Mars Hill Church began with 12 people studying the Bible and worshiping together in a living room. Pastors Mark Driscoll, Lief Moi, and Mike Gunn shared a vision to create a healthy body of believers in what was, at the time, the least-churched city in the least-churched state. The outreach began primarily among the least-churched demographic: men and women in their late teens and early twenties. In October 1996, the growing core launched as an official church with about 100 regular attendees. Numbers increased steadily as word-of-mouth spread.