More Than Stone

We visited Mars Hill (Rob Bell, not Mark Driscoll) for their Sunday evening services. We knew that they were located in a mall. As we were looking for the church, we couldn’t find it. We could see a “Playworld” and a YMCA, but no Mars Hill. We knew it had to b e right there, because of the address. So, we pulled back into the parking lot of the mall. Tucked into the corner of the L shaped mall, there was an inconspicuous set of doors with a small sign that said “Mars Hill, A Jesus Community”. Other than that, there were no signs. My husband commented that he wondered how anyone found it.

We walked into the lobby area and it looked very much like an old abandoned strip mall. Other than a coat of paint and signs pointing to childcare rooms and such, there was very little done aesthetically to change the look of the mall. The sanctuary or “shed” was a huge room with a platform in the center of the room. Thousands of inexpensive plastic chairs sat around the platform. The musicians were placed around the platform all facing each other. Again, other than lighting and a sound system, the room was aesthetically bare.

As we sat, waiting for the service to begin, a man came to greet us. He asked if we were there for the conference and we chatted a bit. He said that he had been a pastor for 20 some years and was currently “taking a break” from the pastorate. He then said, “I came from a traditional Baptist background. This has been a place of healing for me.” He went on to say that he had never attended a church like this, but that Mars Hill was the real deal.

If you want to listen to the sermon, you can download it here. The service was very simple. Worship and teaching. It seems like Mars Hill wants to make it abundantly clear that this is a place the church gathers, but that the people are the church.

I’m psyched for the conference!