Loveline with Dr. Drew – I will be live on the radio with Dr. Drew answering questions about sex on Tuesday, February 9. Details can be found here. For those unfamiliar with the radio program, it is the show on issues pertaining to sex, sexual abuse, and sexual addiction. From what I’ve been told, I may be the first pastor and possibly first conservative Christian ever on the show. In years past I co-hosted a small national radio show, and I love the format of taking calls live. Any prayers for me to pastorally serve people well for Jesus are appreciated.

Radicalis with Rick Warren – I will be preaching at Saddleback Church on Thursday, February 11, on the assigned topic of the cross of Jesus Christ. I look forward to meeting pastors of larger churches because I always enjoy learning from them about how to lead better and help Mars Hill be a better church for Jesus’ fame. I/we have a lot of learning and growing to do, and so I am always grateful for experiences like this, while also serving others by preaching about Jesus. More details are here.

Publisher meeting – Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe is due out at the end of March. Weighing in at 464 pages with around 1,000 footnotes, it is easily the best most comprehensive thing I’ve ever written. But it’s also the last book I am under contract to write. With the publishing industry in the tank, while I’m in LA I’ll be meeting with my agent, who was recently signed, to help sketch out the next few years of publishing. Grace and I really want to publish a book on marriage at some point, as well as some other more practical things.

Lovelife at the Orpheum – With LA being the world center for pornography creation, it should be quite a workload to preach on biblical sex and marriage on Saturday, February 13. More details can be found here.

I’ll be home Sunday to kiss my wife for Valentine’s Day, give my two daughters their funny cards and gifts from their daddy, and preach at Mars Hill.

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This is a guest post by Brock Prince, a member of the Ballard campus. If your community group would like to do a micromission for your community, you can apply here.

The recent string of arsons deeply affected the community group located in Greenwood. A couple in our group, Brock and Brooke Prince, live just a block from the epicenter of all the fires. They told us that it seemed like they were waking up every other morning to the sound of sirens. After the fire at the Green Bean Coffee House, the couple spoke with some local community leaders and helped to develop the idea of a silent auction to raise money for the arson victims. The idea began to gain momentum and our group of four quickly organized to put together a silent auction.

Our Mission

The first goal throughout this project has been to reveal God’s glory by serving our community. We believed we could live out the gospel as messengers of hope to those who might have lost hope. Our second goal was to bring the community together. Our third and final goal was to raise money to support both the families and businesses affected by the fires.

Community Support

Prior to the auction, it was amazing to see the community come together to support the endeavor. After approaching several of the community groups in Greenwood for support, we gathered donations from local businesses. It was amazing to see the generosity of Mars Hill members and the businesses through their donations. We had approximately 40 businesses donate goods and services ranging in value from $25 to $1000. All the Greenwood community groups helped to advertise the event by putting up posters around the community. A local blog and was able to do write-ups on the auction as well. In addition, with little effort, the auction was advertised on three other blogs, including two local TV stations.

Generosity

Through many people’s effort, we had the opportunity to embrace our community’s generosity. Through the benevolence of a local grocery store, a local wine shop, and the owner of the venue, we were able to procure hors dʼoeuvres and drinks for more than 125 people. It was at this point that we really began to see relationships within our community grow. One notable connection we made was with the owner of Upper Crust Catering (the host of our auction).

The owner is a Christian man who showed the generosity of Jesus in his actions. He shared his wisdom from the experience of organizing auctions and continuously encouraged us to take every opportunity through the auction to forge relationships, increase community, and spread the love of Jesus. We were able to get our entire group (which had grown from four to seven members), our group coach, and community coach to help. Once we enlisted a couple friends from college, we were completely covered for the event.

The auction came quickly, taking place on Friday, December 18 from 7 pm to 9 pm. The night was a great success as we saw nearly 125 people walk through the front door! It was encouraging to see so many of those people stick around the entire evening. It was great to see neighbors recognize each other and spend much of the night talking and reminiscing. It was also wonderful to see so many people outside of the church not only come and support the community, but also interact with those from the church. At the end of the night, every item had at least one bid. We were both amazed and grateful as we counted the proceeds. Through the generosity of the community, the auction brought in $3400. Because the Mars Hill Micro Missions Fund is covering the overhead costs, all $3400 will go directly to the Fire Relief Fund.

Caring for community

As a community group, we are very excited to see seeds planted through the auction. We were able to meet many neighbors and business owners as well as to show that we care about our community and that Mars Hill Church cares about our community and, most importantly, that Jesus cares about our community. We are excited about the relationship forged with Jim Lustig, the owner of Upper Crust, who is already extending the love of Jesus in our community.

Jesus is being glorified in Greenwood!

Community

Live the mission. Serve one another. Pray for your church. Do life together.

West Seattle Campus Pastor Adam Sinnett recently posted some good preliminary thoughts on the subject:

• Money is paradoxical.
• Money is a rotten god.
• Money needs to be demystified.
• Money needs to be dethroned.

Read more.

Register online for the Financial Training Day: $10 in advance, $13 at the door, and free for single moms. Registration includes lunch and all materials.

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As the month continues, here are some other prayer requests heavy on my heart and in the hearts of many Mars Hill pastors:

Ongoing Relief Efforts in Haiti

Attention dedicated to the fallout from January’s earthquake is now fading from many front pages and homepages, but we want to continue pressing forward in prayer and through the work of Churches Helping Churches. Be sure to read Pastor Mark’s recent updates about CHC’s work on the ground and how you can help spread the word.

Pastor Michael Van Skaik

Michael Van Skaik is a volunteer pastor who serves at our Bellevue campus and on the Mars Hill Board of Directors. On Friday he was buried (along with two friends) in an avalanche while snowmobiling near Jackson, WY. Everyone survived, but Pastor Michael is now dealing with a shattered left shoulder blade. We’re glad God spared his life, and we pray for a full recovery.

Good Friday Preparations

As Pastor Mark wrote earlier today, a lot of hard work is going into this year’s Good Friday and Easter services. Pray for our creative team, which is currently in LA working on the project.

ReTrain This Month

The students of the Resurgence Training Center convene for another round of classes in two weeks. The instructor this time around will be Pastor John Piper, who is also speaking to the general public Friday, February 26, and preaching our Sunday services while he’s in town. Please pray for the men of ReTrain—who are all future church planters, campus pastors, and church leaders.

Mars Hill Giving

Church giving has been strong over the past two weeks. The biggest difference is that the number of givers has increased—1,354 donors on January 24, up from 856 the week before. This is very encouraging because it means that more people are joining us on Jesus’ mission and helping to carry the work of ministry. Pray that we as a church would continue to mature in this way.

Buildings for Shoreline & Bellevue

The search continues for more permanent locations for Mars Hill Shoreline and Mars Hill Bellevue. These two campuses are maxed out and in need of a more accommodating base of operations that can be used for additional regional efforts and more campus and church planting.

Community Group Leaders

Well over 350 community group leaders go above and beyond to care for our people, serve the church, and lead the mission of Jesus in their neighborhoods. These are faithful people juggling a lot of responsibilities and who dedicate many volunteer hours for the sake of the gospel. Hebrews 13:7 says to remember your leaders so lets pray for and thank our community group leaders.

Pastor Matt Chandler

As you may have heard, Matt Chandler (frequent guest at Mars Hill and pastor of The Village—an Acts 29 church in Texas) suffered a seizure on Thanksgiving Day. Brain surgery in December yielded a malignant tumor, and Pastor Matt is presently enduring a few rounds of chemotherapy. His story was recently featured by MSNBC and you can watch video updates on The Village blog. Please pray for our brother Matt and the church he leads.

God is a God of grace and miracles. We have faith in prayer—not because we can manipulate God but because we trust him as a good Father.

Good Friday is the day we celebrate the Good News—Jesus Christ died in our place for our sins. At Mars Hill, Good Friday has always been a big deal that devastates us until we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus a few days later on Easter Sunday. On Good Friday we remember that the cross is something done by us: we murdered God. Then on Easter Sunday we remember that the cross is something done for us: God died in our place to forgive our sins.

With Good Friday and Easter Sunday quickly approaching, we would appreciate your prayers. We have been blessed with an amazing creative team at Mars Hill Church. Exhausted on the heels of filming Re:Train classes and a last-minute trip to Haiti, along with the roll out of Churches Helping Churches, on top of the normal workload of Sunday services, they are now undertaking an amazingly wonderful project.

Right now our creative team is shooting a special thirty-minute short film for Good Friday that we will use across all of our Mars Hill Campuses this year and also simulcast live online for free. Our plan is to package together the final film and creative materials, making them available for other churches and ministries to use next year.

As we have been working on the script, God has been lining up incredible additional talent who are excited to take part in this project. The filming is happening on the Spartacus set at Universal Studios; the production designer for the TV show 24 will be doing the set design; and an incredible, well-known makeup artist has signed on to do the makeup and special effects. He is an Oscar winner who has worked on films such as The Passion of the Christ, No Country for Old Men, Flags of Our Fathers, and Ocean’s Eleven. Behind the scenes, a team of volunteers is working late into the night preparing the costumes, scoring, and other aspects of this multimedia event.

Please join us, live or in person, for Good Friday and Easter Sunday. In the meantime, prayers would be appreciated, as this is an incredibly complex project with tight deadlines.

Community

Live the mission. Serve one another. Pray for your church. Do life together.

When Pastor James MacDonald secured our transportation into and around Port-au-Prince, Haiti, following the earthquake, he informed me that I could bring three other men with me to capture the footage in video and photo formats. In God’s providence, we had just the man. Thomas Hurst is the senior administrative deacon at Mars Hill Bellevue. Thomas is a Pulitzer Prize finalist photographer who has covered events in Kosovo, Haiti, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Rwanda while working for Time magazine, The New York Times, and The Boston Globe. Ten years ago he actually spent a few months as a photojournalist in Haiti.

I first met Thomas when he was assigned to shadow me for a story in The Seattle Times. We got along great and I deeply enjoyed his company. Eventually both he and his wife became Christians and started to rise up as leaders in our church. I love and appreciate this man and his family very much.

On the trip we all loved having Thomas with us. The thousands of photos he took are simply stunning. To help the cause in Haiti, we have decided to simply give away all his work. Feel free to use these photos for God’s glory and Haiti’s good. Individuals, churches, relief organizations, and others are welcome to use these images. If you would like to make a donation, please do so at www.churcheshelpingchurches.com. Lastly, I want to thank Angela Hurst for sending her husband into harm’s way for Jesus, and thank Thomas for volunteering his time to do such a fantastic job.

Free Haiti Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/churcheshelpingchurches/sets/72157623183233883/

Churches Helping Churches

Who will help local churches in the wake of catastrophes? You can. Learn more here.

If you liked the version of “It is Well” on the video above, you can now download it on the Mars Hill Church site.

One of our worship bands, Ex Nihilo, recorded the hymn for their live album. You can hear more Mars Hill Church worship by subscribing to the podcast or audio feed.

Download Ex Nihilo’s version of “It Is Well” and the song sheet here.

Mars Hill iPhone App

Instant access to the entire Mars Hill media library—and the Mars Hill Blog. Get the Mars Hill iPhone app for free at the iTunes store.

How many people remain on your campus seeking help? Is there any new news to report?

-Still get two to three perceptible aftershocks a day. Our census reveals that on a given night we have 2.5 thousand people on campus. We still have medical teams coming in every day. We are able to provide potable water for those in need with the help of Water Missions International. They installed a system of purification right here on campus. Banks are open but there is a maximum limit of $2,500.00 per person/day.

What are the most pressing needs you have?

-On a personal level, the same basic needs of people victim of natural disasters. But as an institution we are facing a dilemma of how we are going to pay our employees (some lost everything they had!) if we are not open. Those taking refuge on our campus have to move out before we can open or start any important construction project. We will need four big tents for classrooms.

How are the pastor and church at the edge of your campus? How large was that church before the quake and how is it faring and what do they need?

-The pastor lost his home. The church building is fine. But people have not come to church because of their fear to enter any building. They picked the site of the elementary school on campus to have their worship service next Sunday at 7:00 a.m. The church used to have a 2,000+ attendance.

We have heard reports that they are moving people out of the city in large numbers to new cities made of tents and hopefully more permanent housing. If this is true, do you know where those locations will be and are there qualified church planters we could support and send to those areas to plant churches since there are likely none already in place?

-Most people leaving Port-au-Prince are heading to their hometowns. Given the fact that some no longer have a place to stay in Port-au-Prince or their hometowns, they leave the capital city with friends who still have a place to go so that every town in Haiti may have a “tent city” part.

Churches Helping Churches

Who will help local churches in the wake of catastrophes? You can. Learn more here.

On Sunday, January 24, I had the great honor of sharing a lot of photos, videos, and stories of the church in Haiti and how the church is responding to suffering. A number of pastors and ministries have asked if they can use that sermon. The answer is yes. The elders at Mars Hill have always been gracious in giving content away for free to serve Jesus, which is a great joy for me personally. So, we have made the entire sermon available for download free of charge, to be used however and wherever God’s people desire.

As a side note, this sermon is a bit different than the one that is posted online on Mars Hill’s media library and that played at the Mars Hill Campuses on Sunday. The sermon that played at Mars Hill included some issues about our giving and generosity that will not pertain to other churches and ministries. So, we have cut out that content but left everything else. We hope it is helpful to God’s people for God’s glory and you can download it for free here, including an option to burn it onto a DVD, if that is easiest for you.

YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQo76Itl6cw

M4V:
http://bit.ly/7i5Sa3

DVD .iso:
http://bit.ly/awsLE3

This will also be available with the other media we have posted on the Churches Helping Churches site:
http://churcheshelpingchurches.com/index.php/media/

Churches Helping Churches

Who will help local churches in the wake of catastrophes? You can. Learn more here.

Dear Mars Hill Family,

I’ll tuck my kids into bed differently from now on.

For me personally, and for our church collectively, yesterday was one of those clarifying moments that I hope and pray forever changes us. Most of us have never lacked food, water, housing, and security as those in Haiti do.

The Mars Hill elders felt it was important for Pastor Mark to share the story of his trip to Haiti with all of our campuses yesterday. At our request, he worked hard to put the sermon together quickly so that our entire church family could have this shared experience on Sunday (watch the sermon).

The result was a powerful, timely message, and you responded with great compassion. Thank you. Through these events, God is calling us to greater maturity as a church. What does that look like?

Life is a vapor.

“You are a mist…” –James 4:14

Footage from Haiti is yet another reminder of how fragile life truly is yet it is so easy for us to continue to live selfishly. I realized I don’t live with enough margin; when it comes time to step up and help, serve, or give, my energy, time, and money are often already committed.

I want my family, your family, and our entire church to live in light of our temporary existence, using our resources as a means to an end and not the end itself. In part, this means being able to respond—physically and spiritually—and extend the grace of God to those in need.

We’re called to unceasing worship.

“Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” –Romans 2:4

The church in Haiti is decimated. Pastor Mark discovered, however, that those who know Jesus are still finding joy and goodness in his unshakable presence.

Mars Hill Church has experienced nothing but God’s grace in abundance from our inception but, as our giving trends would indicate, worship is not always our response. Rather than repenting in gratitude for God’s kindness, many of us presume on his riches instead of worshiping. All of life should be worship to God’s glory.

Haiti was not in the plan, but it is now.

“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” –Proverbs 16:9

Pastor Mark’s preaching schedule is mapped out months (sometimes years) in advance, but this week was a reminder that our plans should always be in pencil. It’s not about me. It’s not about you. It’s not about Mars Hill. It’s about Jesus.

Jesus has the freedom and authority to interrupt our plans. We must respond in faith as he leads us down unfamiliar paths that may require sacrifices we aren’t ready to make.

Take the next step.

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…” –Hebrews 3:15

After a powerful call to action, it’s all too easy to avoid follow-through. We often forget and revert to the business of life-as-usual—which leads to a hard heart. Or we pay too much attention to everything we’re not doing—which leads to being overwhelmed and paralyzed by religious guilt.

I encourage you to pray through how God is calling you to respond, and act—with confidence and without delay—on what the Holy Spirit is stirring in you. For some, this step of faith might be quite simple:

• Start giving to the church.
• Quit living on your own and join a community group.
• Pursue church membership and align formally with your church family.
• Confess to your community group about lack of giving or participation in Jesus’ mission.
• Consider financial coaching: get help building a budget so that you can align your finances with right priorities.

Repentance begins in the mind, moves to the heart, and results in action. When it comes to helping the church or responding to the Haiti crisis, for example, there’s a big difference a desire to help and actually helping.

Faithfulness—not equality.

“If the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.” –2 Corinthians 8:11–12

For those who need to repent by giving to the church, remember that Jesus doesn’t require all of our giving to be equal, rather he asks us to do our part based on what he’s entrusted to us.

A giving shortfall of $500,000 may sound daunting, but spread across a large congregation it’s really quite simple: yesterday over 9,000 people attended Mars Hill. If each one gave $55, that would be enough to fill the gap. Some are able to give more and some can’t give that much. The point is are you being faithful?

Money is only a tool.

“When you vow a vow to God, do not delay in paying it…” –Ecclesiastes 5:4

Money has a frustrating power over the church and its people. We treat it with reverence as if it was a god. We take it personally as if it was an extension of our identity. We discuss it in hushed tones as if it was a volatile taboo.

Of course, this is ridiculous because money is only a tool. Jesus puts it in the hands of his church in order to further his mission, extend his grace, and reach the lives he wants to change from Seattle to Albuquerque to Haiti to the ends of the earth.

In other words, money is a very important resource and we should talk about it a lot—Jesus did.

Talk about giving—and prayer and study and service and membership and other spiritual disciplines—in your community groups. Is everybody giving? Why or why not? For the members in the group, did you make a giving pledge? Are you sticking to it?

Based on the answers, here’s the most important question: where’s your heart?

What’s next?

“You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” –Jesus (Acts 1:8)

Our Haiti effort has developed very quickly, and the response has been encouraging. To date you all have given $429,971 to our Haiti efforts (not including gifts given directly to Churches Helping Churches). Thank you for responding, and thank you Jesus for provision.

While long-term plans are being developed, we implore you to continue to pray and give. As details and more opportunities to help emerge we will communicate them clearly to the family of Mars Hill.

This is just the beginning. The gospel calls us to an urgent and sustained generosity so that we may participate fully in Jesus’ mission both locally and around the world. I am sincerely grateful to those of you who have helped carry this mission by being so faithful over the years. Thank you.

Because of Jesus and his abundant grace,

Pastor Jamie Munson
On behalf of the elders

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