Hills Church (formerly known as Piñon Hills Community Church) in Farmington, New Mexico, is committed to creating clarity around their mission.
“Hills is actually an acronym—Host, Invite, Lead, Love and Serve—which are our five steps to making disciples of Jesus,” Lead Pastor Matt Mizell explains. “We dropped the ‘community’ [from our previous name] for simplicity even though we are still a huge presence in our community. Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, so changing our name to Hills Church wasn’t just about rebranding.”
Mizell officially became the lead pastor of Hills Church in 2018. Since then, the church has seen tremendous numerical growth and growth in diversity, including the largest percentage of Navajo Native Americans in the world, he explains.
He credits their growth to the variety of ministries for all ages the church offers, including Marksman for men and Flourish for women.
Marksman is a strategy for men focused on reaching and discipling other men that includes a 6-week Bible study boot camp.
“Much of the growth at Hills Church is a result of men inviting men, who in turn bring their families to church,” Mizell says. “Those who graduate from a Marksman Bootcamp earn opportunities to lead and go on Marksman Adventures to further build their faith and grow in their leadership.”
Marksman was birthed in 2020 at Hills Church, but it has since expanded to multiple churches in other states and launched in 11 new countries last July. Mizell notes that Marksman is becoming its own 501(c)(3) later this year.
“Our goal for Marksman is to partner with 1,380 churches in the United States and 160,000 churches worldwide by the year 2050 so churches around the world can experience growth similar to what Hills Church has experienced,” he envisions.
Church member Garret Becker attributes his own personal and spiritual growth to the opportunities presented with Marksman ministry. “I really truly believe that the church growth over the last couple years can be attributed to Marksman and men stepping up and leading. So many men have gone through the boot camp and have decided to lead their family and friends. They have chosen to follow Christ and have led others the same way.”
Mizell’s wife, Ashten, serves as the church’s outreach director and also leads Flourish. She is greatly encouraged by the opportunities to connect people to the love of Christ and the stories of life change she gets to witness.
“Hills Church is such an exciting place right now with so many new families coming, learning about Jesus, growing closer with the Lord, getting baptized. Families and generations are being changed,” she reveals. “We have so many ways for people to get involved and reach families [of every age]. We baptized over 100 people on Easter Sunday with many being spontaneous that morning, even a woman in her Easter dress.”
She adds that Hills is the only church in the surrounding area with a special needs ministry, which is adding to the ways they are connecting with families.
“We have a family who moved to our community last year with three autistic children,” she shares. “They called multiple churches that all said they couldn’t accommodate their family. They called our church, and we said yes. They attend every week, their family is thriving, and all three kids got baptized.”
Church member Fred Proctor has been attending Hills Church since 2006. He says he has witnessed incredible transformation taking place throughout the years—not only in the church but in the lives of the congregation.
“Pastor Matt hit the ground running, picking up the outreach torch with a simplified message of loving God and loving others,” Proctor says. “With the congregation growing, and Matt settling into the position, the suggestion of a name change reflecting our mission was met with a unanimous affirmation from the board and the congregation. With a renewed enthusiasm, a well-defined mission, a multi-tiered plan of attack, which includes everyone calling Hills their home church, and the grace of God, revival has arrived.”
Proctor explains that the intimidation of being lost in the “big church” fell away as it became a gathering of what feels more like a family all living in unity. “Hills Church is an amazing movement to be a part of. As I get to witness the Lord weave this tapestry of time in this place, it feels like living in the early Christian movement described in the book of the Acts of the [Apostles].”
Associate Pastor Jeff Huisjen, who has been serving at Hills Church since 2022, agrees: “Here at Hills, hopefully you’ll find a group of people who are like-minded, love the Lord, and will help you as you seek to follow him. We’ve had so many new people, it’s crazy. People who have been adamantly against the Lord, people who have sat in church for years without it affecting their lives, people who have never been to church before. All of them have experienced community and grace here that I hope is reflective of God and his heart for them.
“Hills Church is a growing community of people who are trying their best to chase after God.”
HILLS CHURCH
Farmington, New Mexico
Pastor: Matt Mizell
Website: HillsChurchNM.com
Denomination: Nondenominational
Founded: 1957
Fastest-Growing: 69