We have been given a wonderful gift for the month of June. Two ladies from Barbardos heard about our church and have been following us on our web site and blog. They have taken four weeks of vacation to come to Knoxville on a mission trip to serve with Mosaic. Sophia and Starlene arrived on June 6th and have been serving in the inner city of Knoxville with us. Starlene is a singer and Sophia is a dancer. They will be leading us in worship each Sunday in June and will also be leading in other places.

There have been a multitude of opportunities and many potential partners for Mosaic. We are diligently seeking God for wisdom. We are also beginning a mid week prayer gathering in June. We will be meeting the second and fourth Wednesdays of the three summer months. We will begin on the 28th of June at Vine Middle School at 7:00pm. We know the only hope for people is the freedom and liberty that Jesus Christ can provide. The war is waging and our two offensive weapons are the word of God and prayer. We must engage the power of God to see the miracles of God. We are excited about praying for the community and interceding for others.

Life at Mosaic can be an emotional and spiritual roller coaster. One day it looks like people are being transformed by the love and power of Jesus Christ, and another day it feels like no one is interested in changing or experiencing freedom of any kind. It is in these times that so many get discouraged and wonder why they are even serving. Thoughts of giving up can cross the mind of the most dedicated servant of Christ.

It is at this time that God's word rushing across our heart and mind like a cool drink of water on a hot summer day. "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9. I wonder how many people have missed the harvest because they gave up in the heat and warfare of summer and never experienced the harvest that could have been theirs?

God uses these difficult times to draw us into Him. He wants us to find satisfaction in Jesus Christ alone, and He wants us to redefine our definition of success. For the child of God success must be measure by how connected we are to the vine, not by how much fruit we are producing. As a matter of truth, God produces the fruit not us. Our only responsiblity is to remain in Him, stay connected to the vine. Apart from Him we can do nothing.

With that in mind, it's not our responsibility how people react or respond to the freedom that Jesus Christ alone offers. What matters for the believer is discovering and understanding the connection or lack of connection to the True Vine, Jesus Christ. Harvest is coming and we will see it, but we cannot give up. We must persevere through the summer so we can experience the frutifulness of the harvest.

So many wonderful things are happening at Mosaic and through Mosaic. Our ladies are growing in their relationships with the ladies from Serenity Shelter. A safe place for women who are experiencing some level of crisis in their lives. Mosaic ladies provide a wonderul night of food, activities and relationship building on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of every month. Seeing those ladies come to church on Sunday is truly fulfilling.

Housing is something we continue to discuss and explore but God has not released us to do anything yet. He continues to close some doors and open others. The need is tremendous.

One new ministry that God has begun is in the area of precovery. As we work with many adults we can see the burden of many years of addiction and bad choices. Recovery is and will always be a big part of what we do at Mosaic. Recovery is long, hard and requires many resources. We have been discussing how we might be involved in the lives of children and teens before they enter a life of bondage and chains. Precovery is a word we are using to engage children and teenagers to equipped them with hope and a future. We are connecting them to educational opportunities and mentoring. I look forward to the doors God will open in the area of precovery.

We are going to begin a week night prayer gathering starting in June. It is important that we understand the spiritual realities we deal with each day. We are not wrestling with flesh and blood, but spiritual rulers in dark places. It is vital that we deepen our prayer life, both privately and corportately.

We sense that something great is about to happen, some break through, opportunity, or miracle. We wait patiently with great expectations. Keep praying that we will not grow weary in doing good, but remain connected to the True Vine, Jesus Christ.

It has been three weeks since we have blogged an update on what God is doing at Mosaic. We have been overwhelmed by God's grace and favor. Each month we have been blessed with new members who come to Mosaic seeking a deeper relationship with God. Everyone who comes to Mosaic seems to be on a very intentional journey with God. Every time someone comes, I can't wait to hear their story.

Our first Car Care was a wonderful day of ministry and building relationships. We serviced almost 20 cars and met many new friends. The mostly single women who participated in this ministry were very appreciative and as we noticed with their cars, the ministry was certainly needed. We also had one woman who visited Mosaic on Sunday. We believe this ministry is going to be very effective for the community.

Housing is a very serious topic for us right now. We have met with city and county officials, realtors, contractors, and will meet Friday with the Knoxville Housing Partnership. We are ready to launch out and purchase our first house. We have volunteers in the wing to help renovate the houses and we certainly have potential renters. We have selected two houses that meet our criteria and now we simply have to work out the financing.

We are currently walking with a few people to help them in their journey. Jobs, housing, and staying clean and sober are daily issues on the streets of Knoxville. Mosaic church has become a safe place of refuge for many people who need to encounter God. We feel blessed to be a part of someone's journey with God. We simply tell people that God loves them so much, that He has sent us to tell them and show them, that God loves them. Some are responding to the Father's love. We are experiencing miracles right before our eyes. Praise God!

We have seen an explosion in the five ministries that we believe God has called us to focus on. There are two foundational bedrocks that Mosaic Community Church is built on: we are a multi-ethnic, cross cultural community; and we are an externally focused community of believers. God has blessed us in both areas. We currently have four different ethnic groups attending Mosaic. It is beautiful to see the diversity and beauty of God's children. God has also provided many opportunities for us to care about people.

We have developed a strategic plan in the ministry of Mosaic Housing. Through investors, the city and county of Knoxville, volunteers from our partner churches, and God's favor we are moving into new territories. We hope to purchase two houses and one multi-unit building this year and completely renovate them. We want them to be available for those individuals God has allowed us to minister with as we walk together. We are always looking for investors to purchase the houses and we are always looking for volunteers, both skilled and unskilled, who can give their time to hands on renovation. Please visit our web site if you are interested and email us.

Another ministry that is blooming by the grace of God is our women's crisis ministry. We have embraced a local women's crisis center where we have one of our own ladies staying right now. Through that relationship and the providence of God, we have established relationships with most of the women at the center. Our ladies provide a meal two Wednesday nights a month and they eat with the ladies at the center and share life together. Mosaic's ladies provide an activity after supper or they gather together for time of spiritual and emotional encouragement. We also take a van on Sunday mornings to pick up any ladies who want to join us for our 10:30am worship gathering. Of course part of our ministry for the ladies is to provide housing when they graduate from the program.

Our Automotive Ministry begins this month, April 22nd. We provide oil changes, minor repairs, and honest assessments for low income individuals and families. We also provide a hospitality area with food and drinks while the people wait on their cars. Our Automotive ministry is located off of Magnolia and N Mary St. from 9:00am-1:00pm.

Our mentoring ministry is just beginning. God has opened a door for us in the area of mentoring children who have at least one parent in prison. Three of our members have gone through the interview process and we are simply waiting on a child to be placed with us. What an exciting opportunity we have to influence and shape the lives of God's precious children. With Mosaic and our partner churches we have almost twenty potential mentors at this point.

Our fifth ministry is in the earliest stages of development. It is a food ministry called Angel Food. It is a program that allows people to buy $75 worth of groceries for $25. We hope to have this ministry in place by late Spring.

Mosaic's mission is to rescue, restore, reconcile and rebuild people and communities by the transforming life of Jesus Christ. Two of our precious individuals in the Mosaic family are currently in a rehab center. The ministry of rescuing never ends, but we know it is the heart of God. Jesus said I have come to preach good news to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, and set the captives free. We are so grateful that Jesus did that for us, and feel it is an honor and a privilege to walk with others on their journey to physical, emotional, and spiritual freedom.

Since we have shared the Mosaic vision at Grace Baptist Church two weeks ago, God has opened up so many doors. Our capacity for ministry has expanded and the opportunity to invest in the lives of people has multiplied.

We were able to move one of our new friends into his first house in Knoxville and we were all excited. Thank you to all the people who donated household items for him. The man is the bass player in our praise band and sings soloes on a regular basis. He also officially joined Mosaic in March.

We have seen ministry opportunities increase with women who are on the streets and desperately want a new start. God has allowed us to join Him in binding up the brokenhearted and setting the captives free.

The last two weeks we have been in meetings with city and county leaders to share with them Mosaic's vision. They have been extremely supportive and encouraged us to move forward. They are especially excited about our housing ministry. We are learning that having a home, a safe place to live, covers a multitude of issues. People really do make better life decisions when they have something for which they are responsible.

Please continue to pray for us as we launch out into many new ministries this spring. Car Care begins in April, Amachi mentors are being recruited, Tamar Ministries is beginning (caring for women in crisis), housing is getting ready to explode, and the church is gaining momentum.

We will begin providing CHILD CARE on Sunday, March 26th. Our worship begins at 10:30am and we hope more families will have the opportunity to worship with us as we minister to their preschoolers.

God bless and keep praying.

Todd

What a night at Grace Baptist Church! Sunday night, February 26th, God allowed us the opportunity to share our vision and story at Grace Baptist Church, our primary partner. We were able to dedicate our first baby born in the Mosaic family, little Emmitt. Claude did a wonderful job sharing his heart about his journey from Grace to New Orleans and now back to Knoxville. Stanley was awesome as he shared about the Amachi program. There were 20 people from Grace who signed up to be an Amachi mentor. Many others signed up for car care, housing, and women's crisis ministries.

Diahn and the praise band were totally anointed by God. When Diahn began singing her solo, there was a hush over the entire place. God was moving in the hearts of people and touching that deep place inside of them that awakens their heart. When Donald started playing that baby grand piano, tears began welling up in people's eyes. It was a blessed night, ordained by God.

We are thankful for the opportunity to lift up Jesus Christ; the rescuer, restorer, reconciler, and rebuilder of our souls. We simply wanted to communicate what we believe Jesus is doing in the inner city and offer them an invitation to join it. Many did and many will as the word continues to ripple through their church family. We were given a nice computer, which I have been praying about, and someone has a house they want us to use for ministry purposes. Praise God.

We will be meeting with the city director of community development and the county director in the next two weeks. Please pray that God would give us unbelievable favor in those meetings. It will be very important to the direction God moves us, especially in the area of housing.

We are finalizing our plans as we ask the question, what does it mean to be a member of Mosaic? We do not want our membership to look like what the traditional model has historically looked like. We are also beginning to develop our strategy for launching our car care ministry, housing ministry, women in crisis ministry and our Amachi Mentoring ministry.

It is so exciting to join God in what He is doing. Thank you Lord Jesus for allowing us the privilege to walk with you.

Todd

It has been an incredible week. God has gone before us in so many ways. I can see how relationships I have been in for years were really divine appointments. God has placed and is placing key people in the Mosaic circle of influence. While meeting at Mayor Ragsdale office with one of our partner churches, I bumped into Mayor Ragsdale. He sat down and talked with me for approximately 20 minutes. He was very interested in what we are doing in the city. Three days later I received a personal letter from the mayor letting Mosaic know he is available to help in anyway he can.

This encounter is truly God's timing because we are beginning to move out and implement our servant evangelism outreach ministries. We are praying and seeking God about five doors that seem to be opening for us right now. The first is a car care ministry. We are going to begin providing free oil changes, minor repairs, and honest assessments to low income families. We plan to begin in March. We are looking for a sponsor or business to provide the funding we need to reduce the cost to Mosaic. There will be many facets to car care Saturday that will provide a variety of ministry opportunities to the residents of the community. One of them will be a ministry called Angel Food. They provide a quality box of food at a low cost. We can take orders and provide the people with the box of food that they pay for.

Another important ministry that is crucial to life is housing. We have people who have come alongside us to make our dream of affordable housing a reality. We looked at eight houses this week and discovered that there are numerous houses or buildings for sale. Many of them need some repair and we have a contractor, partner churches and the city who are willing to be involved in providing affordable transitional and/or permanent housing for low income families.

We also want to get deeply involved with Knox Area Rescue Ministries and some of their friendship evangelism ministries.

Lastly, we hope God will allow us to become an Amachi church. Amachi is a mentoring program facilitated by the Knoxville Leadership Foundation. It places mentors with children who have at least one parent in prison.

One more big opportunity happens Sunday, February 26th at Grace Baptist Church. They are our primary partner church and they have asked us to share our entire vision with them in their evening service at 6:00pm. We are excited about the opportunity to share our message of hope to as many people as possible. Jesus really does bring hope. I hope if you are in the area you will come and be a part of this special service.

Jesus wants to transform your heart, heal every wound, and provide freedom and liberty that brings peace. God bless you. Todd

PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW. We had a wonderful day at our launch service. We had four different cultures represented, that we are aware of: Asian, Black, Hispanic, and White. We discussed what it means to be a multi-ethnic congregation. The leader of our denomination, Dr. Walter Taylor, came and blessed us as he prayed over us and encouraged us. We had 50 people in attendance and ten people expressed an interest in joining Mosaic Community church.

Now that we have established the church and have gained some stability in our Sunday morning worship services, we will begin to focus on our outreach to the community. One of the first outreach ministries God has called us to is an automotive ministry for low income families. We are praying about and planning for the new ministry to begin this Spring in March or April. We will also begin some women's ministries as we partner with existing ministries in the city.

I am encouraged about the days ahead. I want to thank all of you for your prayers and support. God bless. Todd

LAUNCH SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5TH. We have been moving toward this day for over seven months. The day we will officially begin Mosaic Community Church. Even though we have planned and prayed for many months, our launch Sunday will go down in history as the inaugural worship service.

We are sending over 1000 post cards to residents around our community. We are planning to serve breakfast, give away gift bags, and begin a new sermon series. The sermon series is going to be a desription of our church. We will convey that message with an acrostic of our church name; MO-S-A-IC.

MO - Multi-ethnic and Open (Feb. 5th)
S - Safety (Feb. 12th)
A - Authentic (Feb. 19th)
IC - Incarnational Compassion (Feb. 26th)

We truly want to see people released from captivity so they can find liberty and freedom in Jesus Christ. If you need a safe place to worship, and you are looking for people who will care about where you are and where you have been, I encourage you to visit Mosaic.

This Sunday, January 29th we will have a special guest give her testimony. She is visiting Mosaic and she is a former crack cocaine attack. God has delivered her and she is praising Him and giving Him the glory. Praise God! He is still setting the captives free.

On a personal note, my family and I are moving into our new home this weekend. After almost eight months of being without our own home, we are finally moving to a new place. God has been so gracious and has always met our needs. My parents have allowed us to live with them for the last five months and they have been so generous and hospitable. I can only praise the Lord Jesus Christ and thank Him every moment of the day. He truly does rescue, restore, reconcile, and rebuild. He has taught Kristi and I so much and He is still not through teaching us. As a matter of fact, He is not through with any of us. He is always scanning the horizon to find people who want something more than they are experiencing in this world. He is looking for people who will bring glory to His Name. It is a precious Name, the Name that is above every Name, JESUS.

God bless. Todd

I believe Vine Middle School is going to be the perfect place for Mosaic Church to worship our Lord. This past Sunday was our first Sunday at Vine and it was very comfortable for us. It was a clean building and it had heat. That may not sound like a big deal but we have gone without heat a couple of Sundays. Vine will allow us to grow and expand our Sunday morning ministries. Thank you Lord.

Donald led our worship and he shared a tremendous burden that he was carrying on his heart. His mother's cancer has returned and she is once again receving chemotherapy. His heart was aching but it added to his authenticity as he led worship from his heart. Please pray for his mother. We had two families express an interest in joining Mosaic. We rejoice for their eagerness to be a part of God's family.

Now that we are somewhat stable in our Sunday morning worship, we are ready to launch our new church. SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5th @ 10:30am we will officially begin Mosaic Community Church with what is called in the church planting world, a launch service. On Super Bowl Sunday we will begin what we believe is a supernatural work of God. A multi-ethnic, multi-cultural church that exists to rescue, restore, reconcile, and rebuild people and communities by the transforming life of Jesus Christ. Built on relationships and an outward community focus, we hope the name of Jesus Christ will be honored and glorified and His power will be practically evident by all who experience His touch.

We are also in the beginning stages of instituting our elder leadership. We hope to have an elder commissioning service at the end of February or early March. We are also at the beginning stages of developing home groups to build relationships and continue our journey as we grow and mature into passionate followers of Christ.

Many excited things in the days ahead. Praise the name of Jesus Christ who is our Great Redeemer. He alone is worthy to be praised. Everyone is invited to our launch service on February 5th and we hope you will bring someone with you. God bless you.

Todd

We have experienced what many new church starts experience, a multitude of different buildings to worship in. It is a wonderful reminder that the building is not the church. Our church, the Mosaic congregation, has worshipped in at least seven different buildings. I am excited to announe that our eighth should be where we are going to land for awhile. The Knox Co School system has granted us approval to meet at Vine Middle School beginning this Sunday, January 15th. Our worship will begin at 10:30am

We will meet in the auditorium that comfortably seats 500 in nice theatre style chairs. The school is a performing arts school so the stage is equipped with the necessary equipment and outlets for all of our multi-media needs.

The consistency of having a permanent location will allow us to effectively plan our launch Sunday. We are looking to launch on February 5th, Super Bowl Sunday. I will write more about that later.

Vine Middle School is located on Martin Luther King Jr. Ave, between two public housing projects, Walter P. Taylor and Austin Homes. The location allows us to remain in the community we feel led by God to display His love, grace and mercy. I can only say thank you Almighty Father for allowing us and trusting us to serve your children with compassion and love. We are grateful and very humbled to be used in this capacity.

We would like to invite you to come and worship with us. Everyone is welcome.

Todd

On the road again. That has been the theme of our weekly worship services. Sunday we met at Angelic Ministries on Central Ave. It was a wonderful time of worship and celebrating God's faithfulness. The worship team did a fantastic job ushering us into the presence of the Father. We had at least six first time guests and over thirty people were in attendance.

We believe God is finally bringing us to the place where we will worship, at least for a little while. Vine Middle School has opened up there auditorium to us and we are very grateful. We hope the paper work that needs to be completed by the Knox Co school board will be completed this week, and we will have good news in the next day or two. Vine Middle is in a great location on Martin Luther King and places us between two public housing projects, Walter P. Taylor and Austin Homes. It also keeps us around the Five Points Community where we feel led to minister.

Once we meet and work out the bugs in the auditorium, and get our routine down, we will announce our launch date. It will be the culmination of seven months of prayer, planning and much sacrifice. Our small, but growing congregation is very excited about the days ahead. We believe God is doing something extraordinary and bringing many pieces of a puzzle together. I believe, in the next couple of years, we are going to see a visitation by God on the inner city of Knoxville, that will be undeniably God.

In my sermon yesterday I talked about the few references in the Bible that called certain men "friends of God." It was said of Moses in Exodus 33:11. It was said of Abraham in James 2:23 and Isaiah 41:8. It was said by Jesus when he called his disciples friends in John 15:15. I believe it could also be said of the Apostle Paul who said he would much rather leave this earth so he could be with Jesus.

I believe being a friend of God is a deep level of spiritual intimacy with God. It goes beyond being a child of God or a servant of God. It seems to go to a deeper place of relationship than most believers want to go. How we get there goes beyond simply laying out formulaic principles that has the potential to kick us into some kind of performance trap. I looked at some characteristics that were common to each man to see if we can understand something of what it means to be a friend of God.

I know there are probably many similarities between these men who were called God's friends, but I want to focus on three and specifically one. First, they all had a passion and desire to know God. It is obvious we must be a God chaser if we are going to know God deeply and intimately. Second, they all had traumatic, dramatic experiences in their lives. Most of those experiences involved suffering and plenty of it.

The last similarity I noticed was each one experienced a change of location. Moses was born a Hebrew, lived in Pharoah's palace, killed an Egyptian, lived in the desert, then back to Egypt, but this time as a Hebrew. Abraham moved from Ur to Canaan. The disciples left everything they had to follow Jesus and Paul left the intellectual life of a Jewish Pharisee to minister to the Gentiles. I believe there is something significant about a change of location and a change of culture. Paul said, "I have become all things to all men so that I might wen some..."

Paul notes the primary responsibility for change lies in the one moving into the new culture. He did not try to change their culture, he changed so that he could gain credibility so they might listen to the message of Jesus Christ. He certainly did not engage or condone sinful or inappropriate behavior to be like them. But he did focus on adapting, or changing to the culture he was in at the time.

I believe it is something very God-like to leave your comfortable culture and go to a new culture, a new place. It expands our view and perspective of life. It widens our narrow scope of what we experience as our reality. And we begin to care and become friends with people who can give us a more complete picture and understanding of who God is. Something is missing when we hang out only in our Ur. Beth Moore says UR stands for Usual Routine. As a matter of fact leaving one culture for another is what God did when He left His divine culture to come slumming with the human culture. Perhaps that is why people are so touched and changed when they go on short term mission trips. The problem is we get back home and settle back into our UR, usual routine, and slowly drift away from something that is transforming.

I hope and pray that many Christians will begin to be challenged by getting outside their comfort zone and leaving their UR. It is difficult, challenging, filled with potential misunderstanding, painful, and sometimes lonely. That is what makes it so real and transforming. It provides us the greatest opportunity to truly and practically be like Jesus. Awesome!

I pray that God will continue to lead us into new places that will stretch us beyond our own personal comfort and will take us out of our UR.

God bless you. Todd

School is back in session and people are getting back in their usual routines. We are no longer meeting in the old church building. The owner says she wants to make some improvements to the building and feels it is best that no one meets in it right now. I suspect she is trying to use this time to get us to increase our offer on the price of the building. We do not feel led at this time to do that but I still believe that church is a potential part of our future.

I am meeting with public school officials today to secure the use of a middle school in the Five Points area of downtown Knoxville. It will allow us to remain in the location we feel called to and give us some stability on a weekly basis. Once we secure a place to worship, we will schedule our official launch date.

We have been given a tremendous responsibility by God to care for people who are marginalized and isolated. Issues of trust and fear are common walls we bump into often. We have broken through, at least on some small scale, with one particular man. One of our homeless friends is an incredibly talented and gifted musician. Someone heard him play and invited him to Nashville to play and sing on two radio stations. I will be traveling with him this Sunday to Nashville, and on Monday he will perform on the radio. Please pray for God's fullness to be accomplished.

God bless and Happy New Year. Todd

The Christmas Season is a special time of year for many people. It is a time to celebrate God's blessings of family, friends, and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. For others, Christmas is a difficult time of year. It reminds them of past hurts, the lack of family and they may not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Some people may be in such financial desperation that Christmas simply reminds them of what they cannot have. God has given us the opportunity to partner with several families this month. We were able to show them the love and compassion of Jesus Christ. One family was being evicted from their apartment, another was in radical transition, and another was homeless. God has made a way for each of them to see hope for a brighter day. Praise the Lord! His promises are true.

We have continued to meet in the old church building for the month of December. Our worship has been inspiring and free as Diahn continues to lead us into the presence of the Father, even though the temperature in the building remains a little cool. We made an official offer of $71,000, on the church property. The owner is standing firm at $100,000. She did not make a counteroffer and we did not feel God was leading us to increase our offer at this time. We are exploring the possibility of meeting in one of the schools in the area. We hope that God opens a door so we will not have to miss a single Sunday of corporate worship. Please pray for God to make a way for us.

Our Christmas project was a wonderful time to share with six evacuee families. We were blessed with many donated toys and made a small store in the church building. The parents of the families were able to come and select toys for their children and give them on Christmas Day. They were extremely grateful and it was a very moving experience. The families have lost so much and now they are trying to resettle in a new city and state.

After the store was over, we went caroling and took baskets of goodies to families who have been instrumental in helping Mosaic Church get started. We appreciate our partners and cannot thank them enough for their help.

Kristi, Cyndi, and I were invited by the directior of Knox Area Rescue Mission to tour the Serentity Shelter. It has been a safe haven for battered women for many years. We were very impressed and were immediately convinced that God wanted us to be there in some way. The leadership of Serenity Shelter is praying and seeking God about new ministries and opportunities to minister to hurting women and increase the scope of ministry in this tremendous facility. We are quite sure Mosaic will be part of this ministry in some capacity.

God continues to show His light in the midst of disappointment, pain, and hopelessness. We count it a privilege to be part of that light that gives hope to the hopeless, healing for the wounded, and encouragement in disappointment. We pray that 20o6 will be a great year for God's light to shine in dark places and Mosaic will continue to be a growing part of what God wants to do in Knoxville.

Todd

Sunday morning, December 4th, was our first Sunday morning worship gathering. We were not sure what to expect and who would come. God has blessed our Monday night gatherings and the time was so spiritually rich. We certainly hoped and prayed that moving to Sunday mornings would not lose any of the spiritual momentum that was developing on Monday nights.

Once again, God honored and blessed our time together. The church building we meet in has many physical needs, but one area where that old building sparkles is in its stained glass windows. Almost all of those windows have a picture of Jesus in them and it is like Jesus is surrounding us as we worship. In our evening meetings we could not see their beauty, but in the morning I was overwhelmed by them.

44 people attended our first morning worship gathering, praise God! Many first time guests were in attendance. We celebrated the goodness of God and Claude spoke on rebuilding. He has first hand experience as he and his wife have lost about everything because of hurricane Katrina.

God wants to rebuild the ruins that have been devastated for generations. He wants to transform communities and bring glory to His name. Mosaic is blessed to be a part of what God is doing.

This Wednesday @ 11:30 we come to another very important moment in time. God is in control and He has orchestrated our steps at every turn. We are so confident of that. I meet with the city official who is responsible for delegating funds for urban renewal in our area. We are praying for favor and God's will to be accomplished. Please join us in prayer.

I pray God will bless you and you sense His love so powerfully during this Christmas season.

Todd

I can only praise the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ for making our last Monday night a spiritually intense encounter with El Shaddai, Almighty God. Once again we had our largest attendance of 28 but that is not the whole story. The One who is most important and worthy of all praise and honor manifested His presence in our midst. Prayer, Praise, and Prophecy were all shared as we brought glory to His Name.

This Sunday, December 4th @ 10:30am we will begin our first praise and prayer gathering on a new day of the week. We trust and hope that this new time will provide the opportunity for others to come and worship with us, who may not be able to attend on a week night. We will continue to invite the presence of the Holy Spirit to guide our time together.

It is not about coming to the House of God, it is about coming to the God of the house. We come together to plead for Almighty God to rescue, restore, reconcile and rebuild our lives, families, and community. It is His will to do this. It is His purpose in this world. We simply want to walk alongside God as He fulfills His purposes and brings glory to His Name.

Mosaic is a safe place and everyone is welcome. May God bless you during this Christmas season. Remember those who are hurting, suffering and without. We have some opportunities for community and servant projects in December. I will keep you posted.

Todd

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