Dear Mars Hill Church,

Thank you for allowing me to preach and teach the Bible. It was twelve years ago this week that Grace and I hosted the first Bible study in our home as the core group that became Mars Hill Church.

I find great joy in studying the Bible and then preaching, teaching, writing, and blogging what I learn. In the past year and a half the Executive Elders of the church have freed up more of my time and energy to grow in my study and communication of Scripture. This includes a Preaching and Theology branch being built for me under the leadership of Pastor AJ Hamilton. Our team has some amazingly gifted people in areas such as video, audio, lighting, set design, graphics, theming, promotions, and more. The team has become so skilled that they actually recently finished filming their first full-length film in Hollywood as a side project.

And, if that were not enough, my friends at Logos Bible Software have loaded up my MacBook Pro with the best Bible study tools and books ever assembled in a software package. So, in addition to my personal library of perhaps 4,000-5,000 books, I now have even more books on my laptop, which enables me to work even during days of solitude or travel.

On top of all this, I have an amazing research assistant and friend from Docent Research Group named Justin Holcomb, who earned two M.A.’s from Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando and a Ph.D. in theological studies from Emory University. He teaches courses in religious studies and sociology at the University of Virginia and at Reformed Theological Seminary, and he serves as the Director of Graduate Ministries at the Center for Christian Study in Charlottesville, Virginia. He has been humble enough to do a great deal of research for me, which, along with the work of my helpful friend and editing assistant Deacon Crystal Griffin, allows me to produce content at a pace I would never have thought possible. Between articles, blogs, books, and curriculum, I am now sending out literally thousands of pages of content a year, as well as preaching and teaching hundreds of hours of content a year.

In short, I have been lavishly blessed, and I love my job as much as anyone could ever love a job. Admittedly, the hours are long and the work is hard, but I am doing exactly what God made me to do and placed in my heart among my deepest desires. I rejoice in the fact that my family and I consider Mars Hill our life’s work and have perhaps forty years of ministry remaining.

This generosity has freed me up to help more people. This all culminates in the Trial series on 1-2 Peter, which sets a new standard for all future preaching series. I have so benefited from the service of others that I wanted to do more than ever to help our people learn these amazing books of the Bible. So this Sunday we kick things off, and here is what you will get:

• A free copy of the Trial curriculum book, which is also available online for free. This 200-page book includes my introductory articles on Peter, the books he wrote, and the role of parents in instructing their children. Included in the free book are dinner discussion questions I wrote to help parents teach 1-2 Peter to their own children. Pastor Brad House has also included the Community Group discussion questions for the entire series.
• A free copy of a 12,000-word introduction and overview of 1-2 Peter compiled by my research assistant. This content is available only on The City, our password-protected social networking site. If you register for The City at one of our campuses during the series, you will get this special gift that will not be posted online for the general public.
• Lastly, the children’s ministry will also spend the next seven months studying 1-2 Peter, as we have also developed our own curriculum for them following the sermon series.

Sometimes, the knock on megachurches that use video like ours is that they are light on teaching the Bible and helping their people learn. I assure you that will never be the case at Mars Hill. We love the Bible, we love Jesus, and we love you. We are doing all we can to help you learn the Bible and grow in love for Jesus.

Lastly, you may not recognize me on Sunday because I will be wearing suits for this series, in keeping with the old-school black-and-white court imagery of Trial. Occasionally, though, I will wear a suit with Chuck Taylors to ensure the look is Mars Hilled. See you Sunday…

For Jesus’ Fame,
Pastor Mark Driscoll