The Past:

Jeremy Wicks had served as a Pastor in the United Methodist Church for roughly 6 years in 2017 when he was appointed by the Michigan Conference of the United Methodist Church to come to Traverse City and start a progressive expression of the Church. You could say that was the start of our story, though we’d suggest it started even before that. Jeremy had been serving as a pastor in another local church in downstate Michigan when he began to be nagged by a question. One of his children is a part of the LGBTQIA+ community, and he wondered how he could pastor at a Church where his own child could not safely be fully themselves. This question really forms a significant part of the Story of Mosaic. Jeremy eventually decided to request a new appointment. We’d like to say the opportunity to come to TC to plant a church was expected and that Jeremy was excited about it. But the truth is that there were a LOT of apprehensions. Was he gifted for this? Was he ready to try something brand new? Planting a church is HARD! Like many others, Jeremy had grown up in the conservative church. Over time though, Jeremy’s faith went on a journey. Some things were affirmed. Some things were tossed. Some things were tweaked. Jeremy was well matched to begin a progressive church. He just didn’t know it yet. It was in fact one of his children that challenged him that “yes, he was ready.” Yes, he was gifted. So Jeremy, his wife Toinette, and his 4 children arrived in Traverse City in July of 2017.

With excitement, Jeremy began a new ministry in Traverse City. He had financial support from the denomination. He was told a group of about 50 people were ready to help launch the church. And he was given a LARGE building for worship……and a large mortgage (more on that later). Anyone who has planted a church knows that expectations are not always reality. 50 people waiting for him was lofty. The building needed a lot of work. Like, A LOT! In fact, what was thought to be an opportunity to hit the ground running ended up being more of a “start a church from scratch” sort of thing. So the beginning of the story of Mosaic Church took some time. A lot of painting, cleaning, hammers, and nails. A lot of networking and building relationships in a new city. Like, A LOT of meetings. A lot of learning the personality and needs of Traverse City. Along the way, Mosaic served its community and eventually started special monthly times of worship on Sunday evenings called “The Gathering.”

In time, a small group of people had come together and the time was right to start regular, Sunday morning worship gatherings. The next piece to the puzzle was finding a worship leader so that we could have the vibrant and meaningful worship we were hoping for. In the spring of 2018, Mosaic posted on Facebook that it was looking for a worship leader. Our hope was to begin regular gatherings in the fall. Though the goal of a fall start didn’t quite materialize, Dan Carlson replied to our Facebook post in September.

Dan had served as a Pastor and worship leader in the Traverse City area for almost 16 years. Those experiences however had often been painful. (Experiencing pain and struggle in the church has been a common theme among many who connect with Mosaic.) At that time he and his wife, Mary, and his 10 children…yes 10 children, 5 adopted…were leading and a part of a house church that was meeting in their home. They had been gathering together for around 3 years. It was honestly with some trepidation and doubt that Dan made his first phone call to Jeremy. In part, he loved his house church, but there was also a question he knew he would ask Jeremy that he expected would be the end of the conversation. But what he read online about Mosaic was enough to make him reach out. The phone conversation went great. Way better than expected. But the time came to ask THE question. Dan shared with Jeremy that he had children who were a part of the LGBTQIA+ community. He wondered if they would be fully welcomed at Mosaic. Tears would follow. If you remember how Jeremy ended up in Traverse City, you can understand why. Members of the LGBTQIA+ community and their families and allies have to come to expect to be swiftly excluded by the church.

With that hurdle crossed Dan would share with his House Church the opportunity. It would be fair to say there was a sense of both God’s possible direction in this situation and the possible loss of something that had meant so much. After much prayer, he would meet with Jeremy at the Mosaic building and was offered and accepted the position of Worship Leader at Mosaic Church. Several families from the House Church also joined Dan and his family at Mosaic.

There was one other part of that conversation in Jeremy’s office though that would prove to be an important topic for Mosaic. At that meeting in October Dan asked Jeremy about Mosaic’s building. In particular, its location. The building that Jeremy was sent to launch the new church in had previously been a United Methodist Church and was located on the south-east side of Traverse City. Dan lived just a few minutes west of the Hospital in Traverse City and it was almost a 30 minute drive to the church building. Jeremy shared that from the beginning he shared concern over the building’s location. The desire to be a progressive church for those who were on the fringe or those marginalized meant we saw our primary “place” as Traverse City. And currently, our worship “place” didn’t feel like it was in Traverse City. In fact, it was more than once that when sharing where we were located someone would respond with something like “why on earth are you way out there!” We didn’t have a good answer. Second, Jeremy shared that the building also came with a mortgage. The mortgage, utilities, and maintenance on a large building were significant, especially for a small new church plant. Over many conversations in the weeks and months to come, Jeremy and Dan and Mosaic’s Lead Team agreed that to fully become who Mosaic wanted to be, the building would prove to be an obstacle. But nonetheless, Jeremy and Toinette and his small team had made the building look amazing! Mosaic would do the best with what it had.

In January of 2019, Mosaic held its first official, regular Sunday morning worship gathering. Over the next year, Mosaic would continue to see its unique vision sharpen and realized. Mosaic would be a place of radical welcome for those typically pushed away by the Church. In particular for our LGBTQIA+ friends, family, and neighbors. We would take an active role during the 2019 PRIDE celebration in Traverse City. We would attend all the major events offering “Free Mom Hugs” (and Dad Hugs). We would paint faces, and give away prizes for children attending the PRIDE picnic, and then finally March with our city in the largest LGBTQIA+ visibility march in Michigan. We were proud to be a part of that amazing week. Both Jeremy and Dan also helped chaperone the Queer Prom which was such a special treat. We would also join an amazing group of people at Northern Michigan People’s Pride in planning events throughout the year. This included helping with photographing a special Transgender portrait and art project. Toinette, Jeremy’s wife, also held regular painting classes at Side Traxx which is the only local Gay Bar in our area. Though describing it as that would be unfair. ALL are welcome there. Mosaic also held a 2-night event called Love Wins: Rethinking what the Bible says about our LGBTQ Friends and Family. For this event, we heard stories from several speakers in the LGBTQ community and did significant teaching on what the Bible says about the issue. We don’t fully embrace LGBTQ people by turning a blind eye to the Bible. We’ve read it. We’ve studied it. And we are more convinced than ever that this is exactly what God is calling us (and the rest of the church) to be.

We were also involved in our community in other ways. We held several free community events including one of the largest Easter Egg Hunts in the region with 10,000+ eggs. We held Family Movie Nights with a fully stocked candy bar. In the summer we held a large block party with free carnival games and prizes, blow-up games, fire truck and ambulances, and free food. It was such a blast. We also collected donations at the Block Party for a local High School that serves at-risk teens. Over the year we held several special days called #bethechurch. We often think of church as something we go to, but the church is community. Something you are. This was an opportunity to serve our city instead of gathering for worship. One of these was done individually asking people to share how they loved their neighbors. On one Sunday we helped prepare the local homeless shelter, Safe Harbor, for the opening of the cold weather season.

As we looked ahead to our second year, we again asked whether the location we were in and the expense it required was ideal for who we hoped to be. Our Lead Team would eventually ask permission to sell the building. We knew denomination funds would eventually run out. We knew the sale of the building could finance our church for many years to come while finally allowing us to focus wholeheartedly on becoming “rooted in Traverse City” without worrying about a significant mortgage expense and utility bills. In February of 2020, the denominational leadership gave us a definite “No” to the sale of the building. And, though the funding from the district was generous and we were incredibly grateful for it, it was not enough to cover even our “overhead” expenses of building and salaries. Instead, they asked us to focus on fundraising and finding financial partners along with another focus of increasing our attendance from the 40s to 80-125 people over the next year. In addition, they wanted us to work on increasing the giving of our own people. You can imagine how it feels when you are a Church connecting to post-modern, unchurched, de-churched, excluded from the church people to be told to focus on “bucks in the plate and butts in the pews.” We were torn. As our Lead Team considered the future, we all agreed that just walking away from the building and leaving all our possessions behind was on the table. We would do anything to follow God’s call on our church. We just hoped that wouldn’t have to be the case.

Well, if you are following the timeline, you know we are about to hit the spring of 2020. As Mosaic began stocking up on candy for our 3rd annual Easter Egg hunt, something else was happening in the world. We all know now we were about to enter a year+ unlike any we had ever experienced. Coronavirus was coming. It would end up being one of the most deadly events in the history of the United States. Killing more people in roughly one year than American military casualties in WWI and WWII and the Vietnam War combined over a total of 18 years. Very early on in the pandemic, we as a church took our responsibility of loving our neighbor seriously. We rejected the idea that we were responsible only to ourselves. Doing what was “right for you” while ignoring the needs of the most vulnerable around us was antithetical to the way of Jesus. It is an intrinsically un-Christian position. We decided early on that we would be gathering virtually and online during the pandemic. Outside of times that allowed us to gather safely outside, this has been our normal for over a year.

If you remember above, the denomination had given us goals focused on fund-raising and increasing attendance along with our own giving. COVID made these tasks nearly impossible whether you agreed that they should be the focal point of Mosaic or not. And though we continued to suggest that selling the building be the next step and a clear solution, “now is not the time” continued to be the response. But we continued to care for one another the best we could. Helping those facing health issues. Delivering a car full of Christmas gifts and groceries for a family for Christmas. We continued to put out our online worship gathering and joined with others virtually to view it together on Sunday mornings. Our Small Group went virtual doing both a book study, Learning to Speak God From Scratch, and resuming our Acts Bible study online. As we approached the end of 2020 we were anxious for 2021. Would the denomination continue to fund us past mid-February 2021 which is when the current promised funding would end? Would they allow us to sell the building?

We received an answer the first week of December 2020. The denomination had used the funds available to them and would no longer be able to fund Mosaic Church. Yes, they in all likelihood would end up selling the building….but the proceeds would not go to Mosaic. They would go back to the denomination. The denomination had in fact decided to “discontinue” Mosaic Church. Given all the options, possible scenarios, and solutions, they thought it would be better that Mosaic no longer exist in the United Methodist Church. When Dan shared the news with his small group, without skipping a beat, someone replied, “you can’t discontinue a church.” You see, a Church isn’t a budget, or a building, or documents, or denominational committees, or even a Pastor. You can take those things away and “Church” still remains. But institutions don’t see things that way, or at least they often can’t function that way. Institutions are made up of those who meet in rooms, with no direct connection to those their choices will affect, and make decisions. Financial decisions. Building decisions. But it was not up to them if Mosaic would end or continue. This was Mosaic’s decision!

Mosaic Church’s Lead Team would meet after hearing the news. We shared our reactions. Our surprise (or lack thereof). We talked about the dream of Mosaic Church. And without hesitation, we knew Mosaic Church would continue on. Was there a lot to figure out? Certainly. But this is what Pastor Jeremy told our people when announcing the decision of the denominational leadership:

“The movement that is Mosaic Church is not going anywhere.

Really, I think this new situation is going to be a good thing.

Over the last two years we have exhausted a lot of energy trying to reach benchmarks and goals set for the benefit of other folks – and that’s a part of most church planting experiences, but exhausted is the absolute right word.

In this next phase of our development, energy will be redirected toward mission and vision, and this might feel like a step backward - but friends, I’m convinced that this is exactly what we need, and these changes will help lead us into a preferred future for Mosaic Church and the people we love.”

The Present:

You can imagine the questions we had at that point. Many things were outside of our own control. Jeremy was seeking a way to stay in Traverse City while providing for his family. Perhaps a denomination job that would allow him to work from here or perhaps something outside of “ministry” that would meet his family’s financial needs. We tried to discern, what if any of the worship and ministry equipment we would be able to retrieve from the old building. Unfortunately, we were not given first dibs on the supplies. While continuing to gather for worship and small group virtually, Mosaic was “waiting” while looking to the future. But if you read the story of the church in the New Testament, waiting often leads to Holy Spirit empowered things. And make no mistake, there is a future. We are now re-incorporated as a new Non-profit Ecclesiastical Corporation (legalize for Church) and we are so grateful we can keep our name.

In April 2021, we began a conversation with another local Methodist Church about the possibility of using some extra space they have for our Sunday morning worship gatherings when the time came to safely meet in person again. A person on their church counsel said that “they were a church with space and Mosaic was a church that needed space.” We shared our hearts and they listened. They supported us. Their Pastor shared that he believed there was “fertile ground” for this relationship to develop. And did you notice, this is a United Methodist Church. You see, individual people and pastors and churches are not the same things as the institution. The “institution” almost has a mind of its own. It moves forward in the only ways a big institution can. So in fact, the denomination that decided to “end” Mosaic Church would now possibly see one of their own churches give Mosaic a home to worship at. A place to serve from. A place to continue the dream. How awesome is that?!?!

As we worked on that agreement with Traverse Bay United Methodist Church, we also re-formed our Lead Team and began establishing priorities for this next year. We were wondering what the best and safest way to gather again was? Wondering who else might join us? There were many big questions. But another LARGE question we faced was in regards to the reality that in May the UMC gave Jeremy a new appointment to a church in Big Rapids. And though we are heartbroken for the loss, we are glad they will be close enough for VERY FREQUENT visits. Big Rapids First United Methodist has gained an amazing Pastor and family. But this meant another decision. Who would Pastor Mosaic? And the answer seemed “a given” to many even if the person who would take on the role of pastor felt uncomfortable with the conversation. Our Lead Team would invite Dan Carlson to become the pastor at Mosaic Church.

And that brings us to today. We are so excited to announce that Traverse Bay UMC and Mosaic agreed that Mosaic can gather in their Fellowship Hall on Sunday mornings! We are SO EXCITED! We as quickly as possible gathered the items needed to start worship. People gave. And now we are gathering each Sunday morning at 11:15am and streaming live on our Facebook page. We have an amazing core group of people. We love one another’s company. But there is definitely room for more…for you. We still believe, more than ever, that Traverse City and the surrounding area need a church like Mosaic. We are excited about the future. That part of the story is yet to be written….

(10/2021)