Last week we headed down to Orlando to catch the Exponential Conference with some friends and fellow church planters from the EFCA Midwest district. In addition to taking in the conference (which was fantastic, by the way) and some national EFCA planting meetings, we made sure to carve out some time for some fun too.
I think the moral of the story here is you don’t want to challenge Mosaic Lincoln or Finding Life in mini golf. : )
Here is a fun little video of how we kicked off Easter 2012 at Mosaic. If nothing else, I hope it gives you a laugh or brings a smile to your face. However, I thought it might also be helpful to share a a few words on why we do things like 80′s covers on Sunday morning. Continue Reading…
Lies. Lies. Lies.
I hear them often. How about you? They seep in through the cracks of my character when I am least expecting it. Surface in moments of insecurity and weakness. Whisper to me when I wander from grace and fixate instead on what I see in the mirror.
How easily we are betrayed into thinking God’s love for us has something to do with what we do or don’t do. How quickly we forget God’s unwarranted, unjustified, unrelenting, and scandalous love for an ever scandaling creation. How often are we tricked into thinking ourselves unlovable and miss out on God’s invitation to redeem even the most broken, shameful parts of ourselves to be used for good in a broken world.
What if that which you think disqualifies you is the very thing that God wants to redeem and use in the greatest way? Continue Reading…
Photo RT:
If there’s one thing I know about leaders, it’s that leaders lead.
They don’t always do it purposefully. They don’t always do it actively. They don’t always do it well. But you put a leader into any context and given enough time, that leader will emerge as a leader. It is just a part of who they are.
Leaders have a gravitas to them that causes their peers to ascribe them influence. And this is part of the beauty of true leadership: it is contingent on the volunteered trust and followership of others. No position can demand this from others. A position might demand compliance (especially if their paycheck is dependent on that compliance), but a position can never demand the very best of someone – their passion, their creativity, their devotion. These things must be volunteered. Continue Reading…
You ever step into a moment that was so much greater, so much bigger than you ,and thought to yourself, What on earth am I doing here? Over the past year, I’ve found myself thinking that often. Continue Reading…
Today we officially begin 28 Days of Prayer, a season in which we are intentionally seeking God and what He has for us as a church! As part of this, every weekday morning we are beginning our day by gathering together in prayer. Since we don’t have a building of our own, we will be doing this online. One of the cool things about this is that it opens it up for anyone who would like to join us. Those joining us can interact, share on social media, and submit prayer requests for us all to cover in prayer.
Below you’ll find this morning’s video. We invite you to join us live on weekday mornings at 7am CST! Continue Reading…
This Sunday we are entering into a very special season for Mosaic. In less than four weeks, we will celebrate our one year birthday as a church! Can you believe it?! It is hard for me to believe that it has already been a year. At the same time, it is amazing to think of how much we have seen God do in just these twelve short months!
Yet for all we’ve seen God do in Year 1, I sense that there are even greater things God wants to do amongst us in Year 2! There are new risks to be taken, new paths to be forged, new lives to be changed, new miracles to be witnessed, new prayers to be prayed, new depths to be experienced. We believe God wants to do BIG THINGS through his church so we are going to seek God together in a BIG WAY!
That said, as we come to the end of our first year together and as we prepare to begin our second, we want to take a season to really lean in together in prayer as we seek God, and seek his blessing and leading for us, our city and world. This Sunday we are beginning 28 DAYS OF PRAYER and we invite you to join us!
“Dear friends, let us love one another, Continue Reading…
Let’s admit it: at one point or another, we have all been critical of pastors. Sometimes it’s just too easy, isn’t it? Like the guy who insists on using antiquated language and five syllable words that haven’t been in common usage since Shakespeare, or his younger antithesis down the road who is always saying things like dude and bro in between Rolling Stone quotes. One is too hip. The other is not hip enough. Both, however, get criticized for where they land. Welcome to the life of a pastor.
It is a tall order to live up to the expectations that come with the title “Pastor,” especially with so many different opinions on what a pastor should be. I’d imagine if we took all the expectations of everyone in your church and inserted them into a job description for your pastor, it’d might read something like:
CHURCH SEEKING NEW SENIOR PASTOR. Must be highly visionary, administratively strong, theologically astute, culturally connected, strong in both interpersonal and public communication, seasoned counselor, proven track record of longevity and initiating new projects, general knowledge in marketing and good business practice, able to cast vision, raise funds, manage budgets, hire and fire, submit to authority, speak with authority, teach and preach, gifted in planning but highly adaptable, be passionate but not overbearing, strong and meek, funny but not too funny, faithful and careful, bold and calculated, not too conservative and not too liberal. Applications can be submitted to jennifer@theresnowayyoucansucceedatthis.com.
- 80% of pastors feel unqualified and discouraged in their role
- 70% say they have a lower self-image now than when they first started in ministry
- 70% of pastors constantly fight depression
- 90% feel they’re inadequately trained to cope w/ work demands
- 50% of pastors feel so discouraged that they would leave the ministry tomorrow if they felt they had a viable alternative
Confession: I love Tim Keller. (Ok, “man-crush” might be more accurate.) Tim Keller pastors Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, a traditional church in many ways, but one that under Keller’s leadership has planted hundreds of churches all over the world. As a gifted thinker, scholar, pastor and writer, Tim Keller is in a very real sense, a pastor to many pastors (myself included).
Below is a short video that I think you will will find typologically beautiful and personally challenging. Many of us who have spent any significant amount of time in the American Church have been taught to understand the gospel in a way that is all about us and our personal salvation. While that is important, we often miss God’s larger vision for the Kingdom and the part we are to play in ushering it in. This hugely influences the way we read the scriptures. If we’re not careful, we can begin to buy into the idea that somehow the bible is really about “me” and “you.” But as this video beautifully illustrates, the scriptures point the way to something far more beautiful than what we see in the mirror. Enjoy. Continue Reading…
