With the Super Bowl starting at 3:30, those of us with evening services today will be uniquely crushed. But it’s ok.

Editor’s note: The following is an email Pastor Mark sent to the pastors across the Mars Hill churches today. He gave us approval to post it.

Pastors,

Today we collide with an unofficial U.S. national holiday: the Super Bowl.

For those of us in the Great North Left, today is of particular interest because our beloved Seahawks are playing. Go Hawks!

Seattle has gone bonkers. I think every kid at the elementary school (including our kids) had on Hawks gear Friday, and there was even a smattering of blue- and green-colored hair.

With kickoff at 3:30, those of us with evening services today will be uniquely crushed. And it’s ok. I love football and would love to watch the game. So I will record it and catch it after I preach the 4 p.m. service at Mars Hill Bellevue.

Today we collide with an unofficial U.S. national holiday: the Super Bowl.

To be honest, I’m excited to serve whoever shows up. I fully expect it will feel like we missed the rapture, as many saints will not be in the room. But it’s ok. It’s more than ok. Anyone who shows up is so important that Jesus died for them. The least we can do is welcome them and serve them on his behalf.

Today is a great day to check our hearts as pastors. Are we only excited about crowds and numbers, or do we really care about people and faces? Is there a number too small for us to consider worth our time and energy? I remember reading a quote once from Spurgeon that basically said when we get annoyed by the empty seat, we are guilty of sinning against the filled one.

Anyone who shows up is so important that Jesus died for them. The least we can do is welcome them and serve them on his behalf.

For perspective, it was 18 years ago this week that we were in the very beginning stages of gathering the core group for Mars Hill. Our service was around 6 p.m. I say “around” because there was usually no one there by 6 p.m., and so we waited for the indie rockers and college kids to show up. Apparently it’s tough to get up by the crack of dinner.

We met in an awful youth room with golden shag carpet near an old church attic. We could meet there for free, which was why we used it. We had no kids ministry and no kids. I loaded up my Toyota truck (with over 200,000 miles on it) with all the gear for church. It consisted of home speakers, a “borrowed” sound board we “found” in the closet of another church, an overhead projector that only worked some of the time, and a few Bibles and other items. I unlocked the church, set up the chairs, helped set up the very meager technology we had, set out Bibles and information cards, and then stood by the door as the greeter to hand out the sermon notes I had printed off hours before at a Kinkos, if my memory serves correctly.

Today is a great day to check our hearts as pastors. Are we only excited about crowds and numbers, or do we really care about people and faces?

It was a Super Bowl Sunday, and I don’t think even 20 people showed up—including Grace, me, and the guy I would pick up every week because he was pretty much house-bound after a brutal motorcycle wreck. We did not have a band, but instead someone who could kinda play the guitar but sang like one of the comedic American Idol auditions. The sermon I preached was awful, and when I counted the offering it was a grand total of $137 for the week—mostly in $1 bills.

Our first Super Bowl was anything but super. After the service, I tore down the gear, took out the trash, stacked up the metal folding chairs, hauled everything to my truck with one faithful servant who always helped, and headed home praying that one day we could be a church of maybe 100 or even 200! That was as big as I could pray. That seemed like it would take an absolute miracle.

Today is 18 years later. If we get more than 20 people and they give more than $137, it’s a big win, as we’ve made some big progress by God’s grace.

I love you, and thank you for loving the people.

–Pastor Mark