Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Hey, guys, this is Naim, and you've reached the Mosaic Church Podcast. So excited that you're part of our listening community and love for you to be even more connected. So check out our website. There's more content there and there's more opportunities for you get connected in our ministries and events as well. Also, love for you to share this content. If this is blessed to you. I know that God wants to use you to bless other people with it, so share this podcast you will. Lastly, would you consider supporting this ministry? This is made possible by other people's generosity, and I'd love for you to pay it forward.
[00:00:39] Join us to reclaim the message and the movement of Jesus together. So would you consider giving to this ministry? I know that God is able to do immeasurably more through us when we come together. Thank you so much. God bless you. Enjoy.
[00:00:59] Yes.
[00:01:02] Wow, wow, wow, man. So many emotions, right?
[00:01:07] I don't know about you, man, but I'm like, man, I don't even know how to process this. How do you talk? So I thought I might have to. I have to put a jacket on because it's our anniversary. It's our anniversary. People have asked me, you know, hey, how does it feel? How's it feel? And then this morning, Sofia was like, how does it feel to be old?
[00:01:23] Well, thank you so much. It feels good. It feels good. I can still fit in this thing. So I feel good. I feel good about this, but so many emotions. So I just want to say, first of all, I want to say thank you. Thank you for making the time to be here. Those of you who couldn't be here and you're joining us online, I know people who have left Mosaic because of things, you know, have moved different places, and you're still part of us. I want to give a shout out to Marge, actually, who has been faithful to us, and she's a live stream host.
[00:01:51] She's all the way in Chicago. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And to Lalz in Malaysia, you've been serving us for several years now from Malaysia every week, so thank you so much, man. We're so glad. So when it comes to, like, what do I feel? There are so many words, right? So many words. But what's interesting, though, is that I've been sharing it to people like, you know, talking about, yeah, yeah, we're gonna be celebrating our 20 years. And there are a couple of words that people that come up. First word. I believe it's the word. They're surprised. They're like, oh, wow. Oh, wow. 20 years. They're like, oh, I'm sorry. 20 years. Like, they're surprised. Like, I don't know. How did I make it? You know what I'm saying?
[00:02:28] Wow. And then some people are curious. They're like, oh, wow, 20 years.
[00:02:33] How old are you? Like, that's the question. But you know what? I'm brown, so. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Just so you know. You know what I'm talking about brown people. You know what I'm saying? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? Okay. Okay.
[00:02:47] Age is just a number for us anyways.
[00:02:51] But. And then the other word is the word surprise. The people are surprised, too.
[00:02:56] They're actually not surprised. They've got.
[00:03:00] They give me some respect.
[00:03:02] Like, you know, some people, like, especially, like, church planters or pastors, And I go, 20 years. They go, oh, whoa, whoa, oh. Like, all of a sudden, I got street cred. You know what I'm saying? Like, I lasted. You know what I'm saying? I've been doing church in the wild for 20 years.
[00:03:16] I've gone through a pandemic. I'm still standing. That kind of. They're like, yes, yes. And I'm like, I'm barely standing, but I'm standing, standing. So, so many words. So many words. But again, for me, I would say there's a sense of gratitude. There's a sense of us celebrating this moment, and this moment is not about celebrating. Celebrating, honestly, the greatness of Mosaic. It's not our greatness if we're not celebrating our greatness. We are celebrating God's goodness to us. Because God been so good, and it's been so good. Not just the things that we've been able to experience, but honestly, the lives I've seen, not just in the videos, but the fact that even Lucia, when we sang that first song, that old school newsboys, he reigns. Some of you guys are like, what is this?
[00:04:04] This is. Yeah. Early 2000s people. And she was there. She was there, and your whole family. And so I'm just so excited about that. So many. So many things. So. But I will tell you this, for those of you who are like. You're like, ah, This I just thought was a regular Sunday. I'm just visiting. I'm not really invested in you guys. I'm just checking you guys out. You sound cool. Here's what I want to do today.
[00:04:27] I wanted to talk about three words, though. Three words that I believe that will shape not just the future, but they really communicate what we are experiencing. Right now, and these three words. Honestly, these three words are also three words that I believe that God wants to speak to you. So regardless of the fact that we are celebrating, there's something. There's a reason why you're here this morning, and I believe it's because God wants to communicate certain things in your life. Because there are some of us. Some of us who are dealing with, like, just an unanswered prayer. We're dealing with some things in our life that you seem stuck or. Or you seem like, is this as good as it gets? And so I want you to know that you're here this morning not just to celebrate with us, but also to hear from God. He wants to talk to you about something. And maybe it's about your marriage, and maybe it's about your relationships. Maybe it's about your business and career. Maybe it's about the future. I don't know what it is, but there are three words that I believe that God wants you to not just know, but actually to live out. And these three words are the reason why we exist right now in this reality.
[00:05:30] We're sitting in these three words because they've been lived out by people. And so here are the three words on the screen for you. The words are what?
[00:05:40] Faith, sacrifice, and commitment. You and I are living in the reality of people's faith, sacrifice, and commitment.
[00:05:51] The thing that's gonna change your business, your relationships, your. Your future, your purpose in life, your meaning in life, your college, career, it's going to be these three things. It's gonna require faith, sacrifice, and what?
[00:06:07] And commitment. And you cannot move past them. It doesn't matter how big your dream is, how passionate you are, how excited you are, it doesn't matter. Because at the end of the day, if you want to accomplish something that only you've dreamed about, it's gonna take faith, sacrifice, and commitment. Not sexy words, right? You're like, ah, I like faith. But after that, don't like it. You see, I didn't realize this when I started out, Mosaic. I mean, I didn't have these three words. I mean, I had faith. I had faith, passion, and ignorance. That's what I had.
[00:06:45] I was like, this is gonna be great. This is gonna be awesome. Ashley was pregnant at the time, right, with Nura. And we're like, okay, okay, this is gonna be.
[00:06:53] We're gonna do this. And we moved from Charleston, South Carolina, came to Charlotte, and we're like, we're gonna do this. We're start at home, and we're gonna build from scratch. There wasn't taking over a denomination. There wasn't a building handed to us. There was nothing. There was a great church that gave us, I mean, all the resources that we needed to, like, be on our own. They didn't fund us. No. They were like, when your service starts the first day, you. You're done. It's like a parent. You know what I'm saying? You're done. We pay your bills, but when you leave house, you're done not paying you.
[00:07:22] You're off the insurance. You know what I'm saying? And so when we started, there was a lot of passion but a lot of ignorance, and I did not realize what it would take. I didn't know it would take these things.
[00:07:35] And so it was interesting. Why? Because when we moved here, we had a group of people, and that's where we met Pastor Kristen. Back, back, back. Back in the day.
[00:07:46] She was 10 years old, and she started being on our. She wasn't 10 years old.
[00:07:55] But then we started building out, and I was just wrapped up in so much fashion because I was like, we're gonna create a mosaic of people. We're gonna create a community that diverse people can come together, and we can make something beautiful. It's a mosaic of people coming together, broken people, to make something beautiful. This is gonna be amazing. And then I'm gonna allow the light of God to shine through it, and it's gonna be, oh, incredible. Guess what? I came to Charlotte. People didn't love the idea.
[00:08:21] I did not know. I did not know that me and Ashley, because I'm brown. She's white people.
[00:08:28] She's white. I didn't know that was an issue.
[00:08:32] I didn't know. I didn't know until I realized that, like, one of my pastor friends, he was like, hey, bro, I mean, I'm just telling you, you're still in the South. Hello?
[00:08:40] You're still in the South. I'm like, okay. So he's like, and you have a Muslim background.
[00:08:45] I'm like, yeah, but I love Jesus. Yeah, I'm just saying, your name is not Jesus anymore. It's still Naim.
[00:08:51] And the church you're starting sounds a lot like mosque.
[00:08:55] I was like, what?
[00:08:56] I didn't think. I was like. And someone actually told me, change the name.
[00:09:01] I was like, oh, I don't want to change the name. The whole thing is mosaic. And they're like, yeah, that's amazing. That sounds cool. But. But I don't know if you know how hard it is. And I did not realize until the first time we were our team, it was me and a couple of guys. We were checking out all these locations that we were gonna start off, and there was this elementary school. And I was like, this is gonna be great.
[00:09:21] We can meet in this school. Because we didn't have a location. And we were escorted out by a guy that lost his mind. And he looked at me and said, you will never have church in this building.
[00:09:31] And I was like, dude, I don't even know who you are. Like, I didn't even meet the. I didn't even know I was meeting the principal. I was like, what is. What's going on? And then just issue after issue. And I. Like, at some point, I got to a point where I was like. I called a buddy of mine. I was like, what is wrong? And he said to me, and this is. I hate. I just wanna share this. He says, it's your brown bro and he's a white guy. And you know what he told me? He was like, hey, next time to negotiate a deal, send a white dude.
[00:10:01] And I'm not.
[00:10:03] I don't mean this to say, hey, white people have the problem. No, I'm married to a white person. I like white people a lot.
[00:10:12] All right. Just saying.
[00:10:15] But I didn't know. See, I didn't know. So what happened? We started in the mall. We started AMC theaters. And it was pretty epic because we. We packed it out. At one point, we were renting so many theaters, we had to move. We had to move to a different location. We started another campus, the Visualite Theater. Some of you guys maybe wanted to. Yeah, okay. You were there. Yeah, we started that. It was like, in six months, it just grew exponentially. We didn't know what we were doing. And I was flat broke. I was like, listen, all these young adults are coming to this thing but have no money.
[00:10:48] No one's paying anything. We ran out of money. We end up in a school finally. And we ended up. Went to Mallow Creek High School, ended up at North Meck High School and North Meck High School. That's when we're like, okay, what's happening? Those are the dark seasons, the dark times. Some of you guys know. You guys start coming in when we had mold on the chairs. Remember that? That was an amazing moment. Yeah, it was just great. And it was just a dark space and dark time. And I was like, God, what are you doing here? And there were so many things that went. And what I didn't realize is that. That my faith was going to be Tested. My sacrifice was going to be tested. How much am I willing to sacrifice to make this a reality? Because I sacrificed and we sacrificed and you guys sacrificed so much. Resources, relationships, just things. I did not realize that before I started church. I thought before I started church, everybody liked me.
[00:11:41] They really did.
[00:11:43] And then after I started church, not so much.
[00:11:47] Not a lot of people. Like, I'm like, I didn't know. I didn't know how many people. Because I was so caught up in how many people I would help. I didn't realize how many people I would hurt.
[00:11:56] And I just wanna tell you, as a pastor, I did.
[00:11:59] I hurt people because I was ignorant and I was passionate and I was all these other things.
[00:12:06] Cause I didn't know. I just didn't know.
[00:12:09] But those of you who. A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated, you know, about 20 of us, and we were there for 20 years.
[00:12:17] You stuck through all of those messy times. And then we started praying. We started praying God, okay, what do you want?
[00:12:27] What are you gonna do? What could you do?
[00:12:30] And the issue was, I'll tell you what, that. That time was so, so intense because I just, like. I felt like, oh, my gosh, I think I just need to stop this. And I was getting offers by people like, hey, why don't you go start a. Not start a church. Go, come here, do this, do this. And I'm like, I. I don't know. I don't know. And there were times Ash and I were like, I'm not quite sure. I mean, we love this dream, but I don't know if anybody else does.
[00:12:51] Anybody else does.
[00:12:53] Anybody else does. And let me show you. I've got some pictures for you.
[00:12:56] This is the couple of pictures. The first one, when we first started, this is what it looked like. Look at this. The newspaper came out and said, hey, Mosaic offers a new way to do church.
[00:13:08] Yeah. That is not Pastor Kristen, by the way.
[00:13:11] We do have a picture of her somewhere.
[00:13:14] And then they did an article, another article on me. And this was really interesting. And it said, here, look at this. And I don't know if you can read it. It says, church light or light.
[00:13:26] Cause the article was about, okay, this guy who's coming in and doing this new way is easy, easy. Really, for real.
[00:13:33] And now I want to show you one more picture. It's a painting.
[00:13:37] And this picture is one the reason why I keep on doing what I do. You know, I thought I was gonna be an art major. I thought I was gonna be this guy who just do art and what's interesting is I am making a. Hopefully making a mosaic of people. But so this is what. Anybody know what it's called? Starry Night. Starry Night. Starry Night is painted by anybody? Van Gogh. Van Gogh, yeah, Van Gogh. So what's interesting about Van Gogh is if you know his story, it's. It's pretty tragic in terms of his death, but he painted some amazing pieces. What you might not know about him is that he was in fact, a pastor. He had his own church. He had his own church and he was a pastor back in the day. He dabbled in painting and all that, but he was really a full time pastor. And what happened one day is that he got let go of his position. The reason why he let go of his position was is because he. He had opened up his church. His church was very traditional, very like, you know, like high church. You know, everything is holy and everything is.
[00:14:39] The sanctuary is a sanctuary. Well, he had opened it up because there was a huge fire in his town and he let everybody just come in and the church became a shelter for the night. His elders walked in the same weekend, saw what was happening, and they said, you have defiled the holy temple. And what also happened is that he had to wear certain robes and things like that, but he had taken them off. And actually he was helping people. And so he was tired. He was. He was just. He didn't look good. He didn't look. He didn't look official. He didn't look holy enough. And the next day they called him up and they said, you. You've defiled the temple, you defiled your position, and you have become just like one of your people.
[00:15:19] And he was like, what? I thought that was the goal.
[00:15:23] And when he got let go of that, he just walked away from a lot of things. He walked away from church. And so why Starry Night? Well, Starry Night is an indictment against the church.
[00:15:34] In fact, one of the authors that I really love, he talks about this in his book. And so here's what it is. So Starry Night basically communicates that there's light and life all over this world. And I don't know if you can see this because it's not really the greatest picture, but when you look at this painting, you'll realize that there's so much light all over the world and there's so much light in the houses and all that. And in the middle of the painting, there is this church. You notice there's this church here, and the church is the only place the only house that does not have any light.
[00:16:10] What Van Gogh was communicating by this painting is that there is light and life everywhere around the world, except for the church.
[00:16:21] That's why he put the church right in the middle, and then he puts a steeple right there at the church, right? And then he. There. He draws this, like, what is this thing? It's this huge tree. And basically, he's communicating. There is that there is organic, real, true life that's reaching the heavens, but the steeple is just pretending to reach the heavens.
[00:16:45] So this was an indictment.
[00:16:47] This was his saying, the church has no light, it has no hope, but every.
[00:16:53] There's life and light all over.
[00:16:56] And as I wrestled with that, I said, how many Van Goghs out there who have left the church and said, there's no light.
[00:17:07] There's no life in the church. There's life everywhere else. And, you know, people like that. And in fact, you were one of those people, because I know this room is filled with people who have wrestled through that idea of coming back from a wounded place or coming back from a church experience or a community that you're like, I'm not quite sure.
[00:17:30] And that's why I said, hey, we have to. We have to go after the Van Goghs of the world. People who feel like they don't belong, people who feel like hope is not for them. Hope is for the. Some. The elite.
[00:17:45] And so we had made a mission to communicate that hope is for all.
[00:17:49] And so we were motivated by that, and that's why we kept on going through the dark time of really going and staying in North Meck High School.
[00:18:00] And then we started praying. We started. In fact, I went to some of our leaders, and we called them mosaic makers or volunteers. And I had a map, and I circled it, and I circled this north lake area, and I said, this is the circle, and I want you to pray. I want God to give us a place right in this circle. And the reason why I wanted that to be the space is because I believe that this space could be a strategic place to reach not just a community, but a city.
[00:18:33] Not just a community, but a city. We never wanted to be a community church.
[00:18:39] We want it to be a city church. We want it to be. And that's why this space right here that we're in right now is like, it's near no one, but accessible to everyone.
[00:18:50] That's pretty much where we are, right? You're like, yeah, this is always.
[00:18:54] Everybody comes from all over to be in this space because we want to be an epicenter of hope in our community and in our space city.
[00:19:05] You know, there are three words that describes a church that Paul the Apostle who started churches, he was like, hey, this is the kind of church that is amazing. This is the kind of church. Now, it's not the church that has all these campuses and all these lights and all these bands and all these budgets. No, it's not that he says this. This is in First Thessalonians. He says, we always thank God for you and continually mention you in our prayers. He's talking to that church.
[00:19:30] It's the letter that he's writing. And he says, we remember before our God and Father, your work, produced by Help Me out. Produced by what? Faith. Your labor prompted by love and your endurance inspired by hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why you've heard it say, hey, we want to be people who live by faith, who are known by love, and who are a voice of hope.
[00:19:58] It's based off of this passage. This is the kind of church we want to be. A diverse community that lives by faith, that's known by love, and it's a voice of hope. And so we started praying. We started praying. We started praying. And then one day, I don't know where I was driving by, and I just drove into this business park area here, and I noticed this space right here. And I kind of looked through the windows and was not listed, but I was like, hey, this is big. And I called our realtor. And I was like, hey, hey, check out. Can you find out about this space? And so Easter 2014, if you guys were there, we moved into this space, and we're like, yes, this is amazing. This was great. It was awesome. But then we started having to do multiple services, Multiple services and all that. And then we started up campus as well. Right before COVID 2000, I think 18, we started with. And it was great. It was great because we believed. We believed that God would like if we set out and if we commit to faith, if we commit to sacrifice, and what commitment. God will meet us there. And so we were inspired. We were inspired. And so we did it. People gave and we made this happen. I mean, we raised $1.5 million to get into the space, and we were able to be here. And I can tell you, I was just so amazed by it, because I didn't think we would get here, but we did.
[00:21:30] And what inspired us was. Joshua, can I read this to you? Cause this one is really good for some of you who are like, you know what? I'm not quite sure I get that faith word. I get the sacrifice. I get the commitment. Here's a truth you want to know. Now, Joshua was written.
[00:21:44] This is a conversation that God has with Joshua. This is not necessarily for us. Does that make sense? We're not taking someone else's email. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? This is not. But we can be inspired by this because God reveals a character about him, and he says this. He says, I will give you. I will give you.
[00:22:02] I will give you. Help me out. What?
[00:22:05] Every place where you set your foot. I'll give you the place you set your foot.
[00:22:12] But you're not gonna have the place if you don't set your foot. Like, I'll give you the place you set your foot.
[00:22:20] I'll give you the goal, the dream that you go after.
[00:22:25] You won't see anything if your foot does not move, because your feet are so much connected to your face.
[00:22:34] Like, if you don't move in faith, you're not gonna have what you want. He says, I'll give you everything you set your foot, as I promised Moses. And he says, and as I was with Moses, so what? I will be with you.
[00:22:50] I will never leave you nor forsake you. And then he says this.
[00:22:54] Be what, strong and courageous, because you're going to be. You're gonna feel weak and terrified as you step out in faith. Okay. You're not gonna feel the. Oh, I feel the Holy Spirit. No, no. You're gonna be like, ah.
[00:23:11] You're gonna be like, oh, my gosh. I'm just stressing out right now. Yeah, that's it. That's when you know you're doing something great. When you're freaking out inside, it says, be strong and courageous because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.
[00:23:29] And so we did it. We stepped out. We did it, and, man, it's been amazing. It's amazing. Not just the stories, but it's amazing because we wanted to create this place as a. As a. Not a sanctuary that's so holy. No, we wanted to create this space as a tool. Yeah. Yeah. A tool to grow our faith, community, our Mosaic community, but to serve our city.
[00:23:53] And I can't tell you because how much this space has been used to serve so many. Count. Thousands of people. I mean, just in the. In the pandemic, we were able to help launch three different churches through this building.
[00:24:07] We were able to, like, house a Montessori school for almost 200 kids through this. And even right now, we're talking through a church that wants to, you know, use our space to launch from here.
[00:24:23] We've been able to do, like, I mean, have all kinds of camps, and some of you guys have been a part of that. Man, it's been really, really awesome. But. Okay, so what do we do? What do we do here? What do we do? Well, are we done? This is 20 years. Are we good? Are we good? I had a young pastor, a friend of mine, a local pastor. He was like, man, it's been 20 years. All right, man, you're done. You did it.
[00:24:44] He's like, man, if you want to step aside, I'll take over.
[00:24:47] I was like, okay. Okay.
[00:24:49] All right. He's like, I'm just saying. Just saying, you're getting old. You're just getting old. I said, first of all, Terrell, you're not.
[00:24:56] You're not.
[00:24:58] You know, Pastor T. Yeah. I was like, first of all, you're not as old. I mean, you're old, too. Okay?
[00:25:04] But he was like, yeah, just saying. Just saying. And I told him. I was like, hey, we're just getting started. We're just getting started. And what I mean by that is that the next phase, the next 20 years, we're going to take this idea of. Of faith and sacrifice and commitment that we've been sitting in, and we're gonna use the same three words to create the future that God wants to have for us. And we wanna create a legacy. Not of things that we will leave behind. No, no, no, no. That's not legacy. Legacy is not what you leave behind, okay? Because you can just die and leave things behind. That's not creating a legacy. No. A legacy is who you raise up.
[00:25:41] The legacy is who you prepare for the next generation. The legacy is the investment in lives that you have made so now they can take the helm. And so the next 20 years, we're going to do that, and we're going to believe for that. So this beginning of this year, I was like, you know what? I just.
[00:26:03] We need to soak this in prayer. I really believe that God would open some doors for us. Okay? So I started doing a series. You guys. Some of you guys were part of that. It was called Open. What?
[00:26:14] Open Doors, man. It's called Open Doors. And so I was praying for this. I was praying for you guys. I was praying. God, I want. I want.
[00:26:22] You know, I want doors to be open for Mosaic. But I was really moved by the fact that we had so many series on prayers and miracles, and every. Every week we pray. The staff and I pray for you guys. I was like, God, people just need some open doors. People just need of some breakthrough. And so I said, I just want to talk. I just want to pray for that. And so we started a series called Open Doors that I was believing and praying for you guys. And I've seen some open doors in your life, and it's been cool to celebrate with you, but, man, God has opened a door for us as well. A door. A big door for us. You know, I'm saying it's. Here's why. Here's why. Because.
[00:27:05] So when Covid came back and some of you guys have just been here since COVID we were in this space, but then there was a church that was right on that wall. Some of you guys know you. Right, okay, okay, okay. You guys know there's a church right there. And so it was so interesting because right before COVID hit, we were in negotiations to buy it, and we were like, okay, we're gonna get it. We're gonna do a campaign.
[00:27:34] We're gonna do it. And then Covid hit, and that just went south. We didn't do. We couldn't do that. We didn't want to do that. It was unwise to do that.
[00:27:42] And then a church came in and rented this. Now, the church didn't own it. The owner did not want to sell, and he rented it to a church without letting us know.
[00:27:52] And we were, you know, obviously, on Sunday mornings, if you've been here for the last three years, we'd be like, hey, by the way, also, there's a church next door. Or I get louder as I speak, because we got extra music back there.
[00:28:07] And so as we started talking about open doors, I got with some of our leaders, Mosaic makers, and I said, hey, I think this is the year we need to prepare. We need to prepare for buying this space.
[00:28:20] And I said, it's going to take two years. It's going to take two years.
[00:28:23] Here's why.
[00:28:24] Because the church, Their lease is two years, and I think then the owner will be ready to buy as we're ready to sell. And so we just need to prepare ourselves for it. So let's pray. Let's believe. And so we prayed together. We felt it was good some of you guys were in those meetings, and we started believing God, and we said, okay, we're gonna start a campaign to raise $1 million to just get the down payment on this thing, because that boy is 2 million.
[00:28:51] Get the down payment and then start a couple of renovations. But, hey, here's what we gotta do. We gotta start now. So in two years, we'll be ready. That was the plan. And then all of a sudden, God opened the door, and all of a sudden, here it is.
[00:29:07] Things have happened. God has done some things. And we are able to buy Bounceu. Now, now, now, people.
[00:29:18] Yes, yes, now.
[00:29:22] Hello. Oh, okay, we got confetti.
[00:29:26] Yes, right.
[00:29:30] Look at that.
[00:29:32] That's fun.
[00:29:35] It's like you get the golden ticket. Okay, so we're in negotiations right now, and we. Here's the awesome. The truth to it, too, is that we're gonna be.
[00:29:49] We might be like, starting construction this year, like this summer. Yeah, yeah. Now, some of you guys, mosaic makers are like, how did this happen? How did this happen? You already got an email about an invitation to a zoom call. Because I'll explain how this happened and where it took place. But I want you to know the vision behind this. This has been a dream of ours because again, we wanna have a space that is a tool for our city. So the one thing that we're going to do is that we're going to expand the auditorium. Sorry, expand the auditorium, but we are gonna expand the lobby. And right here we're gonna be able to have a co working coffee shop situation for the North Lake area, because there is no coffee shop in the North Lake area. And for some of you guys who just love to, like, meet with people, this is going to be the place. This is going to be the hub for it. And I can't tell you why this is so timely, because as we are growing in all different ways, we need more better spaces for our youth. I mean, we still have the gym. Some of you guys, like, we have a gym. Yeah, we've got a gym. We got a whole gym. Okay, Gymnasium. But we wanna create spaces for our kids and our youth and spaces for our city. And so this whole thing is about to change. Now, what's so important, though, about this is that as we get bigger, we have got to get smaller. Like, we have got to be, like, more relational. And that's why one of the biggest spaces that we're gonna create is a relational space, like for people to come before, after, hang out, get lattes, do whatever you gotta do, just be here. And the coffee shop that we're thinking about will be open, like, Monday through Friday. So it's going to be available because it's going to be, again, to serve our city and to serve you. Guys, where you guys can actually have meetings and connections and network here as well. It's going to be pretty, pretty awesome. So what is it going to take? It's going to take faith, sacrifice, and commitment. And commitment. Okay. And some of you guys are like, but show me the money. How much money is it gonna take? Yeah. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna go. Still go after $1 million. Okay, $1 million. And so we'll talk about how it's gonna happen. There is this card right here that's in the lobby with a stand up sign and all that. We'll go into details about how. How this will. How we'll accomplish this. But let me just tell you also another good news, because these people are amazing. So we've got Mosaic makers. Mosaic makers are people who give and contribute and serve in certain ways. And some of them have led the way. And so we already have 20% of this $1 million already committed. Already committed. Yeah.
[00:32:47] Yeah.
[00:32:50] This is a cheap two year campaign. We're gonna still take two years campaign. But I will tell you later on how we can actually start construction possibly this summer or fall. So it's pretty epic. It's pretty epic. Now where does it go from there? The question is this. The question is this. Okay. Okay. Name? This is amazing. This is great. Okay, but why does it really, really, truly matter?
[00:33:17] And you know what? What's interesting is that, you know how if you were gonna write your own bio for a job, you kind of over exaggerate. Anybody?
[00:33:26] Anybody?
[00:33:27] Never.
[00:33:28] Okay. Q. All right, whatever. Okay.
[00:33:31] Embellish a little bit, you know, like you wanna. Because you know that in your head, especially those of you who are very positive, you have a very high opinion about who you are and what you can accomplish in life. You know what I'm saying? Okay, but what's interesting is that when you ask other people about who you really are, like when you get feedback and you find out about it and you don't know, it's like, oh, this is who I really am. And so what I decided to do is I was like, you know what? I talk about how important Mosaic is in Charlotte and how great things we are doing and blah, blah, blah. But let's ask someone that is not necessarily biased. Now some of you guys were like, well, it might be biased. So I said, let's ask chatgpt about because it just gathers information. I was like, this is a risk because it just goes after stuff people have said in online stuff, and it'll just give you the information. I was like, I don't know if I'm ready for this. Like, don't ever, like, say, chatgpt, tell me about myself. And they'll tell you all the stuff, all the negative stuff. So here's what's funny. So I asked chatgpt, why is Mosaic important?
[00:34:44] And he gave me five things. Should I read them?
[00:34:47] Yeah. All right. So it says, Charlotte is one of the most diverse, fast growing cities in the southeast. People are moving to Charlotte from all over the world.
[00:34:57] A church that is intentionally that. That intentionally reflects the multi ethnic multicultural unity is not just helpful, it's prophetic.
[00:35:13] Mosaic isn't a church in Charlotte. It is a church that looks like Charlotte.
[00:35:23] I was like, hey, mom, can I read this to you? This is amazing.
[00:35:28] And it says, it goes on. It says, and that matters in a city where diversity is growing faster than unity.
[00:35:37] Second thing, Charlotte has deep church roots, but also deep spiritual disconnection.
[00:35:44] Huh? Many people here grow up around church but have walked away, hurt, skeptical. Others have moved away. No church background at all. A church like Mosaic is accessible, creative, welcoming. It becomes a bridge for people, the church, the unchurched, the spiritually curious, the wounded. It is a safe place to encounter Jesus without religious baggage.
[00:36:14] It is a safe place for you.
[00:36:17] I was like, huh? Okay, okay. Three, the city.
[00:36:21] City needs a place where different people can sit at the same table in a polarized city marked by racial tension, political divisions, economic inequality, generational disconnection. Mosaic is a model of a countercultural expression of the kingdom of God.
[00:36:42] Different pieces.
[00:36:44] One picture. I was like, that's a Mosaic.
[00:36:50] Number four, Charlotte is a hub for influence. Banking, business, education, health care. You guys know this. People who walk through Mosaic doors shape the industries that shape the city.
[00:37:04] Its impact does not stay inside the building. It spreads into classrooms, restaurants, boardrooms, hospitals, and neighborhoods.
[00:37:17] Number five, the city is filled with people who are lonely but surrounded.
[00:37:25] Charlotte is full of transplants, young professionals, single parents, families without local support, internationals navigating a new culture.
[00:37:37] Community is the number one felt need.
[00:37:42] Mosaic's emphasis on groups, belonging and community becomes more than a ministry. It becomes a lifeline for these people.
[00:37:53] Then lastly, it says this. It says, mosaic embodies a Christianity that is hopeful, joyful, and culturally engaged.
[00:38:03] Charlotte has thousands of churches, but not all of them speak the language of today's world. Mosaic's modern approach, creative expression, and relational style reaches people who've never felt at home in church.
[00:38:19] It keeps the gospel understandable, tangible, and compelling for a new generation.
[00:38:28] Right?
[00:38:34] So let's do this right. Let's go.
[00:38:38] Let's go. For the next 20 years, let's see what God does.
[00:38:43] Let's live out faith, sacrifice and commitment and see what God does with those.
[00:38:51] You know, we read a particular passage of scripture, we call it our benediction. Technically, it's not called. It's not a benediction. It's is just a passage in scripture that we're like, we're gonna read this forever and ever.
[00:39:04] Cause it ends with forever and ever, but we're gonna read it forever and ever. It's the one thing we change, all kinds of things. You guys know, you're like, I think the lobby's different. I think this is.
[00:39:13] We change everything. But this one thing that's consistent the last 20 years is when we end our gatherings, we come back to this one belief, one thought. It's Ephesians 3, 20, 21. And it says, now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to his power that's worked within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.
[00:39:52] Amen. And so I want to believe that over you.
[00:39:58] And maybe you're like, I feel like I'm just crashing a party. It's okay.
[00:40:04] I want to pray for you because I believe that over you, I want to pray that over your family. I want to pray that what you're going through right now and what you think the answer is, because I thought the answer was like, we'll just do this for two more years.
[00:40:22] And then God said, hey, hey, we're just going to speed this up. We're going to open a door.
[00:40:27] So I'm just going to believe that for you. I'm just going to believe that God is able to do more than you've asked, more than you've asked, more than you've even imagined.
[00:40:39] And then I pray that you would settle within yourself, that it's going to require you to move in faith, to give in sacrifice of yourself and to hold on to your commitments.
[00:40:54] So let me pray for us and do that. Let's pray together. Lord God, thank you so much for your love for us.
[00:40:59] Thank you, God, that you love us so dearly.
[00:41:05] And God, I pray that as we end this moment, we are so grateful that you would, you, God, are able to do immeasurably more so, Lord, I just pray that as we sing this last song, you would just continue to speak to us, you allow us to respond, allow us to just sit in the moment. God, just do what you're doing right now.
[00:41:30] In Jesus name, let's stand together.
[00:41:32] Thanks for listening to this message from Mosaic church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
[00:41:38] For more audio and video content, visit us at MosaicChurch TV.
