Of our 14 churches and church plants, ten were brand-new church plants when they launched. The other four—Sammamish, West Seattle, Albuquerque, and Bellevue—were previously existing churches that decided to join and become a Mars Hill church. So what does it mean for a church to join Mars Hill? How does that happen? Last week, we told you the story of our newest church body, Mars Hill Sammamish. Today, we take a look at Mars Hill West Seattle, originally Doxa, a church planted by Pastor Bill Clem, and which joined Mars Hill in 2006.

"… You really are people who worship together and let the Father find you worshipping him in spirit and truth, which delights his heart."

–Pastor Bill to the West Seattle church

Years ago, Pastor Bill Clem got a call to plant a church, so he, his wife, and four children moved from Chicago to their friends' 1200-square-foot house in West Seattle, where Bill and his wife settled into the spare room, his daughters in the laundry room, and his sons in the garage. They planted Doxa Church with a "diapers to diapers"-aged, eight-person core group. Some time after that, the church was growing when Pastor Bill's wife was diagnosed with a critical cancer diagnosis. Then one day, Pastor Mark called … Watch the above video to find out how the story ends. Today, Pastor Bill leads at Ballard, and Pastor David Fairchild leads Mars Hill West Seattle. You can follow the church on Facebook and Twitter.