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FAST FORWARD: 28 Days of Prayer & Fasting

March 23, 2013 in Mosaic, prayer with 0 Comments

FastForward

This week we enter into a very special season for us as a community of faith. Last year at about this time we were celebrating our 1 Year anniversary as a church. As we prepared for Year 2, we carved out a season to slow down, get our knees, and seek God together in prayer. Together, we sought to know Him more fully, we interceded for those who wanted to us to pray for them, we asked for God’s continued blessing on our lives and our church, we prayed for those in our city who need God’s help and healing work in their lives, and we sought to discern God’s direction for us as a community moving forward.

It was powerful!

During the twenty-eight days, we saw Continue Reading…

Elliot’s Story

November 7, 2012 in Mosaic, Stories, The Church, Videos with 4 Comments

Now that election season is over, I am excited to be able to move on, begin to like my friends again, and engage in conversations of less political nature. And there are few things I enjoy talking about more than Jesus at work in the lives of people through his church.

Meet Elliot.

I met Elliot for the first about a year ago. It was on a chilly fall day last October-ish that I received a Facebook message from a name I didn’t recognize. “Hey, I hear you’re the pastor who hangs out with atheists.” I laughed out loud, spraying coffee all over my desk. (To date, I count it one of the greatest compliments I’ve ever received as a pastor.) He said, “My name is Elliot. I’m an atheist. Can we get coffee?”  Continue Reading…

25 Things I Love About My Church

October 22, 2012 in comic relief, Jesus, Mosaic, pastor, Reflection, Religion, The Church with 6 Comments

Yesterday we started a new series at Mosaic that I am really excited about entitled, “I Love My Church.” As I have been getting ready for it, it has been so refreshing and energizing to dig into the book of Acts and remember how the church began and what it is meant to be: not an institution, but a movement of God’s grace in and through his people.

It can be easy to get negative on church, can’t it? I pastor a community that is full of people who bear the scars of organized religion and religious leaders who at times did awful things in the name of Jesus. I, too, bear those scars. Perhaps if you’re like me, you can find yourself at times fixating on the things you feel are wrong or frustrating or things you wish were different about your church. I fear this is one of the subtle ways that our heart is drawn away from The One who loved and died for his church.

This negativity can be all too natural for a generation that struggles with cynicism and is increasingly skeptical of institutions, whether they be corporate, political, religious or otherwise. And so I think the challenge for us is this: Jesus loves his church, warts and all. He willingly died for her, in spite of all her imperfections and perpetual unfaithfulness. And he calls us to love her as well.

So one of the things I did this week as a discipline of reflection and thankfulness was sit down and list some of the things I LOVE about my church. Even I was surprised at how easy this was. In just 5 short minutes, I had filled an entire page with things I love about the community of Mosaic. (By the way, I can’t tell you what this did for my heart.) It was so fun to reflect on the beautiful mess that is Jesus’ church and all that I have to be thankful for. I would really encourage you to carve out some time to sit down and do the same!

25 Things I Love About My Church

Continue Reading…

Planting A Church: Things I’ve Learned (part 1)

June 21, 2012 in Articles, Church Planting, Leadership, Mosaic with 10 Comments

It wasn’t all that long ago that I was wrestling for the first time with this unshakable feeling that I was supposed to start a new church. I remember the swirling cocktail of emotions that came with it – the excitement and the fear, the hope and the anxiety, and the ever-present question of, “How on earth am I going to do this?”

During that season, I consumed every bit of information I could get my hands on. I read books, attended conferences, called up church planters, and combed the blogs of those who had succeeded and failed at what I was setting out to do. Every piece of input felt valuable during that season. And I am forever grateful to those who shared with me the things they had learned along the way.

A couple years into planting now myself, I too would like to pass on some of the things we learned in the early stages of starting Mosaic Lincoln. There is a special place in my heart for church planters. My hope in the series of posts to follow is simply to help in any way I can those who are considering starting a new church or ministry, as well as those who are already well on their way.

::VISION-CASTING & RECRUITING::

When we arrived in Lincoln in April of 2010, we had shared the vision of Mosaic with just one Lincoln couple. Continue Reading…

Why We Do Covers @mosaiclincoln

April 25, 2012 in arts, Church Planting, comic relief, Creativity, Mosaic, TheMission, Videos with 8 Comments

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…

Celebrating One Year @MosaicLincoln

March 14, 2012 in Church Planting, Jesus, Mosaic, pastor, Photo Blogs, Reflection, Videos with 0 Comments

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…

Day 1 (Twenty-Eight Days of Prayer)

February 13, 2012 in Mosaic, prayer with 0 Comments

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…

28 Days of Prayer

February 6, 2012 in Mosaic, prayer with 3 Comments

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!

The Plan for “28 Days of Prayer”  Continue Reading…

God at Work: What I’m Learning

August 8, 2011 in Mosaic, Reflection, risk, Stories, The Church with 9 Comments

Yesterday we wrapped up our summer series Practical Atheist at Mosaic. When we decided to do the series, I don’t think I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. I knew it’d involve some hard conversations and introspection along the way, but I had no idea just how gutting it would prove to be. Turns out that evaluating one’s life in light of the scriptures and facing our own hypocrisy can be a very painful process.

As I reflect on the last several weeks at Mosaic, I am struck by a seeming oddity. One could argue that undertaking such a challenging and potentially offensive series just a few months after launch was a risk for us to take. A safer alternative might have been a character study on one of the many heroes of the faith, spending a few weeks in the book of Ruth, or a topical series around something less offensive like courage, hope or dealing with baggage.

But here’s the thing: the more candidly we tackle the hard stuff, the more we are finding that people are responding with faith and obedience. Continue Reading…

Practical Atheist: Prayer

July 25, 2011 in Mosaic, prayer with 2 Comments

Yesterday we continued our series at Mosaic entitled, Practical Atheist. The premise for the series is this: according to a Gallup Survey a few years back, as many as 94% of people in the U.S. say they believe in God, but many live as though He doesn’t exist. Many will say they believe in God, even call themselves “Christian,” but for all practical purposes, they live like an atheist.  They are practical atheists.

This week we explored our third characteristic of a practical atheist: “I believe in God, but pray like He doesn’t exist.”

In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus tells us there are some prayers that God accepts and others he rejects. In saying this, he presents us with the radical idea that prayer, in and of itself, does not bring us closer to God. Continue Reading…

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