A sampling of highlights from the last year at the Shoreline campus:

Testimonies

My two best friends, Amber and Carrie had been praying and talking to me about Jesus since we had met which at the time was about three years. These two ladies had a real relationship with Jesus that I was able to witness. I watched it how it had changed their lives and the lives of those around them and it intrigued me. They didn’t just go to church and follow a list of rules. They lived out the gospel and their goal was to share it with me and others. As I made small attempts to step out in faith, they were right there to encourage me. They answered my questions and read the Bible with me … Shortly after all this, the bottom of my world fell out from under me.

–Jessica

This testimony from Dan, a Shoreline deacon and Redemption Group leader who was interviewed at the Ballard services, grabbed a lot of hearts across Mars Hill:

"Three and a half years ago, I came to Mars Hill for the first time. … I had some friends that were attending the church and they invited me to come with them. At the time, I was 100% in the gay lifestyle. It was everything that I was, it was the way I identified myself, it was the clothes I wore, the friends I hung out with, my life view, everything. And so I came to church here just mostly on their invitation. … But it was good to be here because I had been at a church for a while: I had been a pastor before, went to a Bible college, and was youth pastoring in Montana where at the time I had a moral falling with a man and stepped out of the ministry and went 100% into the gay lifestyle, and believed, after a period of time, that that was a gift that God had given me, that God made me gay, that I should be proud that I was gay, in fact, I even began to think about going into the gay church to be a gay pastor." … "I got to that point because I had no hope, really, that anything could be any different. I had been told, even by Christian pastors … 'Oh, well, [same-sex attraction] is a really hard one to get over.' … So I just thought that this is the way that it is. I had no hope that it could be any different at all. So I came to this church. … Because even though I was in that lifestyle, and even though I told everyone 'God made me this way,' and 'I'm proud to be gay,' deep, deep in my spirit, deep in my heart, I knew that it wasn't right. I knew that I was in rebellion to God. But again, I had no hope. … "The first meeting we had together, I said 'Pastor, do you believe that it's wrong to be gay? And he stopped, he said, 'Dan, we're not gonna play that game with each other. You know that it's wrong; that's why you're here. I just wanna talk to you about Jesus. We're not gonna talk to you about being gay. We're not gonna talk to you about homosexuality. We're just gonna talk to you about Jesus, how you really don't know him, and how you really don't understand his redemptive power on the cross.' …" "How do we, as part of the same city, how do we pray for them, Dan? Tell us how we get involved in ministering." "I think the first thing is to really check your motive for doing it, to realize that your sin is just as bad as theirs, and to not attempt to minister to them with an attitude of you're better than them, or your sin isn't as great as theirs or the repercussions for your sin aren't any worse. That won't work at all. And secondly, just to pray for the sovereign work of God in their life. And even if you are out here today and you know someone in your own family or even you struggle with that issue, or any life-controlling issue, the important part is that you realize that there's hope in Christ, and he can take the impossible and make it possible, without a doubt. … Love them, just love them. That's what we should do. And if they sin more, then love them more and pray for them more."

–Dan

Some highlights from community stories and teaching from Shoreline leaders, after the jump:

Community

• Wings, beer, and Bible. We admit, we encourage the stereotype sometimes.
• Pastor James uses a lot of alliteration talking about the Kingdome and the Kingdom and we almost get nostalgic for the monolith.
• "Babies often come from 'fireworks,' but this time it wasn’t a metaphor." True story.

Teaching

Pastor Chad, who also serves as a band leader, explained the scripture behind four oft-sung songs at Mars Hill:

PASSOVER (play and/or download this song here) Written around ’98 by Luke Abrams and Jeff Bettger of Team Strike Force, this song was helpful for me early on as a new christian in tying the old testament and new testament together.  Jesus is our Passover Lamb and if we trust in him, he imparts to us his righteousness.  Only with the imparted righteousness of Jesus will the Father’s wrath pass over us.  The penalty for our sin is death but that penalty was paid for on cross by Jesus.  Do you trust in him or are you counting on your own religious false-righteousness?  Be sure you know where you stand on this before partaking of communion lest you heap judgment upon yourself – 1 Corinthians 11 27-29.

Inspired by: EXODUS 12: 12-13 "For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.."

Ross, an intern from South Africa, and his wife, Sue, say they're excited to be part of the Shoreline community while he studies in the Re:Train program, although they hope their unborn child "doesn't speak funny or enjoy sports that aren't played anywhere else in the world." Deacon Matthew on service and production slides:

Church is the community of all believers; it’s not a building or a service. The Sunday service is merely a place where we can all gather to celebrate God’s grace in our lives and learn more about Him. My role in that event is to facilitate the time for others and allow them to focus on God and not the details. I do this as a part of my worship of God. He has gifted me with a detail-oriented mind that centers on production technology. It is my place within the body to help facilitate in this way.

For more from this campus, be sure to check out their blog. Also, if you're interested in being part of Mars Hill on the North Side, be sure to attend the Everett Campus Interest Meeting, two weeks from tomorrow, on November 15.