Aaron Loy's Ragamuffin Blog

Mosaic Thoughts on Communication

One of the things we do pretty regularly as part of the protege program is prepare and deliver 5 minute talks. (These are uniquely challenging because of how focused having just five minutes forces you to be!) The talks also give us a chance to put into practice some of the things we've been learning and give each other feedback on what we're doing well and where we need to grow in our communication (a big part of the program). This morning Hank Fortener, Mosaic campus pastor of the Mayan downtown joined us. His input and feedback is always so good and this morning was no exception. He are some of the things he shared that really stood out to me. I hope they prove as helpful to you as they were for me: 

Church Planting w/ Erwin McManus & Co. (pt 3)

This is the 3rd and final installment of my notes from last week's church planting class at Fuller Seminary with various leaders from Mosaic.

Octavio Martinez:

I am at a place where I just don’t care what people think of me unless they’re a non-believer.

I love my Christian brothers and sisters. But I just don’t care if they are worried that I am slipping from the faith, not focused enough on soul formation, or praying for me (or my demise) because I am meeting with a non-believer at a local bar in Whittier.

The church will actually become a reflection of you – your DNA, your virus, etc. You cannot ask people to do something you’re not doing. They are going to watch how you live. That is their only frame of reference. So you may be able to talk a great game about being missional, but if you’re not living it, it doesn’t matter.

Church Planting w/ Erwin McManus & Co. (pt 1)

This last week I had the chance to be a part of a church planting class at Fuller Sem with various leaders from Mosaic. It was beautiful in that the spirit of the conversation all week was, "This is what we've done, doing and trying to do and what we have learned along the way. It isn't necessarily right, this is just us." There was really a spirit of humility and it was very conversational all week. It made me proud to be a part of Mosaic.

Interestingly, however, there was some real hostility towards Erwin when he taught on Day 2 - had a couple walkouts, some angry questions and probably lost 1/3 of the class by the end of Day 3. This was especially interesting given both the spirit of humility and the fact that Erwin was far more gentle and accommodating than normal. Seeing such a lack of teachability and such a resistance to creativity and innovation in the church only served to reinforce my lack of faith in institutionalized Christianity and its ability to change. The class itself was a great illustration of precisely why we need new faith communities (and why having a seminary education in no way qualifies one for ministry).

I have had a few people ask for my notes from class, so I thought I'd share some of those here. Unfortunately, there is some great material that I didn't take notes on because I've heard it so many times in the last year. So what you are getting is bite size nuggets that stood out to me personally. I'll be rolling out my notes in 3 parts by presenter - Chad Becker, Erwin McManus and Octavio Martinez. Hope that they prove as helpful for you as they have for me.

Predestined to be a Scientologist

This past week me and the protege crew spent a morning touring a Scientology center in, of all places, Hollywood. This has been on our "to-do" list for some time now and it was great to finally get to do it. Part of our reason for going had to do with our discussion about tribes, but the main goal was to experience what it felt like to be on the other side of high pressure evangelism. Unfortunately, they knew we were a group of Christians before we got there so I think we got the non-fat version.

Aside from a hilarious South Park episode (which they cited as an obnoxious headache), I really didn't know much about Scientology prior to my experience the other day. After our rather vague tour that primarily centered around what an amazingly swell guy L. Ron Hubbard was, I still feel there is a lot I don't know. The thing we were a part of was more like a introductory 'first experience' type thing. Although we asked a lot of questions, the answers we got were pretty vague and some actually contradicted things we had heard from those with friends deep into Scientology. It felt more like a PR session catered just for us, but I still learned some interesting things I thought I'd share.

Though you'd never guess it with their horrendous sci fi looking book covers, they are really good at marketing. They know how to draw people in, connect with them, and get 'em 'hooked' without ever having to address the truth behind the truth. And at least on the front end, I can totally see why Scientology has the kind of following it does. They boast about it being the one major world religion started in the 20th century (a rather odd thing to boast about, if you ask me), and frankly, it is exactly the type of religion you would expect to be birthed out of the 20th century. The things they champion are generally good: keeping street drugs out of the hands of kids; helping people become better leaders, better communicators, better human beings; encouraging personal health and success; making families stronger and homes healthier environments for kids to be raised in. These are all good things that most of us can agree on.

Their focus is intellectual and rational, they celebrate knowledge as progression (think "modern"), and interact a lot with popular psychology. They also acknowledge that God exists (something the vast majority of people are willing to agree with) and they will even go as far as to say that "if we miss God, we miss everything." Interestingly, their worship services look just like a church. They have a pulpit, the attenders sit in rows, they baptize babies, do weddings, worship together, even have a leather bound bible (though not called that) written by L. Ron Hubbard himself, filled with sermons for all different kinds of occasions.

They proudly admit to sampling from every major religion and then, perhaps most importantly, they affirm people's personal beliefs while giving themselves and everyone else permission to agree to disagree on most everything spiritual. We hung out with a woman who is an ordained minister and she outright said, "God is the most important thing there is. And there is only one God. There is not a god of the Jews, and a god of the Muslims, a god of the Mormons, etc. There is only one God..." (alright, sounds good, I am tracking with this lady so far...then she says,) "But what God is for me is probably very different than what God is for you."

Bam. There it is. They have essentially taken the things we can all affirm as 'good', championed those things and invested their resources in helping people with them, and then subtracted the one thing that every disillusioned Christian, atheist, apostate, and postmodern thinker has a problem with: the idea that one belief is 'right' and other beliefs are wrong. They have essentially created a community that both empowers personal development and acknowledges spirituality, without ever having to articulate what that spirituality is, allowing each person to define it for him or herself. From our brief introduction to Scientology last week, it almost seems to be the perfect man-made religion.

Spoiled by Church Planting

The past eight months I have found myself consistently having to wrestle with feelings of frustration and I am trying to figure out why. I mean, I am a part of a really cool church that has a global reputation for missionality and innovation, whose core values I am personally passionate about, and it is led by a man I greatly respect and admire. So what’s the deal?!

I think the answer to that question has more to do with what I love than with what is frustrating me, per se. I mean, sure, L.A. people can be really flaky – often saying they’ll do something but rarely following through. And sure, people mostly keep to themselves and as a result sometimes come off as being cold or detached. But all in all, it isn’t a bad place to live. There are good people here. And more cool things to do than any one person has time for. All in all, my wife and I are digging L.A.

I think my real problem is that I have been spoiled…spoiled by church planting.

Can I just say that I love church planting? I do. Think about it: no rules. no walls. no history. no  baggage. just a blank canvas, a bunch of dreams, some ancient promises, and a group of people crazy enough to think this thing might work.

I mean, sure, it’s scary. It's unpredictable. And yea, some sources do suggest that 80% of them fail. But that means 20% of them work, and if you ask me, that is reason enough to keep doing it.

What do most people cite as their reasons for not going to church? “It’s boring. It’s dated - like stepping into a Chuck Norris film, only without all of the great one-liners. It’s full of hypocrites. It’s unhelpful. They just want my money. I don’t have time. I just don’t want to.” Those are good reasons. And can I admit something? I agree that many of these things are true of far too many churches. The sad part is that those churches are not a good representation of what the message of Christ is and what his movement was intended to be. Even those outside of the faith understand this to be true. As a result, scores of people (Christians included) have walked away from the church. And it is totally unnecessary.

Most people haven’t given up on God. They have given up on church. New movements are needed that are willing to try new things in order to connect them with Jesus.

Starting a new community is an opportunity to try things that just aren’t going to happen in many established churches. Too much hierarchy. Too many politics. Too many committees overseeing committees overseeing committees. Too much of a lot of things. Even if an established church wanted to change some of the fundamental things they do or the ways in which they do them, by the time that something is presented, debated, voted, passed and implemented, it is no longer such a great idea anymore. Hard to create movement in something designed to be static. Church planting is an opportunity to start a movement.

All that to say that I have really been spoiled. Even in a church as unique and innovative as Mosaic, there still exists things like hierarchy, red tape and due process. Of course, in a church of 3k there almost has to be. It has really just served to affirm my passion for church planting and to clarify that I am probably not cut out for mega church ministry. Good people, good work, but just not my style.  

Mosaic: 6 Months In

It has been just over six months since my family and I picked up and headed westward to Los Angeles to be a part of Mosaic’s “Protégé Program.” There is a lot of buzz about Mosaic. As I travel around, some people get pretty jazzed when I tell them what church I am a part of. Others, however, give me the scarlet letter treatment. For better or worse, a lot of people are interested in what Mosaic is doing and what they’re all about. So I thought it might be of interest to share some of the things I’ve found in my first six months of serving at one of America’s most influential churches:

Mosaic is just a church.

Although this may sound like a negative statement, it’s really not meant to be. Before moving out here, I had been following Mosaic for some time. I believe it was roughly 6 years ago that I heard Erwin speak for the first time at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit. His message on the Barbarian Way forever changed the trajectory of my life. I would follow Mosaic from a distance for the next several years. Tuning into the podcasts, reading Erwin’s books and articles, Mosaic felt like a home away from home. I found myself captivated by the visions for life and church that I heard cast through the mp4 airwaves and I tried my best to replicate those visions in my own ministry contexts.

When I caught wind of the protégé program, everything in me wanted to be a part of it, but being locked in a mortgage and ministry context of my own, I just didn’t think I’d get the chance. As fate would have it, however, I got my chance just a couple years later. So six months ago, my wife and I pulled up stakes, packed up our stuff, and left friends and family to move half way across the country to serve and learn at Mosaic.

To my initial disappointment, however, I learned pretty fast that Mosaic is just a church. I’m not sure what I expected, but whatever it was, it wasn’t realistic. Mosaic is a church. It is an extraordinary church. But it is still just a church. It is filled with imperfect people trying to serve God the best they know how. It is led by imperfect leaders who probably occasionally struggle with mixed agendas, pride, and a culture of cool. They don’t have it all figured out. In fact, there is quite a lot that they don’t have figured out. They try some stuff that doesn’t work. Other things they try probably shouldn’t work, but they do. Coming to this realization has really been a good thing for me because it grounds me as I look to the future and potentially church planting. I fear that had I not come here, I would have always had unrealistic expectations of myself and others based on my perception of Mosaic.

Erwin is the real deal.

Erwin remains one of the most extraordinary people I have ever met. Although he sometimes gets a  hard time for being introverted, opinionated and somewhat intimidating, if you ask me, he is still one of the most compelling human beings I have ever known. The guy is legit. Being on the inside of Mosaic allows me to continually hear stories about Erwin. Some of them are the epic types everyone gets to hear on the podcasts. But many are the kinds of stories that happen behind the scenes in the week to week stuff every church leader has to deal with and few people ever hear about. I am continually amazed at the kind of wisdom, courage and character Erwin displays in the seemingly insignificant moments of every day leadership. Which leads me to my next point…

 

Never Underestimate the Impact a Single Person Can Make

One of the things I have always insisted on believing about Mosaic was that unlike most churches with celebrity pastors, this one wasn’t built on a personality. That is mostly true. Mosaic wasn’t built on Erwin’s personality. But Mosaic was most certainly built on Erwin’s leadership. Erwin is at the center of everything that really thrives at Mosaic. In fact, they have tried starting gatherings where Erwin doesn’t teach (I currently serve at one) and they just haven’t been successful at getting them off the ground. They found just a year or two ago that Erwin doesn’t preach, attendance drops by 60%! I think Erwin wishes this wasn’t the case and he has told me that he dreams of the day when his communication gifts are no longer needed on Sunday, when the gifts of others are more needed than his own and his involvement at gatherings is maybe 10%. If you ask me, however, that day isn’t anywhere in sight. Although Erwin spends a large portion of his time traveling and speaking now, he is still the primary leader, communicator, vision caster and (for lack of a better word) “draw” at Mosaic. If he were to step away from Mosaic tomorrow, I’m not sure the church could survive. At the very least, they’d have to make some BIG changes.

Specialists vs Work Horses

I have always had a hard time with the tendency of mega churches to move towards ridiculous specialization. You know, when they have people on full-time staff with job titles like “Assistant Name Card Organizer for the Children’s 3:15 Service.” I mean, really? Mosaic, however, finds itself on the other side of the spectrum. Mosaic staff all do a little bit of everything. A number of them step in and help out wherever is needed all the time. Sometimes this just means running powerpoint for an experimental worship gathering. But other times it means taking over leadership of the Mosaic Alliance for all of North America. There is a sense of fluidity that I love. On the negative side, Mosaic staff often do so much that sometimes it seems that really important things only get “pet project” status. Some balls just end up getting dropped. But by and large, I am completely blown away by all that the staff are able to juggle and make happen. And one of the things I love about the culture at Mosaic is that they are always asking their leaders, “Do you still want to do this? Is this something you are still passionate about? Or should we hand it off to someone else to free you to do what you love?” I love that.

Excelling at the Other Things

The ironic thing about Mosaic is that the things it generally does poorly are the same things that 90% of churches already do well. However, the things that Mosaic does really well 90% of churches don’t do well. This is one of the things that makes Mosaic such a great place to learn and serve.

 

Empowering People

One example: Mosaic is an empowering place. Whereas most churches seek to manage and control people, Mosaic seeks to unleash them. This is one of the things I have most appreciated about Mosaic over the years. They value the unique passions, giftedness, calling and contribution of each person. Whereas many churches might give lip service to this, Mosaic actually fleshes it out. When someone wants to come on volunteer staff, one of the first conversations is about helping them identify how God has uniquely created them – their interests, desires, passions, etc – and then encouraging them to use and develop them in chasing after God’s unique call on their life. Sometimes this results in the starting of new nonprofits, sometimes in results in sending people to existing organizations, sometimes it means them getting involved in stuff going on at Mosaic, and sometimes it means eventually losing some of their best people to start new churches or to go overseas. There have been years when Mosaic has averaged the commissioning and sending of three people or couples overseas per month! That is 36 full time missionaries a year! What Mosaic doesn’t do is begin the conversation with its own needs. What they don’t do is make a laundry list of positions they need filled. What they don’t do is try to force round pegs to fit in square holes to cover their own butt. That is called manipulation. And it is more about oiling the machine than serving people. I can’t tell you how much I love this about Mosaic.       

Re-Engaging Relevance

 Relevance has been a favorite topic of conversation in many circles over the last decade. The word is everywhere. We have Relevant Magazines, Relevant Radio (& these guys definitely are), Relevant Churches, Relevant Worship, Relevant Performances (sorry, I had to) Relevant Multimedia, Relevant Para-church Ministries, Relevant Branding, Relevant Blogs, and Relevant Conferences where Christian leaders can learn how they and their ministries can become all things, you guessed it, relevant.

The word has soared to the great heights of Buzzword - reserved for only the most ridiculously over-used terms in Christendom - taking its place alongside former chart-toppers, like seeker, contemporary, community and postmodern. But like most buzzwords, the hype has since fizzled out leaving our poor word to hang out in ambiguity with the other has-beens. Here they are generally assumed to be understood by most, but rarely are. And since they are no longer considered a relevant part of the conversation, they remain misunderstood.

Thus is the case with our friend Relevant. And so I thought I'd bring him back into the conversation today in order to address some of the common misunderstandings about him and to better understand the valuable idea he still represents.

"Relevance is not about being cool. It is about being understood." - Jason Jaggard

Tuesday I spent the day snowboarding at Big Bear with buddy Kurtis. If you've never been to Big Bear, it is a relatively small mountain consisting of 90% snowboarders, 75% fake snow, and 100% terrain park. It is a x-gaming terrain freak's dream. Every run on the mountain has terrain features - even the bunny slope. We're talking table tops, jumps, rails, funboxes, trees, wall rides, bonks, even conversion vans and broncos (the car, not the horse) on which to pull your sickest trick. The venue naturally pulls in a large hipster crowd from all over L.A. and Orange County.

In surveying this melting pot of cool, a converted midwesterner, like myself, can't help but muse on the almost comically obvious reality that I have stepped into a world far from the one I was raised. "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto." As we took another ride up the mountain, Kurtis and I talked about the importance of fashion to L.A. You don't even have to live here to see it. Visit L.A. anytime of the week or weekend and you'll see it. It is everywhere. But here is the interesting thing about L.A. fashion, it is both necessary and relative. There is no one way to dress that is deemed cool or in. There is no one designer, one look, one anything, there are many. There is an understood freedom to express oneself. And because it is relative, no one is really better than the other. However, the one thing that isn't acceptable is to disregard the importance of fashion - in essence, to say with your look that you really don't think fashion matters. To do this is to essentially take a shared value of the culture and say that you do not deem it to be worthy of your time. Like all matters pertaining to relevance, it is a sure way to alienate yourself from the culture in short time.

And so herein lies a valuable truth about relevance to culture: It is not about being cool. It is about being understood. And at least in part, it is about communicating to others that their interests, concerns, struggles and needs are worth your time.   

Relevance is about starting on even ground.

Sometimes pastors make the mistake of thinking that being relevant gives them "one up" on everyone else; as if one's ministry could only be cool enough, hip enough, edgy enough, it would almost certainly succeed. This is not the function of relevance. Relevance only affords you the opportunity to start the conversation on even ground. Irrelevance, on the other hand, forces you to start from behind. In ministry and relationships, it can often cause you to lose your voice with people before you even start speaking.

Relevance, therefore, is only Step 1. Failing to engage people in a relevant way may prevent you from ever getting to Step 2. And so it is important. Very important. But again, it is only Step 1. If relevance is all you have to offer, you don't have much.

Relevance is not a tool. It is a worldview.

Please hear me on this, being relevant does not mean repackaging what you are already doing in a trendier way. In fact, if you want to guarantee failure in engaging with those outside of the church, keep on doing what you're doing and repackage it to look like something different. That is not innovation. That is not vision. That is manipulation. And many pastors and churches are really good at manipulation. Relevance is not a tool to get people to do what you want. It is not the missing piece in your life or ministry. It is a worldview. It is a way of approaching life and ministry that puts the desires and needs of those who do not yet know Christ before your own and before those in your church. 

It is the latter part of that statement that often makes leading relevant movements so difficult. The desires and perceived needs of church people almost always conflict with the desires and needs of those who do not yet know Christ. And just to spare you some time, the two mix about as well as oil and water. Choosing to pursue relevance may force you to make some difficult decisions. You may have to decide between talking about real and uncomfortable issues or maintaining the status quot. You may have to axe some programs that are loved by your members but that do not serve the mission of your church. You may have to watch friends leave and big tithers take their checks to the church next door. You may have to endure a lot of pain. Ultimately, you will have to choose between which voices you will listen to - the loud, constant and often powerful ones coming from within your church's four walls, or the soft, unspoken, unrepresented voices of those who do not yet know Christ.

Your relevance and irrelevance will be decided by which of these voices you choose to listen to. It is a choice that is made not once, but one that must be made continually. The voices will continue. The powerful voices within your ministry will continue to campaign for their interests, and that might involve also campaigning for your resignation. But that is the price of leading a ministry that strives to do what Jesus called us to. That is the price of relevance. Is it hard? Yes. Is it worth it? Absolutely.