Ebenezer and Mars Hill share a room again.
I was gone. Not glancing-at-the-phone gone. Actually gone. And Mars Hill Anywhere did not fall apart without me, because this was never supposed to run through one man's exhaustion in the first place. Family. Friends. This church. You pushed me out the door and then held the ministry down while I was out of pocket. That is not a small ask, and you did not treat it like one. Thank you. Homegoing: Vevely A. ParkerBefore anything else this week, we hold a family in our arms. Our sister, Vevely A. Parker, has gone home to be with the Lord. We celebrate a life that touched this church as a sister, an aunt, a family member, and a friend. Thursday, August 20, 2026 Visitation Funeral Service Burial Following Church, wrap this family in love. If you can be present, be present. If you cannot, cover them in prayer. Save the Date: The GatheringSunday, August 30. One address. Two churches that have not shared a room in years. The Gathering: One City. One Savior. One Worship Experience. Mars Hill Chicago and Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church go back further than either building. Northwood River District. Navy Pier. This is not two churches meeting for the first time. It is two churches finishing a sentence they started years ago. 11:00 AM, about 90 minutes, done by 12:30. Tag-team welcome and announcements, one combined worship set, Pastor Barry carrying intercessory prayer, one sermon, one invitation. A Fifth Sunday scholarship offering will be taken. Jalen from Ebenezer and Marcie from Mars Hill are already coordinating the broadcast so both congregations can watch it live on Restream. When the benediction lands, stay. Weber Bakery is catering a reception upstairs in Ebenezer's dining hall. Artwork is approved and already moving across every channel we have. Full run-of-service and team assignments are coming in the next few weeks. For now: get August 30 on your calendar and do not put anything else on it that morning. This Week's MessageThe Wall Has Your Name on It. Nobody Else Is Coming to Build It. Nehemiah got the same interruption four times and gave the same answer four times. If your assignment has been sitting on page two while you answer everybody else's emergency, this one is for you. 👉 Watch The Wall Has Your Name on It Growth Resource: Hands on StoneTen minutes on Sunday will not fix a calendar that answers everybody but you. Hands on Stone is the eight-page workbook built off this week's message. It names the four symptoms of a broken boundary, breaks down Nehemiah's refusal at the Plain of Ono line by line, and walks you through writing your own "come down sentence" before the next interruption tests it. It ends with a manifesto you sign with your own hand. Take ThisTen questions. Two minutes. No email required to see where you land. The Second Act Assessment will not hand you generic advice about "seasons" and "next chapters." It names exactly how deep you are and what staying there is already costing you. Take the Second Act Assessment This SundayWe are online only, August 23. Join us at 10:30 AM Central. GiveEverything you are watching right now was built by people who give. The stream, the team, the ministry that reaches somebody who cannot walk into a building this morning. Give at marshillchicago.org/giving. That link is in the chat and in the description. Give as worship, not as pressure. Pastor Clarence E. Stowers, Jr. P.S. August 30. Two churches, one room, one Word. If The Gathering is new to you, this is your heads-up. Full run of service coming soon. A word from this week's sponsor This letter lands in your inbox free, and part of what keeps it that way is the sponsor below. This week it's Superhuman. Take ten seconds to see what they're about. Supporting them helps us keep showing up in your inbox every week. |