A Journey to Mars

Well, I emailed several of you a couple weeks ago and asked for prayer as God was doing huge things and we really needed His clear direction. I'm writing tonight to tell you God loves to surprise. Ill start from the beginning:

We moved to Seattle as God had made it clear He wanted us to plant a church. We started working with the acts 29 network (explained below) in going about this process. This included training, recruiting a core team, raising funds, networking with other pastors, designing a website, scouting a church location etc... In the meantime we started attending a community group through MHC (explained below) At the same time we started hearing about a new MH campus that was going to be planted downtown. This to us seemed cool but didn't spark any draw: we were in Seattle to plant our own church. The following week our community group leader Jonathan asked us a question that would end up redefining what it meant for us to plant a church in Seattle: "What do you think about partnering with Mars Hill?"

I had no idea, it had never occurred to me. I talked to Sarah and we started praying about it. A week later I met with the downtown campus lead pastor Tim Gaydos. I told him about why we moved up here and about our plans to start a church. He asked if we would join him in the mission to plant a new MH campus.

To be completely honest I was extremely torn... I knew we were supposed to plant a church but kept asking myself "is this what it looks like?" In the following week God did three things in my life:

1. The day after my meeting with Tim I received an email from a dear mentor with the subject title 'is this YOU guys?!!' She had found the online newspaper article about the new campus which you can read here. This caught my attention because no, this was not us, although at that very moment we were praying about whether it should be.

2. A couple days later while praying I asked God for more conformation. Immediately I felt as though He was saying "haven't I given you enough?" I went home and told Sarah, she brought from our room her journal in which that very day she had felt God had said the same thing to her... "Haven't I given you enough?

3. As I could not sleep that night I came to the living room to read my bible. I opened to Deuteronomy 1. Verses 1-8 spoke of God commanding the Israelites to advance into the land God had promised them. I thought to myself "oh, thats kinda like MH taking over Seattle. I read on... the next heading was 'appointing leaders.'

Part of MHC taking the city for Jesus was to appoint more leaders. It clicked.

I met with the a29 network director and told him what had been going on and about our church plant quagmire. Turns out Tim had already talked to him about me and he was very excited about the opportunity that had presented itself to Sarah and I to partner with mars hill church. He gave me some great advice and encouragement in regards to my maturation as a pastor and the great venue that MH would be for that season. He gave me his blessing.

The next day I met with Tim and told him we were on board.

So what does this look like? How does this change our plans for ministry in Seattle? The good news is we are still planting a church, we just aren't the people leading the charge... which I'm totally OK with and quite relieved. Here is where we are at right now: please be in prayer for us as we navigate the next month of planning and seeking God's will.

1. Sarah and I are in the MH membership class that ends the first week in December. As soon as we are members we will be able to fully dive in. At this point I will start going through the process of becoming a church deacon.

2. As a deacon I will then be able to head up a ministry at MH downtown. This specific ministry has not yet been decided. In the meantime my priority is to serve in whatever capacity I can from cleaning toilets to swinging a hammer for the remodel to doing whatever. One of my main objectives in this season is to meet people and get acquainted with the leadership of the church. This will take place over the next couple months.

3. This brings us to the most stretching aspect of our calling: raising support. MHC doesn't hire from the outside and all pastors who are now on paid staff have been tested and tried through a year or more of volunteer service. The process is tough but ensures that the pastoral staff is committed to the mission and they really want to be there. We know our home is MHC and see God using and training us in this amazing church for several years at least. The year we have ahead of us will be trying but invaluable in our growth and equipping as pastors. We know God will provide and look forward to partnering with those who will support us as we minister to the city of Seattle.

Please feel free to ask any questions at all contact me at joelfariss@gmail.com. As things continue to develop we will post blogs to update you! Thank you for your continued prayer and support,

Love and peace,
Joel and Sarah