Sending Off the Hartleys

The Hartley family: Mark, Nicole, Sutton, Peyton, and Charlie.

This fall, we have the bittersweet honor of sending off the Hartley family to a new season of ministry. In January, Mark will become lead pastor at a church in Gig Harbor, WA. 

Mark’s love for the local church was birthed at New Heights. The same can almost be said for Mark himself. Mark was just one year old when his parents, Ed and Sue, new to Vancouver, accepted a coworker’s invitation to New Heights. For the next three decades, Mark would call New Heights home. 

Mark is a man of stories and one often told from his childhood is when NH Kids volunteers Lance and Abby Freeland (now New Heights missionaries in Cameroon, Africa) had to limit Mark to just two questions per Sunday. 

In 2007, Mark got a front row seat to live out the mission of making more and better disciples when Ed and Sue joined the launch team for New Heights’ first satellite campus. East Vancouver originally met at Columbia Valley Elementary, where volunteers, including the Hartleys, gathered early every Sunday to unload a box truck and “set up” church. 

It was there Mark recalls a pivotal moment in his own walk with the Lord. The volunteer MSM leader greeted Mark and his brothers and invited them to jump into middle school ministry. Thus began Mark’s lifelong friendship with that volunteer MSM leader, JP Mumley.

The summer before his junior year of high school, the fun and familiarity of life at New Heights became a faith that was truly his own. Mark surrendered his life to the Lord at a New Heights summer camp.

From then on, Mark spent nearly every Monday at the New Heights office shadowing staff. Not because anyone invited him, he’ll be quick to tell you, but simply because that’s where he wanted to be. In that season, Mark began to consider vocational ministry and what it might look like for God to use his gifts to serve the church he loved so much. 

During college, summer internships turned into a residency and eventually, a permanent role on staff. While Mark’s officially held the titles of College Pastor and later Campus Pastor, his shepherding heart has impacted all areas of our church.  

But the wonderful truth is, Mark’s love for this church has always been matched by his love for the Church. So when Mark and Nicole began sensing the Lord calling them to serve another part of His Church, they were willing to listen. 

What an answer to prayer! Our hope is that every kid who grows up at New Heights would come to know Jesus, discover the gifts He’s given them and follow wherever He leads. While it’s hard to see them go, there’s great joy in knowing we’re sending them our very best. 

As the Hartleys prepare for this next chapter, we want to celebrate all that God has done through their years at New Heights. You’re invited to send them off with a note of encouragement, using the form below.