On December 4, we began our series God’s Work, Our Witness with a documentary that gives a glimpse into the rough, early years of Mars Hill Church. In this post, Deacon Mike Anderson shares how he has seen God working throughout the greater Seattle area, redeeming the most unlikely buildings that played roles in his life and the lives of his friends into places of worship.

When I was eight, I won tickets to see the premier of FernGully at the John Danz theatre in Bellevue, Washington. Back then, I would have never dreamed that Jesus would have saved me, brought me to Mars Hill, and seen that theatre become a church where people hear about Jesus and lives are changed.

When I was four, we lived in a tiny apartment behind a school in Shoreline. The school’s playground was like an extension of my front yard. Today, Mars Hill Shoreline meets in that school building.

In college, my roommate’s brother was a bouncer at one of the dirtiest clubs in Seattle—the Tabella nightclub. I heard stories of automatic weapons, stripper platforms, and, in one instance, a guy was pepper sprayed with the mace that’s used to stop bears from attacking. This place sounded like the Wild West, but today it’s Mars Hill Downtown Seattle and over a thousand people gather in that building to worship Jesus every Sunday.

We’ve witnessed God redeem.

What gets me excited is not just buildings that were once used for common purposes and are now repurposed for worship. It’s the people of Mars Hill. In this documentary that the Creative Team put together, we get to see dozens of stories of God’s amazing redemptive love.

In the early days of Mars Hill, God chose people who were:

• Sleeping with their girlfriends
• Pot smokers
• Fetish club go-ers
• Nazi porn collectors (you’ll have to watch to understand)
• Going-no-where rockers
• Homeless street kids
• Aimless youth group kids

And he decided to do something amazing. I’m thankful to get to witness God’s work.

Over the last 15 years God has used Mars Hill to tell thousands and thousands of people about Jesus. Please consider giving generously to help us tell thousands more people about him next year.

Deacon Mike Anderson is the director of the Communications Department. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook.