The Show Must Go On....

Happy Thursday!

This week has been a blur! Shaun and I did go to Mobile on Saturday so I was able to get my shoe problem fixed! I now have a left and right shoe. They just opened a Texas Roadhouse there, so Shaun and I were able to eat something that was familiar and good. I even had a lovely margarita!

Church went really well. There was once again had over 100 kids. We are still short on volunteers, but I have an amazing and dedicated group! As promised, I am finally adding pictures of the new set. As you know the theme is the Show Must Go On. So, our Star Director from Hollywood: Mimi Larue Von Sheraton comes in every day to help direct the leaders through the week's new fiasco. So, yes folks, I am Mimi. Blonde wig, red boa, sparkle glasses, and a funny accent that sound Hispanic sometimes, British sometimes, and a little ghetto. You guys now that I have always had a flair for the dramatic, or so Shaun says! The most embarrassing part about the entire thing is that 2 weeks ago, my mic was too loud and the main service heard the entire skit! Someone even asked me: "who was the girl with the weird accent?" Yes we fit over 70 kids in this space including small group time each week!

Cross Culture is going well for Shaun too. We still have a small, but very dedicated group of attenders. We are into the second weekend of having live worship and it is being led by a student! It reminds me of my time spent with the youth at Colonial when they started worship. This Sunday night Shaun will be hosting a skate party with costumes optional. Thanks Mom Campbell for the awesome cowardly lion costume! He is going to come out skating in it. Yes fans, I will indeed be there to ensure that photographic evidence is collected of this!

My work is going well, crazy busy, but well! Several of my kiddos at school have had some really big moments and progress is occurring. Sometimes it is a little moment; but I'll take that too! I have even been able to transition some of the kids into seeing me as needed versus every week. That is HUGE!

This roller coaster of church planting is still a bumpy but fun ride. It is very weird to have church invade every aspect of your life and throw working with your spouse at the church into that mix and it gets even more convoluted and yet interesting.

Please continue to pray for Shaun and I and all of the leaders of Mosaic as we continue to grow and face some very challenging and difficult decisions. Also, pray for our sending church, the Met. They have been so awesome to us and we would not be able to exist without them.

Oh yea.. mark your calendars: We are coming home to Texas the 24rth- 28th! Family, Friends, Taco Casa, Italliani's, Chipotle and homemade Lebanese food are on top priority!

Also, mark your calendar for the second week in July. That is the week of our summer program for what some old timers call vacation Bible school. We will be calling it Mo Kids Extreme Week. Any helpers from Texas are more than welcome!

Love,
Jessica

PS: Shaun says that the blog is silly and no one reads it, if you disagree, feel free to email him and let him know that you appreciate it and want the blog to continue: shaun@mosaicchurchgulfcoast.com.

Update a little tardy...

Hello there!

I am a little delayed in posting this week! Let's just say it has been a fun week. Shaun did an AWESOME job on Sunday. To hear the sermon, visit our church website: www.mosaicchurchgulfcoast.com and click the link on the right side of the page.

Children's ministry started our new series this past weekend as well: The Show Must Go On. We also started our programming with children in Little Mosaics thanks to my friend Katherine! We had almost 100 kids this past weekend. I was too busy to take pictures of the new set, but stay tuned... they will be up next week.

Good news on the school front.. I wrapped up my last class and got an A (alleluia!!). I start the hardest class in the program on Monday. There is light at the end of the tunnel, I should graduate in May..yeah!! I just have to find a place to do my internship and get a supervisor. Shaun also finished up his course and starts his new one this week. He is almost done too, well, kind of.

That is all for right now. I have to get back to getting all my stuff ready for Sunday. Shaun and I are headed to Mobile tomorrow to go eat Italian and exchange my shoes. Last time I went, I purchased a gorgeous pair of shoes. Went to wear them this week, I have 2 left shoes! But it is a great excuse to get out of town for a little bit.

Pictures will be coming soon.
Love,
Jessica

104 Kids and Playdough?!?

Happy Tuesday!

Yes, I am posting a day early. I am trying to get everything taken care of first thing during the week.... we'll see how the rest of it goes.

I do have a 25 page paper due for school and I start the hardest class in the degree program next week, needless to say, lots of prayer needed there. :-) And, Shaun has a 25 pager due this week too.

In addition to that, Shaun is preaching the main service this weekend. He is super excited, but nervous. You know how that goes. All of you will be able to listen to him on Monday if you visit our churches website: http://www.mosaicchurchgulfcoast.com/. Or you can download the podcast of Mosaic Church from itunes. If you have time, please send out a prayer for this weekend and send a shout out to Shaun to encourage him. His email is shaun@mosaicchurchgulfcoast.com.

We wrapped up our series: The Quest in Mo Kids this past weekend. As my loyal readers know, Jackson has been on a quest around the world to see who Christ is and who he is in Christ. Last week, we had 103 kids and 460 total for church. This week, we had 104 kids and 404 total in church. Do the math people, 25% or 1/4rth of our church consists of kids ages newborn to 5th grade!

We opened up another room this weekend and it was already full! Below is the 1 and 2 year old room: Tiny Mosaics.And here is the 3 and 4 year old room: Little Mosaics....

No picture of the baby Mosaics room because they were all asleep when I went in there! The Preschool Program Coordinator, Katherine, starts this week. Thank god!! She is so prepared and will do a fabulous job! She will run the programming for newborns-4. That frees me up some to focus more on Mo Kids.

I thought that I'd share a few photos from this weekend's small group activity. Imagine if you will 70 or so kids in a room. Now, imagine 70 kids with play dough... SCARY, right? Well, it went off amazingly well. No messes, and it really helped the kids reinforce the lesson. People thought that I was nuts to try it... but the kids and the volunteers really enjoyed it. SO, to all the dough haters out there... can't we just give the dough a chance? :-) Check out the picts:

Now for the big news....

At the end of the Mo Kids service this past week, we had a formal time for prayer and salvation. Complete with live acoustic worship, thanks to Wade! We had 14 children put their faith in Christ for the very first time! HOW AMAZING IS THAT?!?! The volunteers were very clear in explaining and the youngest kiddo was 5! God is good! We also had 1 adult in Main service as well. Baptisms were Sunday night on the beach. We baptized over 10 people. 1 of whom was a Mo Kid and 3 who were Cross Culture Youths. To see some pictures, visit our website: http://www.mosaicchurchgulfcoast.com/.

We begin our new series this week in Mo Kids. My awesome friend and fearless helper, Jason designed the logo. Check it out.

The theme is determination. How timely is that?!? It also ties into our home group study on Nehemiah. I can't give away too much yet, but let's just say there could be a Hanna Montana costume involved...

Thank you for all of your prayers and support. Please pray for this weekend.

Love,

Jessica

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1:9

This week in history...

Hello All,

Another week already?!? And it is already October? I can't believe how fast time seems to fly. I was hoping to see fall leaves and all that good stuff, but apparently that doesn't happen here in MS. The leaves stay green all year long. But, it is in the lower 80's and gorgeous... best part: we are officially out of hurricane season!


We actually spent Saturday in Gulfshores, Al. It is beautiful there and only 2 hours away. We spent our first ever day as Mosaic Staff together. I think that everyone had a good time. I enjoyed my trip to their really nice and clean Super Target. But, I contained myself, very little damage was done. I mainly bought food things that no one carries here. Feeding Shaun can be tedious, so it was actually a good investment.


Speaking of cooking, Shaun attempted to make dinner last night. He tried so hard, but it was not good. A for effort and thought. He tried to cook chicken in wing sauce. But, he baked the chicken in the sauce and added raw shrimp and taco casa sauce. The entire house smelled AWFUL. Even my shirt smelled like it. So, we had to throw it away and ordered pizza instead. It was so sweet of him to try, it has just been a REALLY long time since he has cooked anything but reheating left overs, so we need more practice. SO, be sure to tease him about his wing sauce fiasco!


Big news on the Church front: We had 450 people this past weekend! And... drum roll please..... We broke to 100 kid mark in Mosaic Kids: 103 to be exact! And we managed all those kids with a limited number of volunteers. We are wrapping up our series the Quest this weekend. Finally as promised, I have pictures of the set for this series. Check it out!


Before Mo Kids service....

Yes, we painted and put together all of this!

During the lesson time: The picture doesn't give the full effect, there are 75 kids packed in there! I also have an AMAZING and dedicated group of volunteers who make all of this possible each week. Due to the growth, I am opening a new room up this weekend for the little ones. We now have 3 rooms for 0-4's and the Mo Kids area for 5-12. I also get to hire one of my volunteers, Katherine, (love her!!) to take over the little mo area. This is a HUGE help to me, and she has a heart for kids that age, more so than me. :-)

The Youth service is growing as well. Shaun has been blessed with a great group of leaders who have a heart to serve teenagers. They even hang out together as a group and the kids contact the leaders throughout the week. I think that he had 40 last week. We have also gotten some kids who can play, so I will be working with them and we start live worship next weekend.

This weekend is our quarterly baptism at the beach. I think that we have 15 signed up, but it could end up being more or less. I am excited because one of my kiddos from Mo Kids will be baptized. I may even be the one to do it!

School is getting better for me too. We made it through the first quarter and I am actually getting a schedule carved out for each day with my regular clients. This helps me in my planning. You guys know I live by my planner! I get an entire week off at Thanksgiving and I can not wait to eat dinner at Jan's! It is only 6 weeks away?!?!

I hope that this update finds you doing well. We love all of you guys and are so blessed to have you in our lives as we go through this crazy journey. We could not make it without your prayers and support... and ears to listen. :-) We love you! Give us a holla!

Love,

Jessica