March 2012
1 post
Will you mentor me?
From time to time I have people ask me this question: “Will you mentor me?” The answer is always yes. I’ll teach you what I know (which is usually not much) about: public speaking, preaching, becoming a stronger, more committed Christian, being a good dad, planting a church, starting a ministry from scratch etc, etc, etc…..
I find it odd that no one has ever asked me to...
January 2012
2 posts
Sunday Night Brain Download
Dear Mosaic,
I’m sitting here reflecting on this morning and I thought I would put it down on “paper”, so here goes:
This morning was AMAZING! I had a blast at church today.
The worship team was ON POINT! Everyone was on cue and the presence of God was real and obvious. Today’s worship experience was one that I’ll remember for a long time.
Watching three people...
Bringing Sexy Back 2012
This year I’m turning 40. I know, I know, I don’t look a day over 50.
Anyway, I’m surprised how reflective this has made me. I think age is just a number but in a way, it’s also a way to keep score. Have I done what I set out to do? Have I done the important stuff? Have I focused my time and energy on the things that really matter?
Maybe age isn’t the scoreboard, but it is the timer...
November 2011
1 post
3 tags
Jesus and Taco Johns
There are all kinds of reasons that people don’t make it to church. Some are legitimate and quite honestly, some aren’t. That’s not the point, the point is that Hebrews tells us we need to meet together with other Christians (Hebrews 10:25) so instead of explaining why we can’t, we just need to find ways to make it happen. Case in point: Anna. Anna is a teenager from...
September 2011
1 post
My first tumblr blog post.
June 2011
1 post
Mosaic Church and The Bikini Bike Wash
A few weeks ago our associate pastor Ray was contacted by the local Harley-Davidson dealer. They asked if our church would be interested in hosting a bike-blessing booth at their dealership for their big summer bar-b-que kickoff event. It took us about 2 seconds to say yes: we love bikes and bikers and annually host Biker Sunday at Mosaic (This year it’s July 10th).
As the event moved closer...
May 2011
1 post
1 tag
What am I doing in Birmingham, Alabama?
I’m writing this blog post in a Starbucks on Montclair Road in Birmingham, Alabama. I flew in earlier today to meet with a man that could help Mosaic get to the next level in God’s plan for His church. Tomorrow I’ll spend the day with Chris Hodges, pastor of Church of the Highlands because I’m taking part in a pastors mentoring group called Grow Leader. You can read more about Grow Leader by...
February 2011
1 post
10,000 Hours and Justin Bieber's New Movie
This afternoon I went and watched Justin Bieber’s documentary: “Never Say Never.” I must admit, I enjoyed it. The kid is very talented and he goes for it when he performs. He puts on a good show and his story was inspirational: unknown kid in small town gets discovered on Youtube and is now selling out Madison Square Garden. Awesome story.
But that wasn’t what struck...
January 2011
1 post
God's Miraculous Provision
Today we announced at Mosaic Church & Amanecer Cristiano the incredible miracle that God performed this week. This is how it unfolded:
A couple of months ago we were contacted by Rick White of the Agur Foundation out of Denver. The Agur Foundation’s mission statement is: To build up the body of Christ around the world by providing properties for new Christian churches to develop, grow and...
July 2010
2 posts
Staycation 2010
Today is day 3 of our Staycation (Stay at home vacation). We planned several vacations for this summer but each time one or two details didn’t work out. Sometimes it was conflicting schedules for me, sometimes for my active kids and sometimes we couldn’t find the deal we wanted. This week we had family come in from South Texas and it worked out that we could take this week off and...
A Mosaic Milestone and The Worship Team
Last night we had the worship and media team over for a backyard BBQ. It was a great time with an amazing, self-sacrificing team. We even bought the good hamburgers and non-generic chips (oh yeah baby, it was that wild.)
I love these guys for a couple of reasons:
1. They’re willing to try anything. We’ve tried all kinds of stuff on Sundays. Some have worked well, some not so...
June 2010
1 post
Is your NEED big enough?
This morning at Mosaic I spoke about need. Is there enough need in our lives as a church?
On one hand, we’ve come a very long way in a very short amount of time. We have been in existence a little over 2 1/2 years and it’s been an exciting ride.
On the other hand, the summer slump in church attendance and financial giving that many churches experience hit us exceptionally...
May 2010
2 posts
Sunday Night Brain Download
Tonight I was thinking about the day and as I thought things through, I thought I would blog about it to process it out. Here goes:
Today the Mosaic worship team rocked! Zach and the team (the Mosaic All-Stars) have been working hard lately and it shows. Their musicianship is at an all-time high and they flowed together.
The entire worship set just worked great and I’m grateful for...
Congratulations, you're the fattest boy in camp OR...
In the movie Heavyweights Ben Stiller plays a exercise guru that buys a summer camp for fat kids and tries to convert it into a weight loss camp. The movie is hilarious. In one of my favorite scenes his assistant Lars is weighing the boys in. He tells a camper named Sims: Congratulations Mr. Sims, you are the fattest boy in camp. To watch the clip, click here, the scene starts at 1:31.
What...
March 2010
1 post
Love God Love People
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31
Jesus breaks things down for this teacher of the law. The guy is sincerely asking Jesus a question as opposed to just trying to trap Him....
December 2008
1 post
Been A While
It’s been a while since I posted. I’ve been busy I guess. We moved our church to a new location and that has been awesome. It was a ton of work, more than I imagined but in the end it came out really cool.
I will post more often in the future.
September 2008
6 posts
2 tags
Facilities
I believe I have found our next location. We have been looking for months. Building shopping is a drag when you don’t have a lot of money. Come to think of it, a lot of things are a drag when you don’t have a lot of money. Anyway, we found a space in downtown Greeley. It has awesome parking, great space for worship, nursery and kids church. It’s on the 3rd floor of a really cool...
Church Planting, Starbucks and Monster.com
Today I’m in Columbus, Ohio at a training seminar for Monster.com. I have just been contracted by them to present their material for college funding in high schools. Not long ago I was working at Starbucks and pastoring Mosaic. A few weeks ago my wife and I both felt like God was telling us I should quick Starbucks. I was more than a little nervous about it but we felt it was the right thing...
1 tag
Mosaic 1st Anniversary
This weekend we celebrated out 1st anniversary. It was a blast!
In Andy Stanley’s book “Making Vision Stick” he recommends celebrating victories regularly. I agree wholeheartedly and I will make more of a practice of celebrating what’s going right according to plan and what has exceeded our expectations.
Thanks for reading, talk to you soon.
2 tags
Making Vision Stick
I just finished reading Making Vision Stick by Andy Stanley. It’s a small book, 50 some pages. I read it in one sitting in Starbucks. It’s like Andy knew where I was and what I needed to hear. This Sunday I’m speaking on the big V word. Vision. We’re celebrating our 1 year anniversary as a church and things are exciting. What Andy’s book did for me was help me...
3 tags
College
This semester I will finish my Kollege, or I mean college degree. I started in 1995 and went full time for 3 years. I then took about 7 years off before starting back to finish. I should have my B.A. in December. Now I’m thinking about continuing on to work on my Masters. I must be crazy but in the end I think it will be worth it. Hopefully I’ll finish that before I turn 40.
...
3 tags
Facilities, Facilities, Facilities!!!
O.K. here’s the deal. We started in my living room with 8 people in August 2007. We then had our first church service on Sept. 16th, 2007. We met in an old hotel ballroom that was stuffy, had a dance floor in the middle, christmas lights hanging from the ceiling, had mirrors all around the room and smelled like cheap beer. We were there one week when we were offered the opportunity to share...
August 2008
6 posts
One Month To Live
I’ve been reading this book by Kerry & Chris Shook called One month to live and I gotta tell you, it’s pretty good. Honestly, when I started into the first couple chapters I was about to give up on it. I liked, no loved the concept but it wasn’t grabbing me. Now, I’m just about through it. It’s been interesting, considering what I would do if I had only one month...
Mosaic Church 5K Run To Benefit Chanae Nordhoff
This past Saturday morning I “ran” a 5K. This was to benefit Chanae Nordhoff, a young lady in our community that was set to attend Metro State University in Denver on a cross country scholarship but was involved in an auto accident. We had 19 people from Mosaic come out and support the family by participating in the run.
I started out the day planning to walk the course. I’ve...
2 tags
What is Your Profession?
In the movie 300 Leonidas and his 300 Spartans meet up with the Greek “reinforcements.” In this scene the Greek army is nervous because of the low Spartan numbers. Leonidas responds to their concerns by asking a few of the Greeks their professions. One is a sculptor, another a potter and another a blacksmith. Leonidas then turns to his 300 and yells: “Spartans, what is your...
Externally Focused Church
A couple of years ago I met Rick Rusaw from Lifebridge Christian Church in Longmont, CO. Rick radically altered my definition of the word “outreach.”
For years I have done outreaches. I’ve done Sidewalk Sunday School in low income apartment complexes all around the U.S. I’ve done large scale outreaches drawing as many as 5,000 people. Easter Egg Hunts, Halloween events (or...
South Texas Culture
I just got back from a short (5 day) vacation in South Texas. The culture down there is so rich and so familiar. I was born and raised in Colorado and I love my state and my city but there’s nothing like the food and familia in South Texas. My dad is from the Corpus Christi area so maybe that’s why it feels like home.
Anybody have similar thoughts about Texas or some other area?
...
2 tags
Summer - For a Church Planter
I used to love summer….
I love cooking out, I love hanging out with my friends in my backyard, I love taking the kids swimming and man I love the 4th of July!
But being a church planter has changed some of that love to loathing…
Summer is rough on a young church. We started Sept. 16, 2007 and we had some serious momentum going. People were visiting, numbers were growing and we were...
July 2008
3 posts
2 tags
10,000 BC Church Planter, how big is your circle?
I just watched 10,000 BC. For the most part it was a pretty straight forward action/suspense caveman type movie with a few bird dinosaurs, mammoths and a sabertooth tiger thrown in for the coolness effect.
There was one part however that really stopped me and made me rewind the movie to watch it a couple more times. It was the scene when the star and his older mentor (uncle?) are talking around...
1 tag
Starbucks Rants The Sequel
Today a lady came into Starbucks and read the front page of the newspaper in front of our counter. It said: “ICE Coming to Greeley.” ICE is a new immigration office. She let out a squeal (I chose that word carefully) of delight and said “it’s about time!”
Then, she looks up straight into my eyes. She froze for a second when she realized I was Latino. She pulled...
2 tags
Starbucks Rants
Starbucks Rant # 1.
Today at work an elderly lady threatened to throw ice at me if I made her drink incorrectly. I told her to bring it on and we could go UFC MMA style right there in the store. Rules: no eye gouging, no groin shots and no foreign objects.
Just kidding.
But she really did threaten me. What is our fine society coming to when little old women want to threaten to rumble with a 36...
June 2008
8 posts
La Ofrenda (The Offering)
Today I was thinking about how we take up the offering at our church. The old “pass the hat, take up the tithes, pay your tithes, give to The Lord, etc.”
In “Jim and Casper go to church” they make a couple of interesting observations about the giving time in different churches. At Mosaic in L.A. Ron McManus gives the opportunity to give for the church people and instructs...
1 tag
Jim and Casper Go To Church
I’m reading this book, Jim and Casper go to church. So far so good. I really liked the introduction. Jim has definitely been around and he wears his worn out spiritual emotions on his sleeve (where I wear mine, it’s a good spot.)
This will definitely make me look at a few things we’re doing harder this Sunday. What do visitors think of my church? I actually asked a girl I work...
2 tags
Church Planting is Hard
This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
Remember that scene in Wild Hogs (very funny movie) when Martin Lawrence gets to the convenience store to unclog the toilet and the clerk says “I saw my father shot, but I did not cry till today. I was robbed yesterday, and I know now, your job is the bad one. “
This is how I feel sometimes about church planting.
I started a...
Church Planting is Numbers
I’m torn by alot of what I read about church planting. On one hand I see guys saying “don’t worry about the numbers, just stay focused on the task at hand.” and “In ministry we focus too much on nickels and noses.” (That saying sounds like it started in the south). But in the Bible we see God counting often. Jesus fed 5,000, then 4,000. There were the...
Hulk Hogan's Ex-Wife
I read that Hulk Hogan’s ex-wife who is like 48 years old is dating a 19 year old kid.
Dang.
I don’t know what to say about that.
Thanks for reading, talk to you soon.
1 tag
Pastors, who do you know?
To all my pastor people,
Man I love pastors. I love hanging out with pastors, grilling in my backyard with my pastor friends. I like hanging out with people like me.
So do you.
That’s the problem. How many non-christian people do you know? How many do you hang around with? How many are your friends? I was a full-time pastor for years and during that time I slowly became insulated with...
2 tags
How I Became a Bi-Vocational Pastor
I went “full-time” in ministry in 1997. I did this by starting a program for low income kids and raising my own salary (through grants, etc.) at a church in Greeley. I did that for a year and then was hired on by the church. For 9 years I was a full-time pastor. Last summer I resigned my ministry position to plant Mosaic church. We planted Mosaic with no money, no parent church, no...
reblog: My Story, well the beginning anyway...
- Originally posted June 6, 2008 -
I’m just a regular guy that realized there was more to life than what we see or experience on a daily basis. When I was 23 years old I decided to place my trust in Jesus Christ and on that day accepted the gift of forgiveness He purchased for me on the cross. I also decided to make Him the Lord of my life and to dedicate the rest of my life to serving Him....