8.16.2007

The Middle School Musical is here.


Hey friends... it is finally here! Thats right, this month we will be releasing all of the episodes that make up the Middle School Musical. Between today, and Sept 8th, make sure you catch all 6 episodes. If you still haven't had enough, we will make the DVD available in September.

Watch part one here:

8.08.2007

the painful process of naming... (part 1 of 4)

So you want the TMI (too much info) on the naming process of the Middle School Ministry?

Well... it all begins with a conversation that Brandon had with Rudi one of the African delegates at the International Center

You see, Rudi is one of Africa’s leading youth ministry gurus and he and Brandon started talking about how Christian students really live in four different worlds. These worlds consist of their church, friends, family, and the culture.


The problem with this is that often students are a different person when they are in each of these worlds. Since, however, Jesus is interested in the whole person, not just who they are at church, it becomes the imperative of the student ministry to help students find a faith that bridges all of these worlds and helps students to be the same person in each of them.





Naturally this led us as a middle school ministry to re-think the way we interacted with students. It is not enough to “own” their church life... we want to find the place where all of these “worlds” intersect and try to help students find a faith the works in all of the contexts they live in.



This led us to seek a name and identity that would help us to communicate our passion to find and minister at the nexus (shameless ministry plug!) where all these worlds intersect.
An early prototype of our mosaic logo should make it pretty clear where our inspiration was coming from. And, to be honest, our final Mosaic logo is only slightly less overt.

The symbol is created from the shape that is formed from the overlap of the four circles... the extra lines are supposed to represent this shape being in motion... because that is how life is... always moving.







As for the name Mosaic, its a form of art made from small broken pieces of tile, stone, or glass.

Although the pieces are imperfect, when placed together within the greater mosaic, their true beauty shines and their incompleteness is hidden by the strengths of the other pieces.

This is a great description of the community of faith that makes up Jesus’ body on earth.

8.07.2007

More Lounge Progress

OK.. so the student lounge is shaping up awesome. This week they framed in the walls and are working on outlets and lights....

It is eventually going to have some game tables... like air hockey and foosball, some sort of Video games stuff, and also a killer stereo and awesome TV...

We are taking serious big screen!!!

Additionally it is going to have a sitting area that has table and chairs like a coffee shop.

I think at some point it would be cool to open it up after school as an awesome place to do homework.

8.05.2007

Meet Kristina Rigden, our newest staff member

Hello! I am so excited to join the Mosaic ministry! Just a little intro...I have volunteered for 12 years in Middle School ministry and have grown to love their zest for life and curiosity about Christ. Currently, I am pursuing my master’s degree in Biblical Studies thru Trinity’s extension courses at Elmbrook. I come from 9 years of working in banking and God has definitely blessed my transition to this ministry. I look forward to what this year will bring. If you would like to meet me just to have a cup of coffee sometime please don’t hesitate to call. I would love the opportunity!

Some things I love to do are:
Travel : Places I've been Africa, Paris, Australia, Mexico, Dominican
Republic, Jamaica.
Next on my list are: Kenya, Italy, Israel, Greece
I love photography, being spontaneous, spending time with friends, anything
outdoors. I will pretty much try anything once...