Well, October 7th came and went and we have officially started services at MHC | Wedgwood. What a huge blessing and, at least to this humble writer, what a miracle!

As of Saturday morning, the campus still looked like a construction zone: electricians were stringing wires through the auditorium, no chairs were in place, the kitchen was covered in fine drywall dust, couches were stacked on top of each other…but God knew what He was doing and many volunteers put their hands to the proverbial plow to make the campus sparkle for it’s first service. People cleaned windows, tirelessly scrubbed the kitchen, even going so far as to get on their hands and knees (in worship) to clean the carpet of small stains.

God met us in a big way as He brought a total of 356 people over 2 services to hear Jesus preached by Pastor Mark Driscoll via our brand new satelite system. While we had a few technical difficulties getting the feed started at the 10:30am and Pastor Mark seemed like he was in a badly dubbed foreign film at the 5pm (the audio got slightly offset from the video) the congregation took it all in stride. Pastor James filled some time by making sure everyone understood the concept of “Soft Launch”: It’s the time you have to fix the bugs before your official launch! He also shared from the Book of James while Rob Maxfield and other volunteers worked feverishly behind the scenes to get the feed working. They succeeded and Wedgwood was off and running.

Pastor Tim Smith came by to musically support our new band leader, Katie Payne, and with Candice Clem on violin, they led us in a moving worship set. It was truly inspiring to sing songs to God, knowing that the space had been built for that purpose back in 1952. I can’t wait to meet the folks who will meet Jesus in the Wedgwood area, those who will be baptized here, those who become part of the family of God here. It’s a truly exciting time for Mars Hill as we expand into the communities of Seattle via this campus format. Thanks to all the members and volunteers who helped our first Sunday go off so wonderfully!

If you are interested in putting your hands to work for the gospel, we are having our first official BFD Club (that’s Breakfast for Dinner) tonight at 6pm. Stop by for some food, a bible study through Christ’s sermons and some honest hard work cleaning the campus for the upcoming Sunday service!