Today we turn three years old, Mars Hill West Seattle. Jesus has been good to us.

Birthdays are occasions to celebrate the grace of God in giving life, nurturing growth, saving souls, transforming lives, healing scars, reconciling marriages, forgiving sin, and making worshipers. So today we’re not merely celebrating our life but the One who has given us life as his people.

Evidences of God’s grace abound. In the last three years:

• We started as a small group meeting in Kenyon Hall (“Home of the Mighty Wurlitzer”, no less). We then moved to Chief Sealth High School where we waited until our current building was renovated, where we worship today.
• We started with one pastor and now have six. We started with live preaching and now use video. We started with one service and now have three. We started with two community groups and now have thirty.
• We’ve sent 100’s of people out to start new Mars Hill campuses, including Olympia, Bellevue, Downtown and, most recently, Federal Way.
• This summer we sent out our very first couple to plant a traditional church in Portland.
• There are now over 10 central staff members that call West Seattle their home campus.
• Jesus has given us a vision of being a sending and equipping campus, planting 2+ churches/campuses per year. To fuel this we’ve built an in-house leadership engine, Discipleship Training Program (DTP), that currently has 25 participants.
• We now have a fully functioning biblical living department with weekend intensives, redemption groups and volunteer biblical counselor training.
• We’re also beginning to gain favor with the city, meeting with mayor, establishing important inroads with local organizations and our bands are picking up gigs at clubs.
• Last week we held a member’s meeting where we unveiled our vision for the next season as a church. 200 members were in attendance, God’s presence was felt, the vision was embraced and we worshiped.

For these, and many more, on our birthday I “bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Eph 3:14-19) All this, and we’ve only just begun. Be praying.

For His Glory and Our Joy,
Pastor Adam