Sketches 7

Not a Review

This is more of an observation from my time at Mars Hill in Seattle when my wife and I had an opportunity to visit this past week.. I was really excited to get to go to Mars Hill Ballard Campus and see the place that I see online all the time. Though we walked in a couple minutes late it was still not completely full. We weren’t sure if that was due to the summer, the fact that Mark Driscoll was out or if its always that way. Once we found a seat I had a chance too meet a couple that had been a member for about 6 years now of the Ballard Campus of Mars hill. They were showing me some of the things around the room and what it was all for. Essentially the room was a big open area that kind of looked like it was a warehouse because of the way the beams were set up. They have tv’s set up on about 6 of the support beams scattered throughout the room that had the video and scriptures along with the words to the songs.
The couple I met also showed me where communion would take place.

Pastor Bubba got up and told us to do a slight meet and greet and the speaker Bill Clem came up on stage and spoke on
Identity in part two of the series “Is all about Jesus“. The Stage that he preached on isn’t anything spectacular although on screen it looks great it really does not in any way distract because it really looks like most other stages except for the create with a tv on it for the questions and sermon notes.
After the sermon the campus pastor returned and prayed over the following moments and then the band began to play while the offering buckets were passed (which is new this year since he’s teaching the church about tithing). After the offering was taken then the band continued playing while people with juice, wine, and bread came forward. Each person that wanted to participate went up and dipped the bread in the wine or juice. After everyone was done the band continued to play. It made for one continuous cooperate worship time with offering and communion as part of worship.
I’m not saying that this is how every church should do their service but I did enjoy offering, communion and worship all being in response to the preaching of the word.
After the service and talking to the people we met a bit longer we proceeded to the lobby where the Mars hill Book shop is. Mark always says the book store but its a section of the lobby where they sell stuff. Its really cool though because they sell the Mars Hill music along with other local Christian bands. Obviously there is a section of his books that are all really really cheap along with a whole section of suggested reading at discounted prices (Piper, Sproll, Carson, History of the church, Puritans).
All in all it was not what I expected as far as “relativity” is concerned but really I was impressed because from the service and the time there if a visitor comes in there its not intimidating but it is very clear what the purpose is.
That was my experience at least.

Step 3

On the last day of the Step summer program Xai Xai and I met with the group and we had an opportunity to play some games to kick off the night. First we played a game that was meant to help everyone memorize the memory verse. It was a really fun game that basically was the wave were Mr. Y went around the circle pointing at each person and gave them a word in the verse. So when we went around the circle each person got a chance to hear and be a part of the verse. After the game got rolling and things went faster Mr.Y told us that if we got caught messing it up then we were out of the game (it made the game more interesting). Unfortunately Xaivor went out in the second round, but he had fun.
Then we played another game with cups trying to turn them over. Followed by the blob game which is hard to explain. After the games and pizza we went to bible study. Xia Xia and I went and had a good study time where we tried doing the bible study but he wasn't able to follow the story very well. So i started asking him what he learned through the week and what he knew about Jesus. Even though he did know too much I think we came out have a better understanding of the cross, Jesus and the bible study. Immediately after we went downstairs and all the kids recited their verse before we said our goodbye's.
After the kids had left we were informed about the mentoring program and that you would come once a week and it looked alot like the summer program that I have been telling about only spread over a longer time period. If your interested check out www.stepministries.org.

step 2

On day 2 Xia Xia and I got the opportunity for a scavenger hunt. we were doomed from the beginning due to his love for showing me all the things he can do (Handstands, the wave, dancing).
We started off in our group time eating and getting to know each other by going through a bunch of questions that they gave us. Basically it was a simple conversation guide. But while doing the form we got a pretty amazing Chic-fil-A chicken sandwich each and some chips. Then we all loaded up in the van and took a field trip to the mall.
At the mall we went off with our list of questions for the scavenger hunt. We got a pretty good jump start and finished half the page pretty quickly. The rest of the time we spent looking for a few other stores. In the end we realized that we didn't see the other side of the page which had a bunch of questions left and there were a couple of stores that had closed down since the form was made. All in all I think it was all for the best because we had a blast looking around the mall and chatting about all sorts of things.
The mall trip was great for getting to know a bit more about his family and friends as we past the stores that each person likes. Ultimately it let to what his main influences are.
When we arrived back at the church the adults went back into a room where we found out a little bit about the opportunities that are a little bit less involved directly, like mentoring, or encouraging, but are still important (such as creating curriculum, giving financially, or any other talents that you might want to donate).
Obviously this second night doesn't sound like a challenging evening out. but He had tons of fun and it made our friendship a bit closer. I highly recommend checking out www.stepministries.org to see if any of this looks like something you can do.
It doesn't seem like this was a very deep conversation day but i learned about his family life wich gave good insight on where Xia Xia was coming from as far as bible knowledge goes. For an Eight year old he knows quite a bit.
Thanks,

Step 1

The blog has been on hold recently due to a lacking in ability to do the blog at home. Thankfully Sarah and I have been blessed with a new computer that was more than reasonable financially. The Soli study will continue but since there was a break I am going to share what God has done in my life this last week.

I recently had the privilege of participating in the Step ministries summer mentoring program. It was one of the coolest things to get to have three evenings with a young man playing games, eating, teaching a lesson. and just spending time together. The first evening we got to meet all the kids and hag out for a bit before going into a mentors meeting where we learned what was going to be happening over the 3 night program. A sheet was given to each mentor that told their kids name and what they liked. My kids name was Xavier who placed on the form that he's 8 and loves to draw, swim, and wants to be a police officer. Which is cool to me because I would most likely have filled the form out the same way as an 8 year old. We got to meet the kids after that and it was quite funny to see my kid when he first saw my name tag and then looked up at my face realizing that I alot taller than him. The immediate challenge was that little Xavier or Xia Xia liked to talk but he liked t be quite with it. The height difference made talking a back braking exersize to lean in and talk. But that was ok because eventually we compromised and he spoke louder and I leaned half way.
During dinner I realized that there was no way that this kid was going to eat and talk in the amount of time given so we ate and went to see the KKA (Kids Across America) who put on a little demonstration. Shortly after that we had bible study time (there was a game some where in the mix). Xia Xia and I went up stairs and started the lesson which much to my suprise was on Genesis 34... Dinah and the Shechemites. I'm not sure if your aware of this scripture but luckily the word circumcision was replaced for ceremony that made you hurt for 3 days. nobody else seemed to have an issue but little Xia Xia couldn't let go of that until he understood why you would be in pain for 3 days. We got through that without to much information and moved on to the memory verse where I found out ephesians is not a word that every kid can say immediately.
So all in all the little guy was fun and I was very much looking forward to the next day. Especially when before I left he made sure to say goodbye several times.

That was day one with Step. If you want to know more about Step visit www.stepministries.org. If you can see if thats something you think you can get into.