Your Name
H.E.M.
Gender
Female
Which describes your role at Mars Hill?
Regular Attender
What Mars Hill location(s) did you attend?
Ballard
What years were you involved / attending?
2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
How did you first hear about Mars Hill?
I heard about Mars Hill from my friends and also looked it up online before the first time I went.
What was the circumstance of your first time attending Mars HIll?
My friends brought me.
What were your first impressions?
I really liked that it was in Ballard, and that it was in a different kind of building. I knew a lot of the people I went to church with. At that time it was not as big and there were not as many services - so it still felt small and nice.
Why was Mars Hill your church home?
Because that is where I first heard real, godly teaching about who Jesus is and the gospel.
What about your time at Mars Hill has had a positive impact on you?
I grew as a Christian, got into God's word, had a place to serve, and learn about church ministry and how to reach others for God in my city.
What about your time at Mars Hill has had a negative impact on you?
Later, when they opened a second campus, I did not like that. A couple of my friends started going to that campus and that was a bummer. More and more the sermons would be on a big screen and not a pastor preaching to us live. It felt weird and pre-recorded. The church added so many services that it started to feel mega-churchy. I still liked serving, but I did not understand why we had to have a campus instead of just planting a new church over there. Then MORE campuses started and more friends moved to other campuses so we were not going to the church all together anymore or serving together.
What would you like to have changed about Mars Hill?
I would have liked to just have the Ballard campus be Mars Hill and the other campuses be new church plants. I would have liked to stay smaller or at least added different pastors to preaching the evening services and other services instead of the pre-recorded sermons.
Which describes you?
I left Mars Hill prior to closure.
Please describe why you left Mars Hill and what that experience was like.
I left Mars Hill because I got married and we moved 4 hours away where my husband became a pastor! :-)
How would you describe the reason for Mars Hill's closure to an outsider.
My friends and family continue to go to the church (Ballard) that is there now in place of Mars Hill. We all really do not understand the closure. I do not know why it had to come to an end. It was always my home church, and whenever we have a weekend off we would come home to Mars Hill to worship and learn about God with our friends and family, and now it is not there and we do not know really and truly why.
What's changed for you since your time at Mars Hill came to an end?
Beliefs, church, convictions are all the same, but even more so now I am opposed to churches splitting off into campuses, and would voice my opinion more strongly if my church wanted to do that. I would say to that church, no, we should plant churches with a pastor for that church, no big screens and campuses.