Mo News, Issue 17, April 2005
Dear friends, family and co-laborers in Christ,
Greetings! There are so many wonderful things to write about since my last letter. God is at work, and I am so privileged to be involved in His work here at Mosaic.
Easter Sunday
There were 20-something nations represented and over 500 people in attendance! It was a wonderful service full of dynamic worship in various styles and a strong message afterwhich one or two people accepted the Lord as their Savior. Mosaic has more than doubled in size and diversity since I first arrived in August of 2003! Glory to God!
Mosaic Building Update
If you were not aware, Mosaic has been located in an old Wal*Mart building since June of 2003. When we moved in here, a large portion of the tiled floor was damaged from a pretty significant water leak caused by a roof that needed to be replaced. Believe it or not, this was a mixed blessing. We worked around the areas that looked like waterfalls during heavy rains and because of a savvy rental contract with Wal*Mart, we did not pay a penny for rent for over a year! By the time we started paying rent (a bit over $3000/month), we were happy to do so because Wal*Mart had the roof replaced thus ending the downpours during rainy days. Wal*Mart forked out $170,000 to fix the roof! This blessing allows us to use more space in our 78,000 square foot facility.
Recently, another blessing came through an unusual discovery. A sampling of the tile and mastic (the glue used to keep the tile down) was examined, and a small percentage of asbestos was found. Wanting to avoid any lawsuits, Wal*Mart swiftly sent a crew out to re-tile the ENTIRE building! This time the cost to them was around $150,000. So now we have pretty, clean white floors where there once was dirty, brown tile and fork-lift skid mark covered orange carpet. Needless to say, our building looks a LOT cleaner now and feels so much bigger.
Again, the floor was a mixed blessing. In order to re-tile the whole building, they had to destroy all of the classroom walls and carpeting that we have built for children’s ministry in the last year and a half. This meant relocating the entire office and doing without any real classrooms for the almost 100 children who attend church on Sundays. Wal*Mart originally planned on re-building them for us, but after some negotiation, they have agreed to write us a check for $91,000! WOW!
So we received a new roof and new floor totaling $320,000 at no cost to Mosaic plus a check for $91,000 that we are now considering to use towards a down payment for purchasing this building. The blessings don’t stop there! The Thursday before Easter we received a donation for $100,000 from the “Anonymous Foundation” that will also be used for the down payment. We believe that God is preparing this building for us. New roof, new floor, and almost $200,000 towards a down payment! Please pray that God will continue to lead Mark DeYmaz and Alan Pollack as they continue to trust God and negotiate with Wal*Mart and the local owner of this building.
Spring Encounter
April 1-3, I took a group of young adults up to NW Arkansas to a camp called Castle Bluff for a retreat called the Spring Encounter. This has become an annual outing where we can get away for the weekend, meet new people, experience some crazy stuff such as caving, climbing, zip-lining, and rappelling, as well as spend significant time with the Lord through teaching, singing praises, small groups, and quiet times of solitude. I’m told by MoYAs who attended last year’s retreat that this one was even better! Everyone had a marvelous time and experienced something new. Many faced their fears for the first time (including my wife – see photo below) by zip-lining off a deck 25 feet off the ground. You should have seen all the wild expressions on their faces!
Beyond the physical experiences, there were many relational and spiritual encounters as well. Several new friendships were initiated, and I witnessed throughout the weekend that these believers displayed unconditional love, acceptance and transparency to one another as well as to the seekers among us. This love was felt by everyone.
When I offered a sharing time on Sunday morning, the first person to share was a young lady named Tonya. She shared with the utmost transparency…
Ethnic Workers Conference
On April 7-9, Mark DeYmaz, my wife and I attended the Ethnic Workers’ Summit in Irving, Texas. This conference was hosted by the Ethnic America Network which seeks to encourage and equip local churches to pray for, care for, and share Christ with an increasingly diverse population in the United States.
It was an incredible weekend of learning and hearing about how God is bringing the nations to our neighborhoods. It confirmed the work that God is doing here at Mosaic and also pointed out that we have such a long way to go. Each culture introduced into a body of believers contributes to the whole. This means that every culture in that body must make sacrifices to overcome barriers of privilege and prejudice for the sake of unity in Christ.
As Jesus prayed in John 17:23, “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” This is a high calling for the church. It is a difficult journey. It goes against almost every strategy of church growth from the last 50 or 60 years, but this is what the Lord has asked for us and from us, “that they may be one.”
Last Sunday, Mosaic took another step towards expanding this unity, and many were stretched outside of what they were used to. Jeremy and Whitney Simons, who minister in the deaf community, taught us a worship song in American Sign Language (see photo above). There were no words, spoken or written, but we signed in rhythm to the beat of a drum. It was visually one of the most worshipful ways I have ever seen a church “sing” to God. This opened our eyes to a new culture of Christian worship. I can’t wait to see what is coming next!
Peace and Grace,
Rob McBryde <><
Greetings! There are so many wonderful things to write about since my last letter. God is at work, and I am so privileged to be involved in His work here at Mosaic.
Easter Sunday
There were 20-something nations represented and over 500 people in attendance! It was a wonderful service full of dynamic worship in various styles and a strong message afterwhich one or two people accepted the Lord as their Savior. Mosaic has more than doubled in size and diversity since I first arrived in August of 2003! Glory to God!
Mosaic Building Update
If you were not aware, Mosaic has been located in an old Wal*Mart building since June of 2003. When we moved in here, a large portion of the tiled floor was damaged from a pretty significant water leak caused by a roof that needed to be replaced. Believe it or not, this was a mixed blessing. We worked around the areas that looked like waterfalls during heavy rains and because of a savvy rental contract with Wal*Mart, we did not pay a penny for rent for over a year! By the time we started paying rent (a bit over $3000/month), we were happy to do so because Wal*Mart had the roof replaced thus ending the downpours during rainy days. Wal*Mart forked out $170,000 to fix the roof! This blessing allows us to use more space in our 78,000 square foot facility.
Recently, another blessing came through an unusual discovery. A sampling of the tile and mastic (the glue used to keep the tile down) was examined, and a small percentage of asbestos was found. Wanting to avoid any lawsuits, Wal*Mart swiftly sent a crew out to re-tile the ENTIRE building! This time the cost to them was around $150,000. So now we have pretty, clean white floors where there once was dirty, brown tile and fork-lift skid mark covered orange carpet. Needless to say, our building looks a LOT cleaner now and feels so much bigger.
Again, the floor was a mixed blessing. In order to re-tile the whole building, they had to destroy all of the classroom walls and carpeting that we have built for children’s ministry in the last year and a half. This meant relocating the entire office and doing without any real classrooms for the almost 100 children who attend church on Sundays. Wal*Mart originally planned on re-building them for us, but after some negotiation, they have agreed to write us a check for $91,000! WOW!
So we received a new roof and new floor totaling $320,000 at no cost to Mosaic plus a check for $91,000 that we are now considering to use towards a down payment for purchasing this building. The blessings don’t stop there! The Thursday before Easter we received a donation for $100,000 from the “Anonymous Foundation” that will also be used for the down payment. We believe that God is preparing this building for us. New roof, new floor, and almost $200,000 towards a down payment! Please pray that God will continue to lead Mark DeYmaz and Alan Pollack as they continue to trust God and negotiate with Wal*Mart and the local owner of this building.
Spring Encounter
April 1-3, I took a group of young adults up to NW Arkansas to a camp called Castle Bluff for a retreat called the Spring Encounter. This has become an annual outing where we can get away for the weekend, meet new people, experience some crazy stuff such as caving, climbing, zip-lining, and rappelling, as well as spend significant time with the Lord through teaching, singing praises, small groups, and quiet times of solitude. I’m told by MoYAs who attended last year’s retreat that this one was even better! Everyone had a marvelous time and experienced something new. Many faced their fears for the first time (including my wife – see photo below) by zip-lining off a deck 25 feet off the ground. You should have seen all the wild expressions on their faces!
Beyond the physical experiences, there were many relational and spiritual encounters as well. Several new friendships were initiated, and I witnessed throughout the weekend that these believers displayed unconditional love, acceptance and transparency to one another as well as to the seekers among us. This love was felt by everyone.
When I offered a sharing time on Sunday morning, the first person to share was a young lady named Tonya. She shared with the utmost transparency…
Hi, my name is Tonya, and I’m a crack cocaine addict in recovery and also an alcoholic in recovery. I just got out of jail two weeks ago, and I wasn’t too sure about coming to hang out with a bunch of goodie goodie Christians this weekend. But everyone has been so nice and after talking to some of you I realized that you are dealing with the same junk that I am.She continued to share how she felt God’s love and acceptance that weekend and how on fire she was/is to share about God’s faithfulness to anyone who will listen. It was quite the opener for the sharing time. More followed as wounded broken people told their broken stories, and we all felt God’s healing grace and power in the midst of our own weaknesses. It was a truly beautiful weekend.
Ethnic Workers Conference
On April 7-9, Mark DeYmaz, my wife and I attended the Ethnic Workers’ Summit in Irving, Texas. This conference was hosted by the Ethnic America Network which seeks to encourage and equip local churches to pray for, care for, and share Christ with an increasingly diverse population in the United States.
It was an incredible weekend of learning and hearing about how God is bringing the nations to our neighborhoods. It confirmed the work that God is doing here at Mosaic and also pointed out that we have such a long way to go. Each culture introduced into a body of believers contributes to the whole. This means that every culture in that body must make sacrifices to overcome barriers of privilege and prejudice for the sake of unity in Christ.
As Jesus prayed in John 17:23, “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” This is a high calling for the church. It is a difficult journey. It goes against almost every strategy of church growth from the last 50 or 60 years, but this is what the Lord has asked for us and from us, “that they may be one.”
Last Sunday, Mosaic took another step towards expanding this unity, and many were stretched outside of what they were used to. Jeremy and Whitney Simons, who minister in the deaf community, taught us a worship song in American Sign Language (see photo above). There were no words, spoken or written, but we signed in rhythm to the beat of a drum. It was visually one of the most worshipful ways I have ever seen a church “sing” to God. This opened our eyes to a new culture of Christian worship. I can’t wait to see what is coming next!
Peace and Grace,
Rob McBryde <><
posted by Rob at 10:51 AM
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