Mars Hill began as just an idea, a desire to open a church where the scripture would be taught in a new way, a way that would reach a changing culture. In February, 1999, Mars Hill Bible Church opened its doors -- actually the doors of a school gym we rented to hold our first services, what we call "gatherings". We had no idea what to expect, but God amazed us! Without ever advertising, just through word-of-mouth, our first Sunday's two morning gatherings saw over 3000 people visit us! During the first year we added a third meeting time and an overflow seating area in a multipurpose room next to the gym, but we were still forced to regularly turn people away because we didn't have enough room.
After one year, God provided an old shopping mall for us to acquire. With some remodeling this empty mall could seat 3500. We began remodeling and by the end of July 2000, we had our first gathering in the new facility. The gathering area is "decorated" warehouse basic and we still use the same gray chairs we used in the gym -- just more of them.
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