Pastor Matt Jensen is doing a great job leading the Mars Hill service that meets on campus at the University of Washington. I’m very encouraged by what God is doing through our "college mission." Here’s the story… By Pastor Matt Jensen "In the last year, God pulled me out of a life of complete depravity and unrepentant selfish sin... God used the kindness and love of the people at Mars Hill to show me what living for Jesus really looks like. Through creating opportunities to serve my church, Mars Hill U-District has helped change my heart and lead me to grow more in Christ." –Michael Grimstad, UW Sophomore

Ragtag Beginning

In fall 2007, the Mars Hill College Mission was formed and began meeting in an old community center in Seattle’s U-District on Wednesday nights. On a good night, we were about 30 people—which was 30 more people than I knew in the U-District just a few weeks prior. I was teaching through 1 John and trying to explain what it means to be disciples in community on mission. From this fledgling, ragtag gathering we launched two Community Groups in the winter quarter of 2008: one for the men and one for the women.

All Aboard

Our first big turning point was at the Fall 2008 College Advance. We had 100 people on the trip, which was about double our participation up to that point. Over the course of a few days the students really began taking the mission of Jesus to heart, and came home ready to make greater sacrifices to move the kingdom forward in the U-District. Over the next year people were becoming Christians and leaders were being raised up to the point that we needed to start a mid-week service in spring 2009 to gather 15 Community Groups and new believers together to study Scripture and cast vision for where Jesus was calling us next. More than just being a College Ministry, God was calling us to be the Church on mission to the University District of Seattle. With that clarification, he also called me to be a pastor. In summer 2009, after a yearlong assessment and training, I was ordained as the U-District pastor of Mars Hill Church.

God’s Provision

The Sunday I was installed, we asked the Ballad Campus to officially send us out to the U-District with the leaders, money, and supplies we needed. Incredibly, that very day God provided literally everything we needed and more to get started in fall 2009 with Sunday services—including an actual sound system for the room! By God’s grace we have grown into a movement of over thirty Community Groups and seeing upwards of 400 people on Sunday nights gather on the University of Washington Campus in Kane Hall. But most importantly, these numbers represent students’ lives being changed in major ways as they believe the gospel, repent of sin, and learn about our great God and savior Jesus Christ. We are just getting started in the U-District, but we hope to be a gospel outpost that lifts up Jesus, to see lives transformed for generations to come.