We recently received some good news from the folks at the Crystal Cathedral – Pastor Mark’s second sermon from the Hour of Power will air on Palm Sunday, March 28th, next year.

If you remember, his first sermon was on who Jesus is. The second sermon is all about what Jesus did as our Savior on the cross and deals with sin, death, hell, and the atonement.

We’re thankful that the Hour of Power has chosen to air the sermon and that they’re doing so on Palm Sunday, the day when the Church has historically celebrated Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem and towards Calvary.

As we get more information about times and channels we’ll post them here.

Death By Love

Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears tackle some of the most serious redemptive aspects of Jesus’ work on the cross. Find out more.

Pastor Mark’s latest column for the Washington Post’s On Faith column is now up. The question posed to him was:

Is there good without God? Can people be good without God? How can people be good, in the moral and ethical sense, without being grounded in some sort of belief in a being which is greater than they are? Where do concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, come from if not from religion? From where do you get your sense of good and evil, right and wrong?

In response, Pastor Mark points to Imago Dei, the Biblical teaching that God made man in His own image.

Even those who do not believe in a god, or worship Jesus as the only God, cannot altogether erase the deep imprint of right and wrong because God stamped it on their very nature so that, despite being marred by sinful rebellion, it cannot be denied or ignored. In fact, we each appeal to this moral law every time evil is done against us; we appeal for something more than merely the survival of the fittest, where might makes right and morality is determined by those holding power. Therefore, we image God by respecting all of human life, particularly the weak, oppressed, sick, elderly, poor, unborn, and racial and cultural minorities because God values them as his image bearers.

You can read “Why Bad People Do Good Things” in it’s entirety at the Washington Post.

The Bible is All About Jesus

The Doctrine series explains the centrality of Jesus throughout Scripture and the life of Mars Hill. Full-length sermons & 15-minute episodes.

At 11:30pm tonight I’ll be featured for the third time on ABC’s Nightline. A month ago, Terry Moran and a great crew from ABC came to Mars Hill to talk with me about the second commandment. Terry had seen something I had posted on Twitter around the time of Michael Jackson’s funeral and wanted to follow up with me on the topic of idolatry in America.

I sat down for about 30 minutes with Terry, and we talked about how idolatry underlies all sin, how it is rooted on a false promise of happiness, how it ultimately destroys, how it is often the result of turning a good thing into an ultimate thing, and how it shows itself in our culture in how we idolize celebrities, athletes, food, family, sex, money, relationships, and achievement—or rather, what we call American culture.

We also took a drive in my Jeep and discussed some of the cultural idols littering my city. It was a bit precarious for the exceptional cameraman, who stood up in my Jeep while I drove as carefully as possible so as not to kill him. But things went well and we got some great footage of many modern-day temples: strip clubs, Seahawks stadium, Safeco Field, Starbucks headquarters, etc.

Most importantly the Nightline team gave me the chance to explain how Jesus is the only answer to all of our idolatry:

• Idols take. Jesus gives.
• Idols destroy life. Jesus gives new life.
• Idols break apart people and relationships. Jesus redeems and heals.

The episode has been pushed five times and was finally confirmed this week. In God’s providence and goodness the timing has worked out perfectly, because this week is Mars Hill’s 13th anniversary and on Sunday I’m preaching on Acts 17 from the actual Mars Hill in Athens.

I’d like to thank ABC and Nightline for doing a creative series on the Ten Commandments and for giving me a shot to talk about one of them. I’ve really enjoyed working with Terry, Ely, Dan, and the rest of the crews they’ve brought with them.

Please join me in praying that God would work through this to overcome our rebellion and turn all of us—believers and non-believers alike—from our worthless idols to the only true King, Jesus.

On top of fitting over 500 people into the Lobo Theater for their launch this past Sunday, Pastor Dave Bruskas and the Albuquerque campus were featured across three local network affiliates – ABC, NBC, & FOX – that night. In addition to the campus opening, what was the story of note? It was a story about how the church showed the love and compassion of Jesus to their community.

Tragically, earlier this year a young mother strangled her three-year old son and buried him a local playground. Pastor Dave and the church worked to minister to the community around the playground by bringing them food and working with the city to replace the sand in the sandbox.

This is just one of the ways Mars Hill Church loves their cities. If you see a situation like this in your neighborhood or community, apply for a Micromission grant and lead a group to serve. It is in view of God’s mercy  - a mercy that sent His Son to die for the ungodly, sinners, & His enemies (Romans 5) – that we offer our bodies and lives as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1).

We love to see people meet Jesus within our walls on Sundays, we love to see people become disciples of Jesus in community, and we love to see the church taking the love and mercy of Christ into our cities.

You can watch the video from the story at KOAT.

Community

Live the mission. Serve one another. Pray for your church. Do life together.

The first peek into Pastor Mark Driscoll’s upcoming appearance on Nightline was posted on ABC’s site today. The show’s series on the Ten Commandments begins tonight and he will be featured on the episode about idolatry. As soon as we have a firm air date for Pastor Mark’s episode we will post it here. The chances are we will have short notice so be sure to follow us on Twitter or Facebook so you don’t miss it.

In the mean time, you can read the article and watch a clip from Nightline.

Stay tuned.

Mars Hill on Twitter

Follow @MarsHill on Twitter for church news, answers to questions, post notifications, and gospel insight. #mhc

If you missed Pastor Mark’s first message on the Hour of Power yesterday, you can watch it online right now or you can read the transcript here.  That message, “Vintage Jesus”, was the first of two that he gave at the Crystal Cathedral at the end of last month.

As soon as we get the air date for the second message we will post it here.

iPhone App on Fox Q13 News

A crew from Q13 in Seattle came to the Ballard campus yesterday to talk about the Mars Hill Church iphone application.  The segment aired last night and if you missed it, you can watch it and read the full article here or watch just the segment below.

Excited and Thankful

We’re excited and thankful for two great opportunities and tools to talk about Jesus and the Gospel with such wide and diverse audiences.  Please pray that God would use both for His glory and that we might continue to be able to use our influence for Jesus.

Mars Hill on Facebook

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A quick reminder that Pastor Mark’s first message on the Hour of Power will be airing this Sunday.

6 Million People Hearing the Gospel

Thanks to our friends down at the Crystal Cathedral for not only extending the invite for Pastor Mark to come down in the first place, but then also actually airing it! The Hour of Power is broadcast to over 6 million viewers, so please pray that this first message (which is about Jesus’ claims to be God) bears a lot of fruit.

For more info about where you can watch it broadcast, etc, check their site here.

Mars Hill on Twitter

Follow @MarsHill on Twitter for church news, answers to questions, post notifications, and gospel insight. #mhc

SEATTLE, Washington – August 17, 2009 – Mars Hill Church today announced the release of a first-of-its-kind app for the iPhone.  The app is one of the latest technological advancements for one of the fastest growing and most innovative churches in America.  The Mars Hill app combines the church’s innovative media library with unprecedented accessibility to create a resource that is a first of its kind.

In the past year over 4.4 million of Pastor Mark Driscoll’s sermons have been downloaded from marshillchurch.org.  The pastor’s often controversial and always engaging style has drawn a worldwide online audience and has led to him being ranked as one of the top 30 most influential pastors in America.

The Mars Hill Church iPhone app makes available Mars Hill’s extensive media library of 25 sermon series, over 600 of Pastor Mark’s sermons, nearly 150 songs produced by Mars Hill bands, and an informative stream of blogs and updates directly to iPhone users.  Moreover, the church is continuing their policy of giving away all of their content for free.

With 40 million iPhone users in 77 countries, the development of this app is a pivotal component to a church with such a large global following.  With the Mars Hill iPhone app users around the world can:

-Listen to any Mars Hill sermon available on marshillchurch.org

-Watch any Mars Hill sermon video

-Stream Mars Hill music to their phone

-Email sermon links to friends

-Give to the mission of Mars Hill

-Stay informed and up to date from Mars Hill blog

-Get campus locations and listings

The app can be downloaded from the iTunes Store.

More About Mars Hill and Pastor Mark Driscoll

Mars Hill lives for Jesus as a city within the city — knowing culture, loving people, and seeing lives transformed to live for Jesus.

Mars Hill has utilized technology and innovation from the beginning.  The church made headlines by being at the forefront of solidifying a presence on Facebook and Twitter – Pastor Mark’s and Mars Hill’s accounts have tens of thousands of friends and followers.  Their passion for proclaiming Jesus in any context or outlet has resulted in a church that has grown from 12 people meeting in the living room at Pastor Mark’s house to one that meets across 7 campuses in Seattle and an 8th in Albuquerque, New Mexico and averages nearly 7,000 a week in attendance.

Due to their growth, young congregation, and being on the front line of innovation in the church; Mars Hill and Pastor Mark Driscoll have received media coverage from outlets such as ABC’s Nightline, TIME Magazine, the New York Times, and FOX News.

For more information please visit marshillchurch.org.

Press Contact:

Nick Bogardus

PR/Media Relations Director

206.816.3819

email

We will announce all of the details on Monday but for now we can give you a sneak peek.

(Title Page Screenshot)

As a church we love the Gospel, love the cities we live in, and love to see lives transformed by Jesus. We also value technology and innovation because, like the printing press was to the Reformation, by utilizing them we can potentially reach millions of people with the Gospel.

Stay tuned for all of the details on Monday and please help by spreading the word, so that we can use even our iPhones to God’s glory.

Mars Hill Global

New campuses, new churches, leadership training, and free resources for churches everywhere. In partnership with Acts 29 and Resurgence.

• A completely revised player skin with streamlined and standardized video controls
• New streaming video allows you to jump anywhere in the sermon at anytime
• A Hi-Def option for much better picture, especially in fullscreen mode

All sermons from this point forward will be available in HD, and volunteers will be retrofitting the sermon archives over the next few months. At present, six of the sermons from the Trial series are now available in HD. The goal is to loop back over all of the sermons from Trial and The Peasant Princess series.

Who builds our website?

Many thanks to our media team for their hard work in developing a great new platform. The video player—along with all of our websites and features— continues to be built entirely by Mars Hill staff and volunteers.

For more detailed information, visit marshillchurch.org/about/website.

Innovation for Jesus

It’s appropriate that these new features debut with the It’s All About Jesus series. Everything at Mars Hill Church—including our technology—is all about Jesus. The growth we’ve experienced through our multi-campus strategy and online resources is one evidence that effective technology is a worthy investment for the gospel.

Our hope is that better online quality means videos can be played on bigger screens, which means more people can gather together to watch, which means more people can hear the message of the gospel and be transformed by Jesus. We will continue to make innovative tools to proclaim the message of Jesus, including more ways to search, stumble on, and share the content we have. Look for more innovations in the coming months.

Help us spread the Word

If you enjoy and benefit from the free resources we provide, please consider giving to Mars Hill Global to support new churches, new campuses, leadership training, and more resources.

Mars Hill Global

New campuses, new churches, leadership training, and free resources for churches everywhere. In partnership with Acts 29 and Resurgence.