“Parking to the glory of God on Alki”

September 12, 2007 at 7:33 am | In West Seattle beaches, West Seattle religion | 19 Comments

That’s the headline for the latest Mars Hill-WS blog post about this Friday’s Alki mass baptism (which we told you about last week). 2:10 PM UPDATE: They’ve posted about it again, with an attempt at humor suggesting that lightning might strike any MH’er who ignores the “don’t park at Alki, take the shuttle from WSHS” pleas.

19 Comments

  1. Man, they’re gonna get their jesus juice all over the beach. I wish those fundies would go back to Ballard.

    Comment by deliboy — September 12, 07 11:10 am #

  2. I see they made note of the 100+ people NOT from MHC. A stage? …music? right at the bathhouse…on a Friday at 6:30pm…what a fiasco this may turn out to be, practically speaking.

    Comment by Jan — September 12, 07 12:05 pm #

  3. Yay. As if parking doesn’t suck enough for those of us who live on Alki and don’t have the benefit of reserved parking spaces.

    Combine this with the fact that KNDD will be having their end of summer BBQ at the Beach House, it’s not going to be fun.

    Comment by rlv — September 12, 07 1:02 pm #

  4. which raises my original question from the other post about this. Why this night? why this place? Baptism can happen anywhere. Why not on a beautiful morning at dawn? Whay does it have to be a “spectacle” for others to see. Guess I’m just cynical about people’s motives at times…

    Comment by Jan — September 12, 07 1:37 pm #

  5. A comment was made on their blog that says as much Jan. I think it is ok if we let them know how the community feels.

    It is going to be crazy at Alki on what is bound to be one of the last really nice Friday nights of the season… And you KNOW they won’t all be taking the bus…

    Comment by k — September 12, 07 1:56 pm #

  6. Hey, I just checked back at the MHC site, and the negative comment was deleted from the comments. That happened quick!

    Comment by k — September 12, 07 2:40 pm #

  7. Sheesh–they have as much right to be there as anybody else. And they are trying to mitigate the parking problem.

    Comment by Kayleigh — September 12, 07 3:09 pm #

  8. Too true Kayleigh. I live across from the Alki Community Church and am basically held hostage every Sunday morning. If I go somewhere, there’s going to be no parking space for me when I get back–forget grocery shopping, I’m not hauling those bags a block. However, I choose to deal with that because I otherwise dig where I live. You Alki residents certainly have more than your share of inconveniences, but I imagine you put up with those as a trade-off for living in such a beautiful area.

    Comment by Velvet Bulldog — September 12, 07 4:05 pm #

  9. You are missing the point Velvet. Christians just suck and to justify that sentiment you have to come up with something.

    Comment by Pam Samdam — September 12, 07 4:24 pm #

  10. Pam…I’m sure you will hear more about your opinion of Christiansas a whole. You’ll find that we’re not that unfriendly on here…we just disagree about things sometimes. Generalizations don’t cut it, IMHO.

    Yes, MHC has every right to be there just like anyone else. I think most of us are just questioning the timing. In my opinion only, baptism isn’t a public spectacle…it’s between you, your God, and your church(i.e. “the public”). While I understand the beauty of Alki at almost any given time, I still question why it has to be at 6:30pm on a Friday evening, when it’s already such a busy place. Perhaps they want to show “non-believers” how cool they are? Get a few recruits? Yeah, cynical me. They need to remember that Alki at that time on a warm Friday evening also has a lot of non-neighborhood people of a variety of beliefs and backgrounds. I hope MHC is at least welcomed without any problems by the people who hang out there.

    And,K, I just love the “censorship” on their blog…way to go…not up for much criticism, are they? And, yeah…for sure not all will take the bus.

    Comment by Jan — September 12, 07 6:12 pm #

  11. Jan, I echo all the concerns that you have stated. I think that a baptism at dawn, symbolizing a new beginning and the quiet contemplative time that part of the day brings would have been a lovely thing and they could have parked anywhere they wanted at that hour.

    But it would have lacked the spectacle and the recruiting aspect… Oh, and dawn is really early in the morning…

    Comment by k — September 12, 07 10:50 pm #

  12. but, K, then they could say “Get up early for God”…hehehe

    Comment by Jan — September 13, 07 12:24 am #

  13. Want to apologize on behalf of my community for deletion of any comment that was an honest disagreement. MH West Seattle is the spiritual gathering my wife and I call home and we have noted this question of deletion to the folks who run the MH blogs.

    We realize how deleted comments come across (especially if they were a sincere reflection of honest concern) and have expressed our reservations if this is what happened.

    Just wanted you all to know.

    Comment by Bryan Zug — September 13, 07 6:13 am #

  14. First, I commend Bryan for his representation of his group, honestly, kudos. But second, LMAO that ANY spiritual gathering will be taking place along side an alternative rock station’s event… which I’m sure will include blaring music and all kinds of shenanigans. Someone (who may actually have a parking space) please take pics or give us a report. Funny, funny.

    Comment by GenHillOne — September 13, 07 8:02 am #

  15. Forgot to include this – in case you aren’t familiar with the station, KNDD is known as “107.7 The End” – ironic that The End could be the soundtrack to “the beginning” don’t you think?

    Comment by GenHillOne — September 13, 07 8:08 am #

  16. Maybe The End has booked REM for a surprise visit, and they’ll perform It’s the End of the World as We Know It! ;)

    Mike

    Comment by miws — September 13, 07 9:47 pm #

  17. good one, Mike…:)

    Comment by Jan — September 13, 07 11:31 pm #

  18. Update on the MH Blog deleted comment question. Short story is that the MH Blog comments are hosed in such a way that make it look like someone may have deleted your comment.

    I checked with the folks who administrate the MH WS blog and they said that when you submit a comment, it looks like it has posted (without moderation), but that it actually has been sent to a moderation queue. Visiting the same page in a different session will not show your comment.

    This made sense because I’ve seen the same thing happen to comments I’ve made on other MH blogs –leaving me feeling the same way — “Did someone delete my comment?!?!” — made me feel like being invited into a living room for a conversation then being told to leave.

    So, while I’ve not pushed it through a browser/web-app testing matrix (Win/Mac/Lin-IE/Firefox/Safari/Opera-Desktop/Mobile) I’m pretty confident that it is an honest mistake and that nobody’s comment got deleted.

    Moderated, maybe. Deleted, probably not.

    The fellow who oversees technology at Mars Hill is Zack Hubert and his tech team blog is at –

    http://voxpopnetwork.com/codex

    He actually just penned a series of posts about how technology not only solves problems, but it also creates them. I think this misunderstanding could be a good case in point.

    That said, I do not know what any comment to a MH Blog said exactly (again I am not in a position of leadership there and I do not see the comments).

    I tend to go by the living room policy of comment conversations for all of the blogs I am involved with personally and professionally – everyone has the right to send rude/troll/flame-bait comment into the ether – but that if we choose to blog, we are choosing to have conversation with people who have different points of view than we do – ergo, honest (and sometimes sharp) comments are part of that.

    So for me, a comment deletion is a very rare occurance.

    So, if you confirm a comment deletion from a MH blog, you can at least know that we are a diverse group, with various opinions on stuff – and that we are drawn together beyond those and other cultural differences by something that seems like a bigger ‘E’ on the eye chart, if you know what I mean.

    Comment by Bryan Zug — September 14, 07 8:23 am #

  19. Like I said previously. MH is a disruptive addition to my Sunday mornings. They drive big SUVs and they mostly travel alone! I am totally convinced that they are a cult and I wish they would move to some big open place where there was parking for all.

    Comment by dinolicious — September 14, 07 2:29 pm #

Sorry, after 3 weeks of commentlessness, comment time is over.

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