In the coming year, the Mars Hill Blog will chronicle our Generous Campaign with a new series of posts. There are so many people with so many need–especially in our tough economic times–and our church intends to do more than ever to love and serve people in need. We will use this blog to report what is getting done, and what remains to be done, so as to encourage our people to be generous to others, as God in Jesus Christ has been so very generous to us.

This week, I had a very encouraging moment. I stumbled across an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper about a Generous effort that occurred at our Downtown campus under the leadership of Pastor Tim Gaydos and church leaders Caleb Davis, Joel Fariss, and Wes Oaks. There is so much happening at the Mars Hill campuses, I cannot keep up. I was unaware of their event until I read about it in the paper.

On one of the coldest days of the year, Mars Hill Downtown gave away warm coats and free meals. Those in need were lined up around the building, and the members of Mars Hill served all day.

I asked Pastor Tim how the event went, and he said, “We gave out all 400 coats and served 330 lunches inside the building and 220 lunches out on the street. Not all who came in ate lunch–some just wanted a coat. When they came in, we served them restaurant-style, with a hostess who seated them at tables, and we had servers who welcomed them and served them food. We had some of our folks at each table so we could connect with them, get to know them, and build relationships. This was very cool. We would cycle through new groups of people each hour, so at the top of each hour, for four hours, I would give a welcome, briefly share our heart, and pray. We also had some of our band guys playing Christmas music onstage during lunch.”

When asked what compelled him to lead the campaign, Pastor Tim said, “This is my home and these are my people. I care for this city and these people a great deal.” He went on to explain how the event reminded him of the great meal pictured at the end of time with Jesus and his people in Revelation 19. “It’s a slight picture of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. All tribes, tongues, poor, rich, black, and white, coming together to know and worship Jesus. In Jesus’ view there are no marginalized, no disenfranchise–everyone is created in the image and likeness of God and is loved by God. We want to have that same love and view.”

The response from the city has been great and we appreciate those who have sent in thank you notes and emails. The Downtown Dispatch blog even said, “I can’t think of better timing than to have the Christmas Coat Lunch on the day of the first winter snow in Seattle, with record freezing temperatures. I’m not a religious man, maybe slightly Catholic in a bad way, but I think Mars Hill has been blessed here. Brilliant scheduling.”

We praise God for the opportunity to love and serve people, and look forward to doing more projects like this in the future. We’ll keep you posted on how to help out with the Generous Campaign here on this blog.