There are times when something good happens that we exaggerate or over inflate how good it really was. But when God supernaturally shows up, words cannot capture what truly took place. Last night at our praise and worship gathering, the presence of God saturated our small sanctuary. When you are ushered into something that you cannot explain, you simply embrace it, and praise Him and thank Him for the gift of that moment in time.

On a cold, dark, rainy night in East Knoxville, our largest attendance of 26 people gathered in our sanctuary. In attendance were homeless men and women, poor men and women, rich men and women, middle class men and women, marriages in crisis, black men and women, and white men and women. There was even an extremely intoxicated man in attendance who was weeping and begging us to pray for his wife who was in prison. The night defined Mosaic. A group of broken and fragmented people, crafted together by the Master Artist, to make a beautiful piece of art. Everything that Mosaic is about became visible last night.

Our theme for the service was restoration and healing. When our new friend, Donald, came to the keyboard and began to sing and testify about his past, the Spirit of Christ anointed him. He began to tell the story of his painful past for the first time in ten years. It was not rehearsed or planned, but God had a plan. As he was sharing, healing and restoration was taking place before our very eyes. Our hearts were swelling inside of us and our eyes were watering as we witnessed the fulfillment of Jesus' ministry, to bind up the brokenhearted.

Restore: to fix, mend, reestablish, correct, return something or someone to the original purpose for which it was created in the first place. Our hearts have been fashioned by the hand of God. They have been hurt, broken, and cracked. The Master wants to take those broken pieces of clay, and mold them into the very design He intended when He fashioned it, so that we can fulfill His purpose. He wants to restore those hearts so they can become what He meant for them to become when He created them. The cracks, breaks, and wounds once healed, become an everlasting memorial to His love, grace, and mercy. We become trophies of His grace, and we are a reminder and testimony to the world that freedom and abundant life are truly found in Jesus Christ.

When we understand and comprehend what we have been rescued from, and we realize the freedom that is ours through the painful process of restoration, we become the most thankful, grateful people in the world.

Like David we proclaim, "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live..." Psalm 63:1-4

We also want to praise the Lord for our new partner church. Word of Life Ministries Inc. is our newest partner church. Pastor Kevin Perry and his wife have eagerly embraced the ministry of Mosaic and they are excited to partner with us. We look forward to walking alongside each other in the days ahead to fulfill what God is calling both ministries to become. Praise the Lord for our friends and partners.

We will meet one more time on Monday night, November 28th @ 7:00pm. We will begin meeting on Sunday mornings, December 4th at 10:30 am. We invite you to celebrate the love of the Father with us each week. May God restore your hurts and begin the healing process in your life today. God bless you.

Todd

One week ago on Monday night we began our series on "Practical Thanksliving." We began the series with the emphasis on rescue. When a person is in a place where he needs rescued, it is beyond his control to do anything about it. If he could, he would do something. A person in need of being rescued must have outside influences come to his aid. A life that is separated from Creator God, is a life in need of rescue. All that is required for that rescue is provided by our rescuer. Our part is to understand our need for being rescued and take the hand of the one who wants to rescue us.

Once we understand the depth of our need to be rescued, then comprehend from what we have been rescued, our natural response is to be thankful. A rescued person is eternally grateful to the one who has rescued him or her.

This week we were planning to discuss what needs to happen after a rescue, that is restoration. We altered our plans and simply allowed the Holy Spirit to lead us in a different direction. Our prayer and praise time was spiritually rich and we simply sat in awe of His presence. It launched us into a time of discussing about where God is leading us. In the midst of that discussion a family joined the Mosaic family. Praise God who continues to increase our numbers.

It was determined by our members last night that we would move our prayer, praise, and worship time to Sunday mornings beginning December 4th. We will still officially launch our new church in January, but we feel God is leading us to the next level in this interim period. Everyone is welcome to join us. Our time is still being determined.

Our servant evangelism project this month will be providing dinners to indivuals and families that we have met along our journey the past few months. We are excited and feel blessed to expand these relationships.

Please continue to pray for this young family of believers as we transition into the next phase of our church plant.

Todd

We begin another month and God continues to be faithful to our church start. The owner of the church building, where we have been meeting, has graciously permitted us to meet there through the month of November. Our funding from the Tennesse Baptist Convention begins this month, and we hope to see the relationships we have developed beginning to bear fruit. Also, our worship team is growing as Diahn continues to develop her team.

The month of November we are beginning a series on "Practical Thanksliving." No, that is not misspelled. We hear so much about being thankful but what does it look like to practically live a thankful life? What is a person doing when we identify him or her as a thankful, grateful person?

This theme will be addressed in the context of the four primary words in our mission statement: rescue, restore, reconcile, and rebuild. We invite you to come and bring a friend as we worship our Holy God together. We meet every Monday night, 7:00pm at the church building on the corner of Olive and Linden.

Please continue to pray for us as we pray, prepare and plan to launch our first Sunday morning worship service in January 2006. God bless you and remember that Jesus is the hope the world.

Todd

It has been a very eventful and blessed couple of weeks. On Monday night, October 24th we shared in our first communion together. It was a very spiritual and special time for our group. We literally gathered around the table together as we shared the representation of Jesus Christ's body and blood.

We also had two families join in the last week. Thank you Lord for continuing to bring laborers to the field. Diahn and Ron joined last week. Diahn feels called to be our worship leader and Ron feels led to be the treasurer at Mosaic. David and Linda joined at our community cook out and both of them have a real servant's heart.

Sunday night, October 30th, we had a community cook out. Many people from the community came and met the members and family of Mosaic Church. It was a wonderful time to meet people and introduce ourselves to the community. We feel it was very beneficial and a great beginning in the challenge to build trust and develop safe relationships.

The big news we have all been waiting on for three months is the funding issue from the Tennessee Baptist Convention. I received the phone call today and we have finally received our answer. The TBC has agreed to give Mosaic Community Church $2,000 a month for the first six months. After the first six months we were asked to resubmit a proposal on what has developed and what God is doing in our ministry. The leaders will then reevaluate the new proposal and make a decision at that time concerning future funding.

We are extremely excited and praise Almighty God who is the giver of all good gifts. He is our source for all resources and where He gives a vision, He gives provision. Thank you Jesus for allowing Mosaic Church to be a part of your kingdom work on earth as it is heaven.

Todd