. I personally would have been a wreck. But now I was getting hit with more conviction. All month I had been wrestling with getting baptized. But I didn’t want to have to speak in front of everyone. That’s just down right scary!

But, I knew I should be standing up there with them; giving my life to God proudly, without feeling intimidated or anxious, but excited and blessed. I began to tear up every time one of the ladies would get submerged and then emerge from the water a new life, in Christ. Feeling happy for them in the decision that they had made, but also jealous that I hadn’t been so bold. When they had finished Pastor Bubba returned to the stage with a little surprise for all of those feeling the conviction of baptism. “Spontaneous” baptisms! This was wonderful! I felt forgiven for not trusting God and coming to Him more willingly. And here He was giving me another chance to be made new in Him. I instantly felt called. My eyes welled with tears, my heart joyed to an amount I didn’t know possible. I was going to get baptized.

But what about my clothes? And my hair? And my make-up!? I was all ready to go have Easter with my family right after church. Talk about being put to the test. If I would have known, I would have prepared. As these thoughts ran through my head, Pastor Bubba announced that I should not “be so uptight.” They have taken these kinds of things into consideration. Well, some of them at least.

They had shirts for us to change into back stage, so that we wouldn’t get entirely soaked. And there are towels to help dry that which does get drenched. So, that is a little better. I know, I must go. Whether I want to get wet or not, this was the will of my Lord and I was ready to make our relationship a committed one.

As the band started playing everyone rose out of their seats to either head for communion or run to the stage to get dunked in a large pool of water. I quickly started walking towards the pool. As I veered around to get to the stage I saw Pastor Mark standing on the side with pride. Watching the kingdom of God grow in his church. I had always wanted to thank him for helping me to get to know God, Jesus, and the Spirit.” And what better time than now? I went to Mark and shook his hand with tears in my eyes and probably shaking from the excitement and emotional peak I had just encountered. I told him that I was going to be baptized and thanked him for helping me to understand or Lord and savior better than I ever had. Then something I never expected. He asked if there was anything he could pray for my about. All I wanted was to be made and born new in Christ that day. And he prayed for me! Right there!

I thanked him again and made my way to the stage. When I got up there, there was an information paper that we had to fill out so that the church could get ahold of us later and see how our new lives were going. I quickly wrote all of my info and waited for Pastor Bubba to come and take me to the stage. Looking up at it, and then walking next to it, the pool was so big! And everyone that got in and out were so wet! And I couldn’t wait to get in it myself!

I didn’t care anymore about my hair or my make-up. It didn’t matter. What mattered was the second chance that I was about to be given, by a man that committed no sin other than telling truth. And then died for me. He is what matters. I got to the back where everyone was trying to figure out where to go to change and where the line was to get baptized and where the shirts were that we could change into. It was crazy, but it was also beautiful. I wanted to hug everyone, but I also didn’t want to seem crazy. I was just excited! And so happy for everyone else that had found God! He is the most wonderful discovery a person can make and we did.

I finally found somewhere to change. It was a storage room with a hole bunch of electronics and cleaning equipment. But, hey, it was perfect. It wasn’t what mattered. And now, I could see the pool. There was no line for me to wait in. It was time. The pastor asked me if I had repented of all my sins, “yes.” The pastor asked me if I was ready to be made new in Jesus Christ, “yes.” He said a prayer and the two pastors immersed me in the pool of water and lifted me out. I could start new. Now if I could just get out of the pool without slipping and making a comical entrance into my new life. I got out quite gracefully, the the Lord!

The rest of the day was like nothing I had every experienced. I was the happiest I had ever been. But I looked the saddest. I cried every time I talked to someone new. Telling them about my baptism and how happy and excited I was. My heart soared, my soul lifted and I never want it to end.”

I just wanted to thank you for the incredible service you held at Mars Hill Ballard this past Sunday and to let you know how much it meant to me and to my family to be able to be a part of it. Our family served as Greeters at the 11:00 service – it was such a joy to us to be able to stand together as a family and welcome people into the service, wishing them a happy Easter and helping them to feel loved and welcomed! Then we got into the service and we were completely overwhelmed with emotion – the three of us wept through most of the service – the songs, the message from Pastor Mark and the baptisms just overwhelmed us with tears of joy.

I have been a Christian for 28 years and I can tell you honestly that I have never experienced such a celebration as we did this past Sunday at Mars Hill. Watching the people come forward to be baptized on the day we were celebrating Jesus’ resurrection felt like we had stepped right back into the New Testament Book of Acts….I had attended the Good Friday service (my family had other obligations and couldn’t attend) and experienced such an incredible appreciation for what Christ suffered on my behalf and really felt so very overwhelmed by His love for His people all weekend long. So by the time I got to church on Sunday morning I was ready to celebrate His resurrection and triumph over Satan, sin and death. But I never expected to be as blessed as I ended up being by that service – and I just wanted to let you know what you and the people of Mars Hill did for me and for my family that day.

As I said, I’ve been a Christian for 28 years. I was baptized as an infant I think mostly out of some sort of superstition and not out of any faith on my parents part as they weren’t Christians. I never went to church as a child and my parents never spoke about God or about a faith in Jesus – but for some reason I was baptized as a baby. I came to Christ my junior year at the UW after a dramatic transformation took place in my life. I had been an atheist for most of my life – but my junior year I ended up getting pregnant, having an abortion and then completely fell apart emotionally at what had become of my life. My boyfriend at the time had a Christian mom and to try to calm me down he started reading to me out of the Psalms. I felt like he was telling me about the home and the Father that I had been longing for my entire life. Soon after that , I found myself starting to read the Bible and I ended up at a college retreat sponsored by University Presbyterian Church in Seattle – it was on that weekend retreat after reading John Stott’s “Basic Christianity” that I asked Christ into my heart. The transformation in my attitude and my actions was dramatic and I longed to tell everyone about what Jesus had done in my life. The college group was holding baptisms at Greenlake later that month and I desperately wanted to participate. But the college pastor told me that since I had been baptized as a baby by my parents, I couldn’t get “re-baptized”….he talked about denying the impact of my first baptism and somehow “recrucifying Christ” all over again by getting re-baptized. I was devastated for not being able to make a public proclamation of my new-found faith – and also felt horribly guilty for even having wanted to be baptized when it was so obviously wrong by my new church’s standards. I eventually put this longing out of my mind – but it stayed in my heart always as something that I wished I could have done.

After having my own children, my husband and I baptized both of them – also at UPC since that is the church where we were members. It was the thing that all the young parents were doing and I felt like it was something that I had to do as a Christian in that church environment. Years later, my youngest daughter Callin came to faith in Christ and she (like her mom had) wanted to get baptized. But she was told the same message that I had been told so many years earlier. She couldn’t since she had already been baptized as a baby.

To make a long story shorter – our family ended up finally feeling like we needed to find a new church. The Presbyterian Church just wasn’t a fit for us – at least in the theology they were expressing from the pulpit….there wasn’t any church discipline, the sermons were topical always and not at all challenging – and never out of the Scriptures. It seemed like they cared more about keeping the congregation happy and donating then they did about challenging them to be true disciples of Jesus Christ. We ended up being led by God to come to Mars Hill – and there we found the church we had always longed to be a part of….a church where the Scriptures are preached and honored, where discipleship is taken seriously and the members are challenged to live obediently and repentantly, where church discipline is carried out. We’ve been at Mars Hill every Sunday since October and just completed the membership class to join the church.

So that brings me to last Sunday – as we stood in worship at the 11:00 service I knew this was my opportunity to get baptized…Pastor Bubba had even said, “If you are a Christian and you’ve never been baptized, this is your chance…..” I was nervous since I had technically been baptized as a baby – but I knew that Mars Hill supported believers’ baptism and I so desperately wanted to get baptized….even if it was 28 years after the fact of accepting Christ into my heart. I was really nervous…making some excuses about having on my nice Easter outfit and having to go out to Easter Brunch after the service with my parents…what would they think if I showed up all wet? But I really felt God moving me to go forward. Just then my daughter turned to me and said, “Mom – I want to be baptized….but I’m too afraid to go up there by myself. Will you go with me?” “Go with you? Callin – I won’t just go with you – I’ll get baptized with you! I asked my husband if he wanted to go up with us – he said he wasn’t feeling led to go – he, too, had been baptized as a child – but he encouraged my daughter and I to go forward. Together we kicked off our shoes and went forward holding hands. It was an incredible experience for us. Our hearts were pounding – we were nervous but so excited. I stepped into the pool and my daughter was encouraged to “get close to watch your mom get baptized”. She was really touched by how encouraged she was to feel a part of my baptism. After I came out of the water, Pastor Brad turned to me and asked me if I wanted to help baptize my daughter. I couldn’t believe that I was going to get to participate in my daughter’s baptism like this. What an incredible joy it was to hold her as she went down into the water and came back out again. As she was baptized, her baptismal verse that I had chosen for her as a baby 18 years ago just kept going over and over in my mind: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me”. (Gal. 2:20) We couldn’t stop crying and just held on tightly to each other as we stepped out of the pool.

What a difference it has made in both of our hearts since that time. God has done a work of grace in both of us – causing us to feel like brand new Christians in some strange way. This public declaration has been long coming for both of us – the burden and the heartache we have both carried in not being able to participate in this most holy action has been such a weight to carry – more than either of us ever realized. We have been so delighted to find our faith refreshed, invigorated with some sense of the newness of Christ’s presence with us and the gratitude of all He has done on our behalf.

My daughter is now witnessing on her Cornish campus with a renewed vigor – even allowing her baptism to be the topic she uses to introduce people to her faith in Christ. Everywhere I go I share with people the joy that I feel at being able to fulfill this long-awaited proclamation and to use my recent baptism to tell them about who Christ is and what He has done in my life.

You have truly made a difference in both our lives by allowing two Christians to finally be baptized as believers in Christ. Bless you for this step of faith you have taken and for your willingness to put yourselves out for so many who wanted on this particular Lord’s Resurrection Day to proclaim their faith in Him and their desire to be identified with Him in His death and in His glorious resurrection.

He is truly risen and you and the staff of Mars Hill have helped to mark this particular Easter Sunday forever in my heart.

Thank you for this gracious gift you’ve given to me and to my daughter.

Gratefully,
Tracy Stone (and my daughter Callin Regan)

To check out the recorded testimonies from Easter Sunday go here!

I had a chance to catch up with Josh about his experiences last year…here’s what he had to say!

Josh, tell us a little about the trip last year. What was it like working with other churches as you served Christ together?

I personally had an awesome time on the trip. Not just the bonding with the fellow Marshillians but also meeting new people from other Non-Denominational churches from around the US. There were five groups of 20-30 people put together per each house (5 houses). Our group from Mars Hill was matched up with a church from Kentucky, another from Washington DC, and a youth group from Seattle. It was amazing to see everyone coming together while working and also developing relationships. The local families who we were building the houses for would also join in and help with the building and make us lunches.

In addition to that, it was exciting to be immersed in a different culture that was very dissimilar to ours. In our free time we would play soccer with the locals, go swimming, and join in other misc activities. We also spent time at the neighboring orphanage and played with the kids there as well. I know that I personally made a connection with one of the orphans who I spent a lot of time playing soccer with and teaching a few tricks that I had learned back in the US. He was pretty sad when we left, as he followed me for quite a ways down the road and kept asking me to come back and kept kicking the soccer ball to me. He finally stopped in the middle of the road and just watched me leave. I felt bad knowing that he has no father figure and no family to be with he was probably pretty lonely.

It was also very exciting to hang out with the Youth Group kids and we would all go into town and see the local market place and just hang out down there. Every morning we would have worship, prayer, and a Bible Study. They did a good job of keeping the focus on Jesus and our end goal of giving glory to God. And one way we do this is by showing love to others that they might come to know Him as well and see Jesus’ amazing grace that is bestowed on all of us.

What did you take away with you from your experience?

The trip definitely gave us a realization of how much Christ has blessed us with. As one guy I know puts it when someone asks him how he is doing his response is “Better than I deserve”. I will never forget seeing the families with no shelters and the orphans who I played soccer with. I will never forget how much joy came to them over such simple things and how much I take for granted what Jesus gives to me. I could easily see the trip as one that I will go on several times and if I have a family of my own I would take down together.

Thanks Josh! If you’re interested in learning more or if you have any questions, email Josh McGaffey at jcmcgaffey@comcast.net.

These, my fellow Christians are the three words that describe my shaky walk with Christ. As Pastor Mark teaches us, we live in a world that teaches independence in almost every facet of life. I have been a student of this deceitful teaching am no exception to the rule. Both my parents were, and still are fiercely independent. But is this truly how God designed me to live? The answer to this rhetorical question is no! So then why do I do it? Why do I rebel against God’s infallible work?

First let’s examine the behavior in question. For those unfortunate souls closest to me, they all would most likely agree that one of my favorite hobbies is arguing. I’m all about a good debate, even when it’s unnecessary. I argue about everything I feel I have some authority on. And good ol’ Satan oftentimes has me convinced that I am an authority on everything.

I spend countless hours doing research on issues that are close to my heart. Most of the time, it’s not to gain insight, in order to bring Christ-centered healing as his Ambassador. Instead my typical motivation is to continually strengthen my arsenal for debate.

Through a lot of counseling with Pastors and close friends, I have come to the conclusion that through out my upbringing, about 85 to 90% of the people around me, either beat me, abandoned me, or both. So as many would guess, I have a real issue with trust.

I was at breakfast one day with a mentor and a Christian sister. My mentor got the idea that we should go around the table and challenge each others strengths and weaknesses. When it came time for my little sis to challenge me, she said something that really had me thinking. She said that one thing I need to work on is allowing myself to become fully integrated with community. So to me, she was saying that I walk with my community, but on the sidelines. The results of this adolescent thinking will no doubt, stunt my growth as a Christian.

To prove my approach doesn’t work, we need only to look at the development of an adolescent. You see, from infancy to pre-adolescence, children see the world through the eyes of their parents. But when adolescence hits, they begin to intellectually separate themselves from the influence of adults around them. The result is seeing the imperfections in their parents and heroes lives, and therefore, their perception of the world around them. Now what’s the result of that? Well most of the civilized world knows the anser to that … Rebellion.

Now even though I have come to realize this, I still struggle with applying it to my walk. But one day it hit me. The movie Gladiator! Toward the beginning of the movie, Maximus is in the middle of the arena with a handful of other gladiators he doesn’t know. He’s surrounded by a huge crowd of spectators who want to see his demise (that would be cynical critics) and over looking in his royal box, is Cesar (Satan). Down in the arena is a iron gate that you cannot see thru, but could only guess from the sound (Satan’s demons), that for these Gladiators, today will not be a walk in the park. But what does Maximus do? He looks at the Gladiators and says, “No matter what comes out of that cage, if we stick together, we have a better chance at survival.”

When that scene in the movie came to my mind, it was like an earthquake in my soul. Now if any of you have seen the movie, you would know that there is that one idiot (that would be me) who goes off on his own (again, this is me) and ends up getting roughed-up (to say the least, oh, and that is SO me!).

As a Christian, I live in a world where the culture, in most cases, does not want to see me walk successfully with Christ. In order to have a better chance at survival, I must be willing to do battle side by side with other Christian’s who themselves are in the fight of their life, to follow a Savior that is being crushed by the might of the secular society we live in.

Now with this soul shaking enlightenment, one would think that I am on the path to total Christian community. Nothing could be further from the truth. Everyday I struggle with being rebellious. I am constantly struggling with the thought of trusting others, and to be honest, there are days when I don’t win. The results are usually disastrous for me.

I tell myself that Jesus was a rebel, and in a way he was. But he also had a devine purpose, to die on the cross in order to develop a system that allows Christian’s to be members of one body. A system that allows Godly leaders to turn hard heads into disciples of Christ. A system that allows a man and women to became one, and therefore glorifying God’s name by committing to unity through family, love through Christ, and true intimacy through the Cross.

This system is called the Church…Amen

I made some great new memories this year at the women’s retreat. My mind is still echoing from the joyful laughter girls and I shared all weekend … in the car, across the dinner table, in the hot tub, at silly stories from our childhood, and as we drifted off to sleep. My heart is still absorbing all the dynamic teaching and lessons whispered to me as I sat and got real with Jesus about my life and fears and dreams. And I’ll never forget watching an amazing sunset that glowed across the water, islands, and snow covered mountains behind Vancouver. Breath-taking!

The most memorable part of the retreat this year though was the experience of true Christian community that I shared with women of all ages and walks in life. I was humbled by how Jesus continually loves me through the lives of others, especially the amazing women He has put in my life.

It made me reflect on times in my life when truly good friends have been scarce and loneliness has been a familiar feeling. I can say I’m in the Summer of Friendship at the moment. Friends are many and abundant and there is both joy and humility from fruitful friendships. There have been seasons of Winter though when my pride and sin caused me to retreat into the reality that exists only in my mind; the place where I go when I don’t want to reach out or be reached out to. When I have chosen bitterness instead of hope, and to be alone instead of in community. In my mind I see myself hiking along a lonely ridge enjoying a great view off to one side and then seeing groups of laughing, loving believers on another path. “Well, they’re missing out on this great view,” I tell myself. However the truth is, I’m missing out on enjoying them, learning from them, and letting Jesus work in me through them.

Over a few years time I have slowly opened my heart more to sharing in community and realized how important it is to be able to love others like Jesus loved us, and to learn how to allow others to love me. Is it easy? Not always. The more open I become to others, the more I share my heart and life, the more room there is for hurt. But that really hasn’t been my experience. I can truly say that through opening my heart to correction and encouragement and love from my community I feel as though I have learned to experience life as Jesus really intended – with others, not alone!

Are you in community? Are you truly open to your community or do you just them as a social group? Does the following passage describe the way that you experience Christian community? Galatians 6 provides a great outline of the benefits of being in community:

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

In community, there is a loving provision for correction – submit yourself to your brothers and sisters in Christ, knowing that fruit will come from allowing them to restore you in a spirit of gentleness!

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

In community we don’t have to do it alone! We can bear the burdens of others and bring our own to be carried by the group. There is a gentle give-and-take that happens when members begin to look out for the needs of others instead of focus simply on themselves.

For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

Being part of community is a great way to learn humility – I’m not as great as I think I am … and seeing myself in the mirror that my community provides if a sure way for me to see clearly where I am being prideful.

But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load.

Community is a great way to learn how to share in trials, responsibilities, and dreams with others. I have seen Jesus work in amazing ways in my community group this past year – individuals who used to never want to step up and help out are now in leadership and happily serving the needs of others.

One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches.

My community group is a great place for us to all share the “good things” that Jesus is doing in our hearts and lives with each other. My experience has been that the more I share with others the more I actually learn from my own circumstances.

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Community is where we find opportunities to bless others – by listening and living alongside another believer we will begin to hear the Spirit’s gentle calling to bless and love that person the way that Jesus would. The opportunities for doing good to bless others abound in community!

I am the first to admit – sometimes being in community is very hard. I have been both blessed and hurt by the people in my community. At times people do let me down, talk behind my back, and do things that are unloving. But we are a community of sinners! In times of hurt are opportunities for forgiveness, growth, and encouragement. So do not let grudges, hesitancy, or a hard heart keep you from being in community. Do not let and unloving spirit and pride keep you thinking that you are better than that or that community cannot meet your needs.

It can’t, but Jesus can, and will, through community.