This week - Feb 1st - Team 1

Team 1:
grades K-4
Carla C
Ethan L
Joanne S - set up
David G
Matt & Elinor M - clean up

Preschool (3s-young 5s)
Kelli G
Laura A
Rose S - set up

Babies, 1s & 2s
Josh & Annie

Alan Hirsch on Missional

"A proper understanding of missional begins with recovering a missionary understanding of God. By his very nature God is a “sent one” who takes the initiative to redeem his creation. This doctrine, known as missio Dei—the sending of God—is causing many to redefine their understanding of the church. Because we are the “sent” people of God, the church is the instrument of God’s mission in the world. As things stand, many people see it the other way around. They believe mission is an instrument of the church; a means by which the church is grown. Although we frequently say “the church has a mission,” according to missional theology a more correct statement would be “the mission has a church.”

Love it.

Read more here and here.

2009 Kids Teams

Team 1:
grades K-4
Ethan L
Joanne S - set up
David G
Matt & Elinor M - clean up

Preschool (3s-young 5s)
Kelli G
Laura A
Rose S - set up

Babies, 1s & 2s
Josh & Annie P

Team 2:
grades K-4
Maluhia V - set up
Charissa & Brenna - clean up
Betty S - set up
Lorien T

Preschool (3s-young 5s)
Brett B
Katie B
Madison S

Babies, 1s & 2s
Sam & Heidi

Team 3:
grades K-4
Julie H - clean up
Jacky S - set up
Brad S - set up
Emily S - clean up

Preschool (3s-young 5s)
Amia F - clean up
Meg M - set up

Babies, 1s & 2s
Lael & Drew - clean up

Team 4:
grades K-4
Delia B
Amanda A
Molly M
Ian M
Arlena M

Preschool (3s-young 5s)
Meghan V - set up
Jason H - clean up
Lauren R - set up

Babies, 1s & 2s
Krysta H - clean
Allison - set up

Middle School Gathering - January 25th

Middle School Meeting
at the Wiley’s

It’s that time again!

Join us on January 25th for a fun time together! The Middle School students are gathering at the Wiley’s for food, fun, sandwich making for Church on the Street, study time and much more!

We hope to see you there.

What: Beautify, Listen, Eat, Study and Send!
When: January 25th, 2009
Where: 4784 Nettle Ln
Bellingham, Wa
Time: 11am-1pm
Other: Just bring yourselves! Food will be provided

Up Next - Team 1 - Feb 1st

grades K-4
Ethan
Joanne S - set up
Kelli G
Matt & Elinor M - clean up

Preschool (3s-young 5s)
Dave G
Laura A
Rose S

Babies, 1s & 2s
Josh P
Annie P

A post for Erin

I have this friend Erin. We became friends in Poland. We lived in an apartment in Czestochowa with two other girls. But, Erin and I would stay up late into the night, sitting across from each other in these super ugly 80s chairs. We would talk about what God was doing in us. We would talk about how God was using our team. We would talk about what Jesus was doing in the lives of the young people we were hanging out with in Czestochowa. But, often, we would just talk about the Gospel. We talked about what we had learned to be the Good News, what it was that was so good about Jesus and what He had done. We talked about our favorite things that we had learned through the Bible, sermons, YWAM schools. Eventually, we decided, that all the quotes and scriptures and sermons we loved... they were all saying the same thing. They all taught the same one thing (well, a few things bundled together into one thing): The Gospel. We decided, then, that there was really only one teaching. And we started calling it "the one teaching." So, whenever we came across the kind of Good News that just makes your heart happy, we'd look at each other and say, "it's the one teaching."

I share this story today, because I read something today, and my mind and heart went back to those chairs in Poland.

Check it out:

"In order to live out the life God intends for us to live, we must understand and believe the gospel AND it must permeate all of life. Many Christians believe the gospel is the starting point in their relationship with God, but that they move on to something more after that. If this is the case, they are deserting the one who called them by grace and turning to another god to save them – they are no longer living in line with the very truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:6-10; 2:14). The gospel is the power of God to save everyone who believes (Romans 1:16) and to make them righteous by faith in the work of Jesus Christ, accomplished on their behalf (Romans 1:17; 2 Corinthians 5:17, 21). However, it’s not only the beginning of our Christian life, but it is also the ongoing means by which we are changed (Colossians 2:6- 7). As Tim Keller has stated, “The gospel isn’t just the ABCs of Christianity, but the A to Z.” It is the way in which we are to live everyday of our life. The reason why so many Christians fail to experience ongoing transformation is because they have forgotten what God has done for us in the Gospel (2 Peter 1:3-9)."

The Gospel is not the starting point. Oh no, it's the only thing. We could read about it, talk about it, process through it, learn about it forever. And we must. It's how we'll be changed. And 2 Peter 1:3-9 is one of the things I thought about a lot that summer. We have everything we need for life and godliness, and we need to be reminded of that a lot, so that we don't forget.

The above paragraphs come from "The Gospel Means" by Jeff Vanderstelt of Soma Communities in Tacoma, WA

Thanks Amber and Erin for letting me use this picture without asking :)

A note to Current Mosaic Kids Volunteers

It's that time again! Kids Teams are up for rotation.

If you are currently serving with Mosaic Kids, your commitment to your team actually ended at the end of 2008. What I would like to do is keep you on your teams for the next 6 months with the option to opt out again at the end of June. If your schedule has changed, if you’re moving or have other commitments, or if working with the kids just isn’t working for you, please e-mail me and let me know that your January Sunday will indeed be your last Sunday. I will need to start filling your spots. If I don’t hear from you, I will keep you on the schedule, and your Jan/Feb dates are already posted (below). Thanks everyone!!

I appreciate you all more than I can express!

January/February Team Schedule

January 11th - team 3
January 18th - team 4
January 25th - beautify Sunday
February 1st - team 1
February 8th - team 2
February 15th - team 3

image from redstamp.com on flickr.

This week - January 11th

grades K-4
Julie
Jacky - set up
Sarah S
Steve
Brad - set up

Preschool (3s-young 5s)
Jason H - clean up
Kenzie & Sierra
Amia - set up

Babies, 1s & 2s
Krysta - clean up
Martinsons


image from: http://www.metro.co.uk

Wondering when we're Gathering?

Check the sidebar under "Upcmoing Events"

I try to keep our Majestic Sundays and Beautify Sundays and other events listed so that you can plan and keep up!

More of what I'm reading

Carla Barnhill's thoughts on children and faith here and here.

Epiphany

Yesterday, our elementary kids learned about God’s Epiphany: His big Show and Tell to the world of His Son Jesus. We read the story of the Wise Men. They heard that the long promised King had been born and they set out to find Him, bearing gifts and following a star to the most unlikely of locations. The kids looked at the story in Matthew chapter 2 and also in the Jesus Storybook Bible, where it reads like this:

“Far away, in the East, three clever men saw the very same star. The star that God had put in the sky when Jesus was born. They knew it was a sign. A baby king had been born. They had been waiting for this star. They knew it would come. ‘He’s here!’ they shouted. ‘He’s here!’ (And I’m sure if you’d been there, you would have heard them laughing and dancing and singing until the sun came up!) At dawn, they packed up their camels and wrapped gifts for the baby. They brought their most precious treasures of all: frankincense, gold, and myrrh. Special, sparkly, lovely-smelling, gleaming things – just right for a king. The three Wise Men (actually, if you’d met them, you’d have thought they were kings because they were so rich and clever and important looking) set off. They rode their camels… Across endless deserts… Up steep, steep mountains… Down into deep, deep valleys… Through raging rivers… Over grassy plains… Night and day, and day and night, for hours that turned into days, that turned into weeks, that turned into months and months, until, at last, they reached… Jerusalem. Jerusalem was by far the most important city for miles around and, as anyone can tell you, that’s where a palace would be and kings are born in palaces. So that’s where they went. But they were in for a surprise. They went to see King Herod. Surely he’d know where this baby was. But he didn’t. In fact, he didn’t like the sound of a new king – it made him cross. He didn’t want anyone to be king, except him. But Herod’s advisors told the three Wise Men what was written in their books – what God had said about the baby king: ‘Go to Bethlehem. That’s where you’ll find him.’ Suddenly, the star they had seen in the East started moving again, showing them the way. So the three Wise Men followed the star out of the big city, along he road, into the little town of Bethlehem. They followed the star through the streets of Bethlehem, out of the nice part of town, through the not=-so-nice part of town, into the really-not-nice-at-all part of town, down a little dirt track, until it stopped right over… a little house. But wait. It wasn’t a palace. Ant there weren’t any guards. Or servants. Or flags. Or red carpets. Or trumpets. Or anything. Did they get it wrong? Or was this what God meant? Sure enough, in that little house - there, sitting on his mother’s knee – they found him. The baby King. The three men knelt before the little king. They took off their rich royal turbans and gleaming, golden crowns. The bowed their noble heads to the ground and gave him their sparkling treasure. The journey that had begun so many centuries before had led three Wise Men here. To a little town. To a little house. To a little child. To the King God had promised David all those years before. But this child was a new kind of king. Though he was the Prince of Heaven, he had become poor. Though he was the Mighty God, he had become a helpless baby. This King hadn’t come to be the boss. He had come to be a servant.”

It was a great way to introduce them to the tradition of Epiphany, or "the revealing," which has long been celebrated after the 12 Days of Christmas, on January 6th.

image from here

Quote of the Day

"The gospel is not about my individual happiness or God’s plan for my life. It is about God’s plan for the world."

from here.

-Jeff Vanderstelt of Soma Communities

What I'm reading

Kathy Escobar's thoughts on what the church could be. Here.

Don Miller & the New Year's Day Parade

A great post from Donald Miller, telling the story of the New Year's Day Parade his friend started in San Diego. Read the post here.

Our staff got to hear Donald Miller speak earlier this year, and he told us this story. He used it as an illustration that no one in ministry should get to watch the parade, it takes all of us! He left us with the challenge to "Join the parade!" I am so thankful for everyone at Mosaic who has done so. It's awesome to be living out this life with all of you.