Mars Hill (Part 5)- Downtown Worship con't. and Closing Thoughts

Worship Continues

Pastor Tim returned to the stage to announce the collection of the offering, and as the wooden trays started to make their way around the room, he told us that “believers do this as an act of worship.”  He also explained that the Communion that followed was for all Christians and welcomed us to partake, offering up a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s generosity with no other words of institution.  (Wow, my Church History and Christian Theology classes must have really gotten to me if I’m this hung up on words of institution.  This issue was barely a blip on my radar two years ago.  Way to go, Duke brainwashing!)  The band kicked into an effects-heavy beat, and the worship leader (this time a different guitarist) raised his hands as he led us in singing a song I had already heard once today, but it remains a favorite:

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;

Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.

Thou my best thought, by day or by night,

Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Again, there was no cue to come up and take Communion, so we simply walked up the aisle when it seemed appropriate.  Just like that morning’s service, there was a cup of grape juice and a cup of wine, each with a tag hanging from it so that the Communion stewards wouldn’t have to break the mood in the room by explaining which was which.  Even though I tend to prefer the taste of grape juice in Communion, I opted for the wine this time (mostly out of curiosity and wanting to get the full Mars Hill experience).  Honestly, I don’t really know if there’s a standard Communion wine, but I don’t think this was it.  It was a very light and fruity red, but maybe the bread was throwing off the taste and making it sweeter.  I don’t pretend to be a wine expert, so I welcome explanations of how this works.  The keyboardist took the lead vocals now, backed only by the guitar:

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

By this point, I had made it back to my seat and was singing along.  The cellist and the first guitarist had both had more distinctive and interesting voices than this keyboardist, but he was still doing a good job in leading the worship rather than simply performing.  In fact, I’m noticing that singers with less distinctive voices and styles seem to have an easier time getting people to sing along, but that’s a theory that will require further testing.  Perhaps, with a less distinctive lead voice, we get less distracted by how pretty the singing sounds, and it becomes easier to sing along as a result, sort of like how a reader who is too dramatic and powerful can actually detract from the Scripture reading rather than improving it.  I’m getting off-topic though.  The next song was a Hillsong tune, and the other musicians joined in on singing:

Falling on my knees in worship
Giving all I am to seek your face
Lord all I am is yours

My whole life
I place in your hands
God of Mercy
Humbled I bow down
In your presence at your throne

I called you answered
And you came to my rescue and I
I wanna be where you are

In my life be lifted high
In our world be lifted high
In our love be lifted high

The song had a sort of power ballad feel to it, and there was quite a bit of singing and hand-raising from the congregation.  Honestly, I had to resist the urge to headbang a little along with the music.  During instrumental sections, Bible verses would appear on the screen instead of lyrics, and in this case, we were given an excerpt from Psalm 118 that tied in with the gospel lesson:

. . . the right hand of the LORD is exalted; the right hand of the LORD does valiantly.”

I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the LORD. . . .

I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.

(Psalm 118:16-17, 21)

Pastor Tim

Another verse to appear on the screen was Ephesians 2:13: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”  This verse heralded the start of another traditional hymn that had been adapted to contemporary instrumentation.  Somehow, with the low light and the sonorous drum-driven music and the 50-minute sermons and the contemporary resettings of traditional hymn lyrics, it suddenly dawned on me: my granddad would hate this place.  Of course, Pastor Tim has pretty much said that’s one of the church’s goals.  In an interview at the opening of the Belltown campus, he proudly proclaimed, “We’re not about religion.  Religion sucks. . . . And this is not your mom’s or grandma’s church.”   Again, the church aims to reach a niche population.  I’m not saying that’s good.  I’m not saying that’s bad.  It’s just how they do things.  The band rocked out on another hymn:

I hear the Savior say,
“Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all.”

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

People swayed where they stood, but I felt like the band was setting us up for a full-on dance party.  This sort of got me thinking: While a lot of the services I’ve attended so far this summer have brought me a sense of uplifting and effervescence, the Mars Hill service had a gritty feel to it that felt like a celebration on a baser level.  Imagine the church sequence in Blues Brothers contrasted with the Zion dance party in The Matrix: Reloaded.  That’s how I felt as the band kicked into its final number, and I think it was an original.  The guitarist with the Death Cab voice was leading again, and the guitars were both distorted to a gravely crunch.  I found a video of a scaled-down lineup of the band performing the song, but it’s a different singer, and more than half the instrumentation is missing.  Still, it gives an idea of both the song and the venue, and I've attached the lyrics below.

Prophets proclaimed to our fathers long ago

To turn from their statues and their idols made of gold

Rise from your knees

Stop worshiping

The splinters of broken gods

Turn and see your King

There is one God over

All kings and rulers

And He reigns alone

Now we proclaim the same God, the same Word

Who stood through the ages: Jesus Christ the Lord

Burn them all down, my God, my God

Burn them all down, my God, my God

“Burn them all down?” Mike would later ask, “Burn what down?  Don’t you think that’s just a little messed up?  I mean, religious people burning things is kind of a scary concept, and I can’t really think of a time where that’s ended well in history.  Books, crosses, witches, heretics, synagogues-- burning things is generally considered to be bad.  They might want to rein it in a little.”

Caleb (the downtown community groups director) came up on stage with a few more announcements.  He first mentioned the “burn them all down” line from the song, saying that he loved the great Seattle anarchist flavor that it carried with it.  He invited people to stay after the service if they wanted to pray with someone or had anything to repent, and he encouraged people to swing by the “connect desk” in the lobby if they wanted any more information on small groups or church activities.  He dismissed us in prayer, and the band played a drum-heavy techno riff for a minute or two as we exited.

Mars Hill on Missions and Outreach

Mars Hill has a pretty interesting approach to outreach.  As best I can tell, their main outreach tools are actually events-- parties, community cleanup efforts, workshops, etc.  The goal seems to be to get church members so enthusiastic through innovative worship styles and exciting activities that they will invite people into the church to hear the Gospel, and at 10,000 average attendees, I think they’re getting the desired effect.  It’s also interesting to see the stress that the church places on the arts, using creative visual effects to create backdrops for Pastor Mark’s sermons and encouraging experimental new bands to participate in worship.  Seattle is brimming with up-and-coming indie musicians, and with all of the church’s campuses (each with multiple worship times), Mars Hill is able to provide venues for some of these young artists to refine their styles.  Honestly, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about ministry to the homeless and hungry this summer, but --and this may come as a bit of a shock given my art/music background-- reaching out to the arts community really hadn’t occurred to me.  While I’ve been exposed to a lot of meditation through appreciation of the arts and iconography and all that, I feel like this is the first time I’ve really seen art with a clear evangelistic bent.  It’s kind of cool really.

As far as community ministries go, Mars Hill’s website divides their efforts into two categories: the “Air War” and the “Ground War.”  I’m not particularly fond of the war terminology, but I get where they’re coming from.  While the Air War relates to big events and sermons and marketing and things that are pretty much handled by the church’s professional staff, the Ground War is where that missional church mentality seems to be most evident.  Taking a slightly different shape at each campus, the Ground War involves things like community groups, pastoral care, volunteer efforts, and “MicroMissions” (small grants for the campuses to develop new community services in their neighborhoods).  Again, each campus has its own distinctive flavor of missions; while the Ballard campus offers family activities, the downtown campus holds community cleanup events and throws parties (with the not-so-subtle agenda of giving Christian singles a place to connect).  In keeping with the multisite mentality that I first encountered at Summit, each campus ministers in a flavor appropriate to its setting, but they’re still bound together by a common theology and a shared call to minister to the city of Seattle.

Mark Driscoll and the Multisite Model

You know, I realize he’s kind of a controversial guy, but I actually have a good bit of respect for Mark Driscoll.  I may disagree with his views on gender and on Calvinism and on some ecclesiology issues, but I really respect what he’s been able to accomplish at Mars Hill, particularly with young adult ministry, the focus on the arts, and let’s face it: he’s really funny like 75% of the time.  Also, his pop culture commentary stuff is awesome even if I don’t think Avatar had a secret Pagan agenda-- it just had a very public money-making agenda.  Still, there’s one thing about Mark that’s kind of gnawing at me.  At a lot of the other megachurches I’ve seen, when a senior pastor is out of town, he has an associate pastor preach in his place.  (And I’m using “he” just because it’s always a “he” at these places.  I’m not condoning it; that’s just the unfortunate state of things.)  Having a substitute preacher is a good way to help people get to know an associate, to help that associate become a more competent speaker, and to remind the congregation that the church is about more than its senior pastor.

Adam Hamilton does a rotation of guest preachers throughout the entire summer, not just because of his travels, but also to ensure a fresh message coming out of Resurrection’s pulpit every Sunday.  This is also a good way to ensure the longevity of a church.  Bill Hybels will have to retire eventually, so Darren Whitehead is already assuming some of his responsibilities and getting the congregation used to other preachers.  It’s also especially important to switch things up in the case of celebrity pastors.  Rob Bell is on constant speaking tours, so Shane Hipps fills in, and sometimes the younger Steve Argue preaches as well.  When passing the reins, it’s good to share them for a bit and get the congregation used to hearing new voices so that you don’t have a jarring transition later down the road.  Having multiple preachers is a way to ensure that a megachurch outlasts the pastor after he moves on, retires, or passes away.  It is a way to make sure that the church is God-focused and not just built around a cult of personality.

It didn’t hit me until late last night, but Mars Hill Church may need to learn that lesson if they’re going to stick around after Pastor Mark finishes his tenure there.  As much as I respect his open-armed response to Westboro and his support of the arts and his heart for young adult ministry and his engaging, biblically-based sermon style, Mark Driscoll’s prerecorded sermon struck me as a little arrogant.  Rather than turning over his pulpit on a Sunday when he was out of town, he recorded his sermon ahead of time to be played in his absence.  Now, if I ever pulled a stunt like that, I’d get slapped on the wrist for making it too much about me, and rightfully so!  Pastor Mark says in Reformission Rev. that a church plant and its pastor often function as a single entity in the early stages of a church, and eventually, that church must take on a life beyond its pastor, or it will cease to grow.  It’s good advice.  Mark Driscoll needs to share the pulpit if that church is going to last beyond him, and I really like the music there, so I really want to see that happen!

Mike and I both made the observation that, especially at the downtown campus, something about Mars Hill did feel a little transient.  Maybe it was the large student population that is pretty much guaranteed to turn over every four years, or maybe there’s something else going on here.  The church has exploded over these past 15 years, but something about this place felt a little like jumping on a bandwagon.  I think this church might be at a pretty critical point of transition, and my hope is that Pastor Mark will start to cultivate leaders within the satellite campuses, because having all eyes turned toward Ballard seems incredibly risky.  It’s a lot of responsibility on Mark’s shoulders, and even though I don’t think he’d crack under the pressure like Ted Haggard did, if something were to happen to him, I could see that church easily losing half its membership as they struggled to fill the power vacuum.  Simple solution: this church needs more than just one regular preacher, and I think that might be true of other multisites as well.  I greatly respect Mark Driscoll’s ability to cast a vision, but it’s time for some other voices to be heard from that church.  Churches go multisite so that they can be more inclusive and diverse and reach multiple neighborhoods in a city, and I’m starting to wonder if having one preacher for all campuses actually undercuts that a little.  I get the desire to have a unified theology, but I think you lose something with the broadcast sermons.  With their arts emphasis and a bevy of excellent speakers at each campus already, Mars Hill definitely has the resources to foster a little more individuality among their campuses and to prove to themselves and their community that they’re a lot more than just one great preacher.

Couldn't resist using this picture one last time.

That being said, Mark Driscoll really is one great preacher.  The guy is charismatic and informative and well-read and entertaining (even if it’s in a combative, Lewis Black, prepare-to-be-shouted-at sort of way).  Mike said that Pastor Mark’s step-by-step exploration of the passages from Luke was actually the highlight of both services for him, and were it not for my enjoyment of the music, I would probably agree.  The guy is thorough.  He really explores a passage at a very deep level, and the popularity of his preaching may very well be Mars Hill’s most wide-reaching outreach tool.  He appreciates the arts.  He’s able to respond to tough situations with humor (even if it’s laced with sarcasm).  He can keep a room full of people entertained and taking notes for a full fifty minutes.  The guy has serious skills.  I’m not fully on board with his theology or his views about gender or his possessiveness of his pulpit or his lack of subtlety in asking for money, but Mark Driscoll has successfully found a way to engage the unchurched, tirelessly-hip young adult population of Seattle, and getting to observe that dynamic was worth a couple of long services.

Peace and Blessings,

Tom

P.S.-- Thanks again to my Seattle team of worship/missions analysts:

Left to Right: Mike Vander Sys, Elizabeth "Alaska" Ashman, me (all YTI class of 2004)