Today, we hear from one of the original members of Mars Hill: Pastor Phil, who joined in 1996 with his wife Jen. Stay tuned to the blog for more stories from the early days of Mars Hill Church.

It was the first half of 1996 and I was 25 years of age chronologically, six years of age spiritually, and trying to gather enough people to launch Mars Hill Church in the city of Seattle. About ten to 20 people a week were showing up for our Sunday service, which had outgrown the living room of my rental home and was now being held in one of those epically awful youth rooms, complete with golden shag carpet on the floor and Christian rock posters on the wall for the poor kids forced to ride the short bus of Christian culture. Our weekly service would start sometime around 6:00 p.m., whenever the college students and indie rockers would show up, because it was apparently very difficult to get up by the crack of dinner. Fortunately, the room was free, which was nearly more than we could afford.

Pastor Mark Confessions of a Reformission Rev., pg. 38

Pastor Phil Smidt

Year joined: 1996 It has been a wild ride. Jen and I have attended Mars Hill Church from the very beginning, at every location, heard every sermon series, and sang before there was a worship band. Our first church building, a youth group room was too hot and stuffy for my very pregnant wife, so I often went by myself. When our son Jacob was born in 1996, he was the first and only Mars Hill baby, so we immediately became the nursery volunteers and continued to serve in children’s ministry for the next seven years. In 1998, we moved into our second church building, Laurelhurst Presbyterian. The time here brought a second son to our family and a few more families to the church. We had our first members meeting in the church basement, feasting on spaghetti and signing membership covenants. Also that year, my wife’s 19-year-old brother, Jamie, moved in with us from Montana and started attending. Within the year, he got saved, became the church's first intern, and, many years later, the church's lead pastor and elder. There weren’t community groups at the time, but we did try something called Supper Club, which is where we first met future Pastor James and his wife, Kat. When we relocated downtown to First Presbyterian a while later, the future Pastor Tim arrived, giving us a glimpse of his passion as worship leader, and future Pastor Mike flashed his skills on the drums. I served a stint as director of the fledgling Children's Ministry. Elder-led community groups officially launched. Attending community group with two little boys who were crabby and ready for bed, Jen and I felt out of place and tempted to stop coming. However, our community group leader graciously encouraged us to keep attending, reminding us the early church in Acts likely didn’t want the families to stay home because their kids were fussy. Moving into the Earl Building meant there was finally a morning service, ending the days of waking up hungry boys from naps for 5 pm services and planning how to feed them on the fly. In 2001, God gave us a daughter. Pastor Mark dedicated all three kids, and an unforgettable worship meeting took place at an empty warehouse in Ballard. People have come and gone, and buildings have changed in these last 14 years. But there has been one constant: the ongoing transforming grace and power of Jesus in the lives of people, a miracle we have had front-row seats to experience in our own lives and the lives of others. Pastor Phil is the Marriage & Family pastor at the Ballard campus, where his wife, Jen, is a deacon.