andrew dodson

Greetings from Seattle!

As I type this, I’m sitting in the auditorium of Mars Hill Church’s Ballard campus. Currently, there is a speaker from Acts 29 on stage. Should I be listening? Eh. I’m a part of a church plant, but I’m not a church planter.

Anyway, the trip so far has been great! Seattle is a beautiful city with a wealth of culture. I suppose everywhere has a wealth of culture, but I guess the diversity here is what’s interesting. The architecture is extremely interesting. The terrain here is interesting. The landscape is interesting. The food is interesting. The people are interesting. We did some sight-seeing this morning, which mainly consisted of going to the Pike Place Market. I have seen the space needle, but I won’t be able to go up in it before we leave. Fortunately, that just gives me a reason to come back here someday.

The MHC Ballard campus is great. It’s a remodeled warehouse, that actually isn’t very big (or, at least smaller than I thought it would be). The main auditorium seats 1,000 and is a fairly simple, rectangular room. But, the lighting, paint, and technology makes it ultra-modern. The auditorium takes up much of the building’s footprint. Aside from it, there is a good-sized, open lobby. There is a small theater that is used for youth events and overflow. There is a small cafe area for drinks & refreshments. Lastly, there is a small lobby in the back of the building that also serves as their bookstore.

My head is hurting from all of the information I’ve taken in this week. Mostly, thanks to John Piper. CJ Mahaney brought a great message, and I enjoyed seeing him “live” for the first time. I was fortunate enough to meet him one evening, as well. He’s been fairly visible around the conference, as he originally intended on just attending the conference (until he was also asked to speak). From seeing him interact with conference attendees, I can safely say his humility is as true as the book he wrote on the subject.

It might be a “conference high,” but I have a lot of ideas bouncing around in my head right now. Being here and experiencing Mars Hill in person has been inspiring. I’ve been brainstorming on what I can do additionally to serve The Point.

A surprise of the trip has definitely been the food. Seattle takes their restaurants very seriously. Fast food restaurants are actually rare in the areas we’ve visited. We’ve eaten good this week.

As usual, I will be posting pictures from the trip after we return. We fly out late tonight and will land in Louisville tomorrow morning. Please pray for our safety in traveling.