Jesus & Football, Much More Weekly Update

Greetings and welcome to the weekly Mosaic Newsletter and Update.

As you may or may not know, a lot is happening at Mosaic. This last week we had a good conclusion to the series They Like Jesus But Not The Church. We had a panel of individuals from the community who are not active in the church, ranging from a business owner, to musician, and from a gay community advocate to a filmmaker. It was interesting on a few fronts, for me mainly the reality that they brought up much of what we have been talking about in the series. In all of this I must say, I was really proud of the folks at Mosaic for making each of our guests feel welcome and being respectful. Realize it is possible that events like this will not only inspire us to understand our culture more, but also have those we show respect to tell their friends in the community about their experiences at Mosaic.

As is the norm, the bulletin for the week is attached and I encourage you to look at it. There are a number of activities coming up as we approach the holidays, and you want to be aware of them. Some of those include:

Saturday, October 8, This Saturday, Vision Team Meeting from Noon – 1:30, we will discuss a number of things including updates on education, youth, worship, potential new property, and we will be discussing the plans for the upcoming Overflow Shelter.

Saturday, October 15, Parents Night Out, 5 PM – 10 PM, we will be offering a parents night out and the funds will support our youth program. The suggested donation is $5 per hour for the first child and $2.50 per hour for each additional child. Please let your friends and others know about this event. We still need some volunteers and we will have snacks, pizza, non caffeinated soft-drinks available.

Sunday, October 23, Murdock Theater, Showing of The Long Walk, $8, The Long Walk, the short film based on my book The Keystone Kid, and the reconciliation with my mom is showing at the prestigious Tallgrass Film Festival. The High School shorts start at 1 PM and the Best of Kansas Filmmakers shorts, (which includes The Long Walk) starts at 3 PM. Please, spread the word and I would like to see as many as possible attend this showing. There are awards and recognitions for the shorts which the audience can vote on.

Monday October 31 - Z 104.5 The Fox Classic Rock, Classic Horror benefits Mosaic, 6 PM – 1 AM, The Forum Theater, College Hill, The cost or suggested donation is $10.50 per person. The movies will include, The Shining, The Exorcist, and Halloween. It will not be for the faint of heart and all proceeds raised go to benefit Mosaic.

Sunday, November 20, Pastor Mike shares about Mosaic and what the Lord has been doing in his life at Hope Community Church in Andover. He will also have his book and short movie available during the morning services.

Thurs, November 24, Thanksgiving Dinner, 5 PM, This year we are going to have a dinner at the church. We need donations, cooks, and more to make this event as special as it can be.

Friday, December 2, 7 PM, William Fosterr Christmas Concert, William is back for a special Christmas Concert. He will perform Friday evening, Saturday afternoon and evening, and Sunday morning.

Saturday, December 3, 1 PM, William Fosterr Christmas Homeless Concert

This week has been unique and special. On Tuesday I had the opportunity to spend an hour or so with a fellow named Michael who has been coming to the day program. He shared how his girlfriend had died of cancer this last week and how difficult that was. He had purchased a bus ticket to Salina where he was going back to get away from all of the problems of the city, and to try and get his old job back. He also shared how much the church had helped him and how much he appreciated it. As he left he told me that he loved me and was glad I was his friend. I can’t express enough the importance of things like this.

Then around 10 AM I had a lady came into my office with tears streaming down her face. She wanted to talk, and I realized from her brokenness that I had to stop and give her the time she needed. We spent the next 2 hours with her sharing her heart. She had been arrested for prostitution and released the day before, had used crack cocaine, and realized that she couldn’t go on, ‘I need to find God, I need to find God’ she would repeat over and over. She realized all she had done to hurt herself, her family and especially her children. Her breaking point came when her daughter picked her up from jail. I am normally very cautious and was here, but I felt the sincerity in her expressions. After a period of time, I told her that she could know God before she walked out the door of the office. At her request, and her invitation, I proceeded to pray with her as she prayed to receive Christ into her life. Today, Wednesday, I spent time trying to do what we are all required to do, and what wasn’t done for me, to go the extra mile in helping her overcome the obstacles in her life. I am convinced that God has us where he does for a reason.

Then at 2 PM I had a lady who had heard about Mosaic come in to take a tour. It was kind of strange though, in the early part of the tour, I told her of how we respected all people, no matter where they came from and that we didn’t force Jesus on anyone, she jumped in becoming rather upset, stating she didn’t want anything to do at a program where we didn’t share Jesus, without letting me finish what I was saying. I have learned over the years to not argue with people, especially when they jump in before even letting you finish your sentence. I told her it wouldn’t be a good fit and that I hoped she understood that we have seen an impact on the homeless including salvation, baptism and even this morning the salvation of an individual. She was ready to leave right a way though, and as she did, I was grateful that we honor Jesus by being Jesus to people. Jesus didn’t force himself on anyone, neither should we, we are called to love and be Jesus to those around us. I have learned when we do that, others receive the message of Jesus we share and we will see fruit. I told the lady as she left, I will gladly put the fruit of ministry up from Mosaic for anyone to inspect. There is more than giving food yes, but unless we show we care for the individual, I wonder, do we see them and love them the way God does or are they just projects and feathers we think we can stick in our cap? My prayer is this, we see, and love, in the same way Jesus does, not the way others think we should.

In closing, for those that don’t know, Mosaic is a very small church, we actually barely get by and sometimes the church has enough to pay me a little, sometimes they don’t, the bulletin has the actual numbers posted each week. It is hard at times but God continues to meet my needs, and the needs of the church. That said, our food pantry is running desperately low. We are coming into a season, and time of the month where our numbers pick up. In order for us to help those we can, we need food. Please consider making a donation to Mosaic in one of several ways, fixing a meal for the homeless, bringing in food donations, especially staples, and/or making a financial contribution to help. You can also pray for my families needs as it is tough on us right now; we are grateful that there is promise and hope starting in November. We are looking at having another person in need stay with us to help them out and disciple them, (check out one of those stories up above.) We aren’t complaining, in fact we are grateful but there are times it is tough and our family, and the church has been blessed by seeing God come through by using others. We are blessed! God is still our provider. Have you experienced the goodness of God in this way? It all comes down to what I was telling my new sister this week, surrender, surrender to the things Jesus has shown us, show faith that God will come through.

We meet Sunday morning at 9:30 when we will have a discussion about Does Jesus Have a Heavenly Mother, and then the message at 10:30 titled, Are You Ready For Some Football. You also want to be aware of some upcoming services including:

October 16 – Worship & Prayer Service
October 23 – Spirituality in the Movies
October 30 – Finding Jesus in Horror

Thanks again, God bless, and see you hopefully this weekend.

Pastor Mike

PS. Please Remember, if you are getting this at Facebook or another site, you can send an email to mikefurches@yahoo.com to receive your own email copy.

Lastly, we now have a way folks can contribute to Mosaic online. If interested in sharing with Mosaic online you can visit the following link and do so. Just designate what your gift is for when you donate, you can designate gifts for ‘general funds,’ ‘capitol campaign,’ or ‘homeless program.’

If the button doesn’t appear, you can give at the following link - https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=G6KQJMMUS72CA

All contributions to Mosaic are tax-deductible. If mailing contributions to Mosaic, you can send them to the following address:

Mosaic Wichita
216 S. Market St.
Wichita, KS 67202

Blessings to you and have a great week.

Mike

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