Socially Speaking

Aren't socials great?! The Church is known for their potlucks and picnics, and last week's Mosaic potluck was another great example of that. It's so fun to get to see which kids go with which parents and to have a little extra unpressured time to really get to talk with the people we rub shoulders with every Saturday night. It was the perfect weather for lounging outside and letting the kids fun around barefoot. I think we all got our weekly dose of vitamin D! We even had one unofficial water fight... sort of. (You'll have to ask Kim P. about that.) I believe these social times are so important in buildng our community. We begin to have shared experiences and memories together and it helps us get to know each other in a fun environment. If you were unable to attend, I hope you will be able to make the next ones, we would love to hear about how life is going, see what your thoughts are on our pending short term mission trip, sample your recipes, and just generally socialize with you! But for now, I hope you all enjoy the pictures (thank you Ratzlaff's!).

Throughout the year we will be posting pictures of some of our events. I've elected not to post captions or names since I don't implicitly have everyone's approval. But enjoy them anyway! And if you've got some great Mosaic flic's please pass them on to Andy and he'll get them to me or post them himself!

Meet Mosaic

I am happy to be a part of our shepherding group called Mosaic. I was drawn to this group initially because of the name. I imagined a diverse group of individuals pursuing God and serving others together in a cool "mosaic" kind of way. The year that we finally got connected, service really was the focus and I loved it, though I found my total hours of service were shamefully low. As I head into this next year, my desire is to really put feet to my thoughts of service and to fulfill my part. I've been struck recently by the importance of the meaning of mosaic and how it fits perfectly the picture of the Church in service.

Google's web definitions has these things to say about the word MOSAIC:

- art consisting of a design made of small pieces of colored stone or glass
- arrangement of aerial photographs forming a composite picture

(OK, there were a few other definitions but these fit my analogy!)

Small pieces... I saw this at work the other night as the Church provided respite for foster parents for several hours. This is a monthly service that is offered. Some months have tons of kids and some months have fewer. As I went about the evening I found that my role was so small. I served the kids and volunteers their dinner and snacks and then I helped clean up. That's it! But, over and over I was appreciated for what I was doing. I looked at some of the volunteers I was serving, some of them held tiny babies for the entire 3 1/2 hours, some were drenched with sweat from actively playing dodge ball with the older kids, and I thought WOW! what great service. Their reply: "What? I'm just playing with some kids!" From each person's perspective their role was so small, but when you stood back and looked at it, each tiny piece pulled together and created a wonderful event that deeply blessed the foster parents and the children attending. A mosaic.

Together we can form a composite picture of Christ for the world to see. The more each of us brings our gifts, our personalities, our experiences, our strengths, our ideas to the group, the more the group can reflect the detailed image of Christ. Like a mosaic, the more tiny pieces you bring together the better and more defined the final result is. What draws your attention is the overall picture, not the tiny pieces. If you have just a few very large pieces, the overall image is flat and monotoned and what stands out are those individual pieces not the work of art. Many variations, even between two very similar pieces, add to the dimension and detail of the overall picture.

So, for me, this means I must actively bring my piece to the table, to be set in my special place in a mosaic that creates an image of Christ for others to see. Most things that I might do to be apart of the mosaic take very little skill, and usually just a little extra time... I can make dinner for a family of a newborn or one who's recovering from illness or surgery. I can help a busy friend with yard work, laundry or housekeeping. I can join in the garage sale someone is hosting. I can help pack lunches for the homeless once a week. I can pick up people with no transportation who want to go to Church or Bible study. I can work hard to remember people's names. I can ask where they live, where they work, what they're up to this next week, so they know that they are cared about. I can send a note to cheer someone who looked down. I can host a dessert for a missionary to help them raise support and increase the perspective of those who attend. I can paint the nails of women who've been battered and abused as a part of a night of pampering. I can meet my neighbors and look for ways to help out when needs arise. I can park further away so older people, pregnant ladies, and people who have disabilities can more easily get to Church. I can smile at the homeless beggars at the exit and pray for them. I can actively seek to understand a missionaries daily life so that I can best pray for them. I can spend less so I can give more. I can sub in the children's departments. I can give blood. I can be friendly to the checker's and barista's I encounter and allow the Holy Spirit to direct my conversations.

These things are very small but sometimes I even forget or overlook doing them. My plan this year is to start with a mindset of "Yes!" and then to carry my calendar with me to Church or randomly when I'm out and about so when opportunities come up I can quickly save the date. This means I will either have to switch to a portable planner or carry a larger bag that will fit the calendar I have on my fridge. It also means I will have to give up some of my own plans in order to fit into a larger plan. And, in order to keep my tank full, I will also have to schedule time for myself so that I have more to give.

So what is it for you? How can you allow your piece of Mosaic to be laid into the design that Christ is creating through us? What things are holding you back and how can they be eliminated?

As a group, my hope is that as a few people in Mosaic begin to set themselves out to be used in the bigger picture, others will begin to see the beauty of what is forming, and as more and more join in we will become a work of art, the body of Christ, that others desire to be apart of.

Recently a friend gave me this description of a mosaic: an art form of broken and fragmented pieces brought together by the hand of an artist to make something beautiful, especially when light shines through it.

Lord may your light shine through us as individuals and as a group so that
others may see what beauty you have made of little, broken pieces. Create in us a
desire to be a part of your design. May we serve with abandon, give freely
as you did, and love others because you first loved us while we were still
sinners. May the end result be glory to you! AMEN!

Notes from January 10

Andy asked me to help with the blog a long time ago and, with one thing and another (like a baby...), I'm just now getting around to it.  I'll be posting announcements and notes for the weeks 

I'm there.  If I'm not and you happen to think about it, please email your notes to the leadership team.  Let's make this a resource for all of us!

-Melissa

Andy’s intro

Write down what you want to pray for in categories;

• Neighborhood
• Nation
• Something outside of your “normal”
• Ask God to work in ways that are bigger than me

Write it down, keep it in your Bible, and see what happens this year

40 Days of prayer and fasting as a church – Jan 1 through Feb 7 – groundbreaking

Bruce Dalke – Guest speaker (for 3 weeks)

Disclaimers/rules

• I walk – my mouth and my feet work together.
• There are no rhetorical questions and I will call on people
• We will not speak “christianese” (aka “tongues”).  Use terms we all understand

Born in April 1937 – in a church pew.  Enrolled in the “cradle roll” in August.  So I was a sinner for only 3 months.  J

There were traditions and practices that I learned that I didn’t fully understand.  Like sermons on the names of God.

Etymology of “God” in 1611 the translators use colloquial words.  God meant “something to be worshiped” in a small tribe.  It’s like calling someone “guy” or “gal”.  So understanding His names helps us understand something about who He is.

Next weeks we will focus on having conversational relationship with God.

What is prayer?  (Group answers)

• Talking to God
• Listening to God
• Being together

Hebrew and Greek lead us to:

• Petition
• Intercession
• Adoration
• Confession
• Thanksgiving
• Based on the thought that God rewards those who seek Him.

First mentioned in the Bible Genesis 4:26 but it started before that – Adam and Eve walked and talked with God in the Garden.

Prayer is conversation with God

Patriarchs: prayers were direct
Hannah (Samuel):  eloquent and silent and full of passion
Moses: spoke face-to-face with God
Prophets:  approached God directly, immediately and freely
Daniel:  got him in trouble
Psalms:  “loftiest heights attained by a spirit of prayer”

In light of these things, how have I treated prayer?

Christian views of prayers come from Christ’s prayers.

Group work/responses

The Habits of Christ in Prayer

• Gives thanks to God/Thanksgiving
• Time alone with God
• Seek to do God’s will and glorify Him
• Prayed for His friends

Taught in Parables

• Expect faith
• Expect that prayer works
• It’s interactive
• Don’t give up, be repetitive (beg, beg, beg)
• Humility, repentance and forgiveness

 Incidental sayings

• Pray for those who persecute you
• All things you ask for you will receive (?)

Purpose of this exercise:  Communication is something God created us to have with Him.  By looking at the perfect Man, we can see how to model our own lives.

Interweave what we’ve learned, heard and read into how we communicate with God.  Think about intimate conversations with our Holy Father.  Am I head over heels in love with God?

Prayer is not an event; it’s a lifestyle.

Mosaic Introduces Plans for 08-09

The following are the notes that I shared in Mosaic our last week in July. For those of you that weren't there, hopefully this helps you know a little more about where we are going! We look forward to seeing you all soon and hearing about how God is working in your lives!

- andy
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History

Tonight I want to share with you my heart for our group and where I believe God is starting to take us. This past year, the majority of our weeks were focused around evangelism – what does God desire, how do we share him with others, etc. It was exciting to see what God was doing. Jeremy had challenged our group to consider outreach and in doing so, encouraged us to evangelize those around us.

Now, looking ahead, the question has been, what’s next? Where is God taking us? And during the year I began to wonder, Who is Mosaic? What’s our identity? What passion has God put on my heart?

It began for me at men’s retreat where I spent time asking God those questions. I believe God met me there and gave me some answers to those questions. (I’ll get to those later)

Next, Ruth and I started conducting an internal survey. What did people like about Mosaic, what could be improved, changed, etc? It was during this time, that we were advised to set a structure for Mosaic before setting a teaching/topic schedule. So, during the next month or so, we started discussing options. This led us to a model for Mosaic that we want to discuss with you and how we see it working next year.

Model

We plan to form “small groups” where each group is led by a person/couple on the leadership team. These groups will form at beginning of the year, and then stay together throughout the year. Of course, we hope to include some flexibility, but the intent is to develop community friendships at a deeper level within Mosaic. I believe this addresses the #1 concern of people we spoke with. Our group desires to know each other more and we believe by using 1-2 weeks/month in fixed groups we can foster an environment where we can be authentic, pray for each other, and outreach where God is calling.

Leadership Team

I want to next introduce our new leadership team. We’ll do more formal interviews etc as we continue in the fall, but want you all to be aware of who God has added to our team!

Samuel and Jennie Pino
Andy and Rachael Stutzman
Ryan and Sarah Sinks
Drew and Christin Hinds
Kevin Cook
Don and Connie Wildfang

Values

Now, I’d like to spend some time and review the list of values that we chose this year and talk about I see us supporting these in the following year.

Authenticity

I believe this is one of Mosaic’s best traits. We plan to continue fostering this in interviews. I believe we will be working to change our interviews slightly now that many have shared their personal testimony. This doesn’t mean we abandon personal testimony, but alter it for people who’ve shared in the last year or so they can share what God is doing today in their lives.

Prayer

This is the area that I believe will affect our community the most. When we pray for each other and honestly present ourselves to God, he can and will do amazing things. Remember when Adam sinned in the garden. Do you remember what God asked? He wanted to know where Adam was. We know that he knows all things, so that wasn’t really the reason. He wanted Adam to come to him. He wants relationship with us and it is in prayer that we establish that relationship. It is my desire that we desire that fellowship in prayer individually and collectively. I plan to pursue this in our small groups and in Mosaic next year.

Outreach

This last year, we pursued areas where we could collectively serve - Angels Dinner, etc. You remember when I mentioned men’s retreat? It was here that I began asking the question “What has God gifted Mosaic uniquely and how might we use that in outreach?” I believe one of the overwhelming traits of Mosaic is the number of kids that are represented by the parents in our group. I know not everyone is married, and not everyone has kids, but as a group, we have a lot of kids and great parents and everyone has had experience with family. So… what does this mean?

1) There are a lot of families in this group are that are very busy raising their kids to love God. This makes it difficult to plan outreach events, etc.

BUT, because God has gifted our group with great parents, we have an opportunity to be a model for others. This summer, I have been more struck than ever about how messed up families are in our world. It doesn’t matter if you’re single, married, etc. Families are being torn apart and in the midst of this we have a group uniquely gifted in this area. I don’t have specifics, but wouldn’t it be awesome to offer a parenting class to other young families from our neighborhoods, work, etc where we get to counsel/work alongside them? Imagine what it would be like to offer hope to kids, parents, etc.

Currently, we do not have specific corporate outreach plans. We will offer teaching on marriages and parenting from time to time and we will be praying that God stirs in our hearts the places where he wants to use us – whether individually or collectively.

Community

I believe our community is formed by these other values. As we come alongside and encourage, pray, and challenge each other God transforms us into a community. He is the one who brings the spirit of unity and blesses our efforts.

So, I’m excited as we plan and pray about next year. I believe God has a lot in store and I can’t wait to get started!

Upcoming Guest Speaker In Mosaic

On Saturday night, June 7, Steve Baliko, part of the ministry team at Portland Fellowship, will be speaking in Mosaic. Portland Fellowship is an organization that ministers to Christians who are struggling to leave homosexuality because they find that it's incompatible with their faith.

Many of us have siblings, co-workers, friends, or neighbors who identify as gay, and sometimes it's difficult for us to know exactly how to respond to them. Steve will be sharing some of his insights on this subject with us. At Mosaic on May 31, the Saturday before Steve speaks, we will have a chance to write down some questions for him to answer the following Saturday. Please be thinking of anything you'd like to ask about this often controversial subject.

Wii-Treat on Saturday, March 29th

This Saturday bring friends and come have food, fun, and just enjoy the evening of Mosaic! We will have Nintendo Wii to enjoy and some yummy food! We hope to see you all there. It'll be a great evening!

Easter Weekend

This is a reminder that there is no Mosaic next week (March 22nd) since we are observing Easter.

Good Friday Service
Fri, March 21st - 6pm, 7:30pm

Easter Services
Sat, March 22nd - 5pm, 6:30pm (regular Sat. worshippers are encouraged to attend these)
Sun, March 23rd - 8am, 9:30am, 11am