This weekend will see the official debut of Vox Pop Network, effectively rendering this particular blog obsolete (read more about this change in the upcoming March Vox Pop–and here). You can still access and read this site’s old content at voxpopnetwork.com/voxpop. But since nobody will really be monitoring it anymore, the comments feature is shutting down. Enjoy the new site…
By Pastor Mark Driscoll
Mars Hill Church began in the fall of 1996, one week before I turned twenty-six years of age. At that time, nearly everyone in the church was young. Today, there is thankfully a growing range of ages, though I am admittedly starting to feel old.
I often pray that Mars Hill will not simply be a church that grows old together. Rather, we should seek to always welcome young people, see their lives transformed by Jesus, and encourage them to serve Him wholeheartedly.
In the history of the church, much has been accomplished by Christians who were young. Perhaps Paul’s words to the young Timothy are the most pertinent, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12).
Curiously, throughout church history God has chosen to use young people like Timothy for significant kingdom work. The following are a handful of such examples that have greatly encouraged me and I pray they do likewise for you. (more…)
The unique ministry of Christian bookstores.
By Emily Heffter
When the Lifeway Christian Stores conglomerate took over the mom-and-pop Shoreline Christian bookstore, manager Debra Self found herself trying to explain to Bible Belt-based merchandise buyers what Christians in Seattle want to buy.
“Don’t send us King James Bibles,” she told them. When they sent her about 120 “hokey” Christian T-shirts, she stashed them in the upstairs of her store. Seattle’s Christians would never buy them, she said.
Lifeway is owned by the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville. But Debra said the Convention is working with her to adapt its products to the wide range of Christians in Seattle.
“It’s been kind of a culture shock for them,” she said.
In the Central District, Kathryn Hooks finds she sells a lot of King James Bibles at her store, Joy Unlimited (on South Jackson and 23rd Avenue South). But as her neighborhood is changing, she has had to change with it and compete in a market that includes “big box stores” (Wal-Mart, Target, etc.) and chain Christian retailers.
Christian retail was a $4.3 billion market in the U.S. in 2004, up from $4 billion in 2000, according to the Christian Booksellers Association, an industry group. But Christian bookstores control only about half of the Christian retail market. It’s increasingly easy to buy Christian books, DVDs and music at big box stores, and many churches and websites sell the same items.
That’s good, Debra said, because Christian products might be able to reach more non-Christians. But she believes there’s a place for Christian bookstores.
“We’ll hold your hand and pray with you,” she said. “That’s not going to happen at Target.” (more…)
By Pastor Mark Driscoll (research by Crystal Griffin)
Valentine’s Day is often loved by women and loathed by men who feel compelled to drop their hard-earned cash on flowers, jewelry, candy, and sappy cards. Perhaps comic Jay Leno expressed the male Valentine’s Day dilemma best in one of his monologues, saying, “Today is Valentine’s Day-or, as men like to call it, Extortion Day!” Conversely, the hopelessly romantic at heart enjoy the opportunity that Valentine’s Day affords for thoughtful romance and unbridled passion.
Whether you love or hate Valentine’s Day, the fact is that it has evolved into an enormous holiday. The question remains, however, who is Valentine and how did he come to be associated with everything from the color red to some secret known only by a woman named Victoria?
While the details of his life are sketchy at best, Valentine was allegedly a Christian who was canonized by the Catholic Church as a saint. His name was common and is derived from the Latin word valens, meaning strong and powerful.
You’re 25 years-old: What would you do with the rest of your life if you knew it’d be over in a decade? And what if you knew you would spend your final years completely paralyzed and without speech?
Yesterday’s Seattle Times included a story about a young pro skater who was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). Facing this terminal, debilitating illness, Dave made a bold decision about how to spend the remainder of his tragically stunted lifespan:
It took months of doctor visits and tests before Dave was diagnosed in November 2000 with ALS. Those three letters meant little to Dave or [his girlfriend] Kori. The doctor didn’t really explain ALS, so they went home and Googled it. What they read scared both of them.
They cried and talked all that day. That evening, Dave proposed at his parents’ house, with his family nearby.
His parents asked him what he wanted to do, and where he might want to travel, Kori remembers.
But what Dave wanted was a family, and he didn’t have time to wait. He couldn’t wait to start living.
“A lot of people have time to build more of a foundation,” Kori said. “We were kind of different from the start.”
The couple plunged into wedding plans. On Jan. 13, 2001, roughly a year after they’d first met, the couple - Kori in her grandmother’s wedding dress - were married at Seattle’s Stimson-Green Mansion. They honeymooned in Hawaii. In August, they welcomed Keone, a red-haired son…
It was interesting to read this story over breakfast, just before heading off to Mars Hill. The heartbreaking events of Dave’s story weighed on me as I listened to Pastor Mark preach from the conclusion of the book of Ruth. In the sermon, he explained the significance of children, drawing from a couple of articles and studies that point to family as both a key indicator of contentment and a profound investment in the future.
Marriage. Children. Legacy…
Read the article. Think about the sermon. Pray.
-A.M.
Spiritual Disciplines, part 7 (read series intro)
By Pastor Mark Driscoll
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
-Hebrews 13:4
In this article we will examine the contemplative discipline of chastity and the correlated active discipline of lovemaking. Admittedly, these are rarely included in any study of the spiritual disciplines, but they are nonetheless very important. As Christians we are called to be disciples of Jesus, which means that we must be disciplined people, and one of the most undisciplined areas of life in our culture is sexuality. God’s standard for His people is chastity before marriage and fidelity within marriage, and such holiness requires a spiritually disciplined lifestyle.
UPDATE: Due to some technical setbacks, the new Vox Pop Network will not be debuting until the beginning of March. In the meantime, if you subscribe to this blog you will be automatically notified when the network goes live. You can do this either by clicking on ‘Ballard Campus’ under FEEDS in the right column or enter in your email address in the EMAIL UPDATES field just below it. For now, we’ve got a teaser for you: check out new design for the Vox Pop Network.
The good news is that the Vox Pop blog that you know and love is not officially saying bye-bye for a few more weeks. Enjoy it while it lasts.
On February 12, the Vox Pop blog (this website) as you know it will cease to exist. In its place, Mars Hill Church will introduce the Vox Pop Network.
In other words, if you type “marshillchurch.org/voxpop” into your browser address bar thing on Monday, you will find a very different looking web page than the one you’re reading now. The new page will display the syndicated content from the various Mars Hill blogs and collect them here at this URL as the “Voice of the People.”
On this page, you’ll find the latest news and content from the following blogs:
What’s more, a few additional blogs will make their debut this Monday as part of the Vox Pop Network:
This robust menu will inaugurate the Vox Pop Network with a look and feel that’s completely new to the Mars Hill blogosphere; more than just an aesthetic overhaul, expect an all-around improvement in our blog content. Mars Hill staff and volunteers (in particular, blog manager Elisabeth Krohn and designer Anthony Ianniciello) have worked very hard to bring you these upgrades in an effort to enhance community and communication amongst our vast church body and beyond–to our local and global audience at large.
But this is just another beginning. Keep up with the Vox Pop Network for more great changes and developments on the way. Thanks for reading.
–Andrew Myers, Vox Pop content editor
If you’ve subscribed to this blog, beginning next week you will receive all updates that appear on the new Vox Pop Network web page (where you’ll also be able to subscribe to various individual feeds). For more on the Mars Hill blog project, email blogs@marshillchurch.org.
This Sunday, pick up a copy of the latest Vox Pop (#26), or download the PDF now. This month’s Table of Contents includes:
Enjoy the bounty, God is good.
UPDATE: More photos from this event are available here.
by Doug Finefrock
The Artist Reformation Project (ARP) hosts a gallery the first Thursday of every month. This is a review of last month’s display; join the group tomorrow for a brand new exhibit: “What exists beyond our physical reality?” featuring artists Brett Walker and Caleb Larson.
A panel with clay on it is called clayboard.
Clayboard with Jesse Jaren’s art on it is something different altogether.
On January 4th the 619 Western building had something different altogether, and lots of people stopped to look at it. It was the first official gallery exhibit in the ARP’s new showroom downtown, presenting the work of local artist Jesse Jaren. The topic was: “Is there such a thing as good and evil; right and wrong; an absolute truth?” The answer seemed to depend entirely upon who you were talking to, leading to some very interesting conversations, as well as unique opportunities to share the Gospel with a few artsy Seattleites.
If you were to look at Jesse, leaning up against the wall of the showroom with his white Converse and massive Iowa beltbuckle, you would say to yourself, “This is a man of deep theology… with a fantastic beltbuckle.” And you would be correct.
Jesse’s “Tree of Life” is a theologically thick collection of five clayboard paintings of acrylic and pen, with attention paid to the smallest detail. (The five pieces were hung in accordance to the placement of shadows cast by the room’s lighting.) Solid colors and defined edges create a comic-like world, in which anthropomorphic creatures act out various life scenes within the “world” of the tree. Each of the four scenes surrounding the tree are presented with a slight twist of humor on the surface, but multiple layers of theological truths await the lingering eye.
An overly thorough explanation can spoil the viewing experience, so we will leave our description at that. What can be said about Jesse’s “Tree of Life” exhibit is that it acknowledges several theological truths: Jesus is our Sovereign Lord, the world is a glorious yet often painful mix of God’s creation gift marred by our sin, and Satan is an attractive yet deceitful craftsman at work upon the Earth. The ability to see these truths requires deep thought–and the ability to accept Christ’s gift of atonement through His blood is achieved only through the Holy Spirit. But with His help we can be the tools by which the Holy Spirit does His work and reveals His absolute truth to His children.
A new ARP exhibit will be on display tomorrow and monthly (every first Thursday) at the 619 Western building in Pioneer Square. It’s always free every first Thursday, so come on over. We’re the ARP, and we’re on the third floor.
Doug Finefrock is a member of MH Arts Group and Artist Reformation Project (ARP).
by Mark Bergin
About ten miles north of the massive Sunday event that is Mars Hill Ballard, the church’s year-old Shoreline Campus has developed a vibe all its own. From the SUVs and minivans overflowing with short people to the pseudo Bavarian architecture of the buildings, this expression of church is a bit less urban than its downtown counterpart.
Nevertheless, the acoustic rhythms emanating from Schirmer Auditorium each week are more grit than suburbia more Pedro the Lion than Michael W. Smith. The musical art of worship leader Joe Day combines traditional lyrics with a rocked-out aesthetic for a distinctly Mars-Hillian effect.
The Shoreline body may not yet own a building, but it owns a band and sharing could prove difficult. Call it selfishness. Call it territorial pride. Those more familiar call it a Northern Conspiracy.