Jesus fills his church with sinners in need of his grace. Many Mars Hill pastors discovered that grace through the ministry of Mars Hill Church, including Lake City Campus Pastor James Harleman. This is his testimony: Pastor James Harleman — Changed by Jesus #4 My story begins as a fetus in Burien. My mom had health complications and almost died in childbirth. She’d been forewarned that having a second child would be risky, and Roe Vs. Wade had been decided in January, 1973. I thank God my parents loved Jesus, had a godly heart for children and felt called to bring me into the world. I was born in downtown Seattle. My Dad taught Social Studies for Seattle Public Schools. Living on a tight single income, he bought us a home in Kent, cleaned out all the heroin needles left in the house by the previous owner, and moved the family in. Somehow my folks managed to send my brother and I to private school, so I got a solid Christian education up until high school. By then, we’d moved from Kent (suburban hicks) to Orting, WA (full on Mayberry hicks) and I graduated Valedictorian from Orting High School. My dad was the Pastor of the Orting Christian Church. When I was 18 I moved to "North Kent" (they call it Lynnwood) and screwed up my life as best I could; I’d been exposed to the gospel all my life, surrounded by godly examples, and could play the game pretty well on the outside, but it had never really penetrated my heart. I met a sweet, cute gal named Kathryn and we started dating in mid ‘95, but were committed Seattleites: double income, never wanted to have children, and lacking any deep commitment. In 1998, I heard about this strange "tattoo, body-piercing church" in Seattle - Mars Hill Church. I figured it was a liberal, unbiblical freak-show and found myself curious, so I attended a service in Laurelhurst… and met Jesus again for the first time. To my surprise, Mars Hill was totally biblically based when it came to Jesus and the gospel, yet free in Christ to be culturally contextual in the city and season in which we live. I’d never experienced a church like this before… and never truly believed that Jesus was real, that He was God, that He spoke the universe into existence, that He came and paid the price for my sin, and that He continues to sustain everything by the power of His Word… both the Storyteller of the ultimate narrative and the singular, pivotal protagonist that offers salvation and reconciled relationship with God. Kat got saved as well, and became my wife in October 1999. After the world ended in Y2K (remember that?), God called me to ministry with Mars Hill Church, first as a deacon in 2001 and then as a Pastor in January 2005. My father attended my ordination in 2005, seeing the pastoral torch pass to his youngest son; after spending Thanksgiving together as a big family, he went to be with Jesus in December. It’s been my pleasure to play many roles at Mars Hill Church: working on our publications, cultivating cultural engaging ministries like Film and Theology, helping run the operations of the church as Administrative Pastor, and driving our writing content for our websites and the Vox Pop. In mid-2007, he called me to become a Campus Pastor. Kathryn continued to work part time for several years, but by God’s grace no longer has a job outside the home and we’re working on starting a family. We were also blessed to visit Greece and walk in the apostle Paul’s footsteps together; I even got to preach at the historic "Mars Hill" in Athens. Despite my "best efforts" to the contrary, God has continually pervaded every aspect of my life, making me live for Him and filling me with joy and purpose and a destiny I never thought was possible.