tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-1344290 2009-12-14T00:30:47-08:00 This blog exists for the church. For the visionaries. For the artists. For the futurists. For those who dare to create something beautiful with their lives. For the music makers and dreamers among us. Welcome! TypePad typepad/aaronloy/a_ragamuffins_bloghttp://feedburner.google.com tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e0098acbcf88330120a6fecc3c970b 2009-12-14T00:30:47-08:00 2009-12-15T13:28:25-08:00

Alright, so it's the end of the quarter and I'm up late with seeds and a Red Bull writing a final paper and I need a break, so...confession time. The older I get (and I'm not very old mind you), the less I find myself wanting to read the latest and greatest Christian book to come out and the more I find myself gleaning from the progressives and innovators from other spheres of influence. I mean, I still learn from...

Aaron Loy http://aaronloy.typepad.com/a_ragamuffins_blog/2009/12/memorable-advertisements.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e0098acbcf8833012875c0f19f970c 2009-11-21T12:02:39-08:00 2009-11-21T12:02:39-08:00

Last week I took a little trip to Portland to connect with a church planter from Vancouver and to take in an ARC 'Church Planter's Round Table' - one of the steps in their assessment process. It was a great trip. Not only is Portland probably the 'coolest' city I've ever been to, but it is home to my beloved Rogue (which I made sure to tour while I was there) and the surrounding area is just as beautiful as...

Aaron Loy http://aaronloy.typepad.com/a_ragamuffins_blog/2009/11/adventures-in-portland.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e0098acbcf88330128757b11fc970c 2009-11-19T17:02:41-08:00 2009-11-19T17:10:56-08:00

The first time I journeyed down the church planting road I kept coming across something I found to be quite obnoxious. Everywhere I turned – every organization, every denomination and every mentor that had been down this road before kept asking me about my “call.” “Are you called to plant this church? When were you called? How were you called? Are you sure you’re called?” It was obnoxious. What was this “call” that everyone was talking about and why were...

Aaron Loy http://aaronloy.typepad.com/a_ragamuffins_blog/2009/11/calling-vs-choice-.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e0098acbcf8833012875746f4a970c 2009-11-18T07:41:24-08:00 2009-11-18T07:41:24-08:00

You're not normal. Just so you know.

Aaron Loy http://aaronloy.typepad.com/a_ragamuffins_blog/2009/11/dear-church-planters.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e0098acbcf88330120a6793890970b 2009-11-13T17:47:22-08:00 2009-12-14T00:32:27-08:00

As we move closer and closer to planting Mosaic-Lincoln, I’ve found myself praying less and less for “my” church. At first it seemed coincidental, but I've since made a point of keeping it up. I suppose you could call it a practice in Kingdom-mindedness. Instead, I pray for the city of Lincoln. I pray for its people, for the families, for the local businesses, for the next generation of leaders, for the churches that are already doing great work there...

Aaron Loy http://aaronloy.typepad.com/a_ragamuffins_blog/2009/11/as-we-move-closer-and-closer-towards-planting--mosaic-lincoln-ive-made-a-point-of-praying-less-and-less-for-my.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e0098acbcf88330120a669eed6970b 2009-11-10T17:57:55-08:00 2009-11-13T17:52:50-08:00

Our journey in planting a church in Lincoln, NE continues – and what an exciting journey it is turning out to be! Things are beginning to fall into place, God is stirring powerfully within us, preparing us for what is ahead, answering huge prayers, new possibilities are opening up, new people are joining us, new challenges are presenting themselves and God has been teaching us so much along the way. In all of this, God has been teaching us one...

Aaron Loy http://aaronloy.typepad.com/a_ragamuffins_blog/2009/11/recent-goings-on.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e0098acbcf88330120a5ea65e7970b 2009-10-15T16:18:53-07:00 2009-11-13T20:10:10-08:00

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)....

Aaron Loy http://aaronloy.typepad.com/a_ragamuffins_blog/2009/10/mosaic-on-communication.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e0098acbcf88330120a5e6bd14970b 2009-10-14T16:37:09-07:00 2009-11-13T19:58:24-08:00

I am currently reading David Kinnaman's UnChristian for one of my classes and really enjoying it. I know most of us probably didn't need a book to tell us how poorly the Christian community is perceived by the wider culture (and often rightfully so, in my personal opinion), but I've been pleasantly surprised and personally challenged. That's not to mention that it has my mind spinning about our ecclesiology - taking all of this information into account, how should the...

Aaron Loy http://aaronloy.typepad.com/a_ragamuffins_blog/2009/10/unchristian.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e0098acbcf88330120a5cf448f970b 2009-10-08T15:30:19-07:00 2009-11-13T19:59:27-08:00

Hey friends, I wanted to make you aware of a couple of free resources from Mosaic. The first is a brand new resource we are using in our communities called "Breathe." Breathe is a very simple and very practical response to the need we saw to help people get into the scriptures and to begin to respond to it with their lives. The booklet consists of 25 favorite passages of Mosaic leaders - ones they have found to be transformational...

Aaron Loy http://aaronloy.typepad.com/a_ragamuffins_blog/2009/10/a-couple-mosaic-resources.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e0098acbcf88330120a5b6fa9c970b 2009-10-02T13:55:20-07:00 2009-10-02T13:57:04-07:00

My good friend Steve Saccone released his first book just a couple weeks ago: Relational Intelligence: How Leaders Can Expand Their Influence Through a New Way of Being Smart. He has some great things to say in this book and although I'm not quite all the way through it yet, I'd definitely recommend it for anyone who desires to grow in their capacity to lead others. Mosaic will be doing a relational intelligence series this next month based on Steve's...

Aaron Loy http://aaronloy.typepad.com/a_ragamuffins_blog/2009/10/relational-intelligence.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e0098acbcf88330120a5c52ea4970c 2009-09-15T14:12:37-07:00 2009-09-15T14:24:04-07:00

Perhaps no other factor plays a more central role in shaping a church’s ethos than how it measures spiritual maturity. As an inherently spiritual community, the church’s gauge for spiritual maturity essentially defines success for its congregation. In other words, the church’s measuring stick identifies the goal that everyone ought to be shooting for. Is the ultimate aim to accumulate a wealth of theological knowledge? To be passionate about humanitarian issues? To be an outspoken republican? To become a central...

Aaron Loy http://aaronloy.typepad.com/a_ragamuffins_blog/2009/09/measuring-spiritual-maturity.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e0098acbcf88330120a5662813970b 2009-09-11T23:57:24-07:00 2009-09-16T09:41:49-07:00

This past week the proteges and I had to create a piece of art in response to the questions "What moves you?" and "What do you desire?" It was fun. Some did spoken word pieces, some created videos, some wrote songs and some of us created photography pieces. The poster below was my piece. All of the photos are of Lincoln, NE and can be found here. Admittedly, the real work of my piece had little to do with my...

Aaron Loy http://aaronloy.typepad.com/a_ragamuffins_blog/2009/09/what-moves-you.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e0098acbcf88330120a53e5288970b 2009-09-02T14:31:30-07:00 2009-09-02T14:32:54-07:00

Creating a culture where people can belong before they believe is a practical application of our first core value: Mission is why the church exists. At first glance this might not seem like a big deal. After all, many Christians would nod their head in agreement with this statement. The mind of the seasoned Christ follower might even jump to relevant passages like the Great Commission in Matthew 28 or Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 9. However, it is in...

Aaron Loy http://aaronloy.typepad.com/a_ragamuffins_blog/2009/09/belong-before-believe-pt-2.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e0098acbcf88330120a53b87ae970b 2009-09-01T00:01:12-07:00 2009-09-01T09:10:05-07:00

Mosaic puts great emphasis on being a community where people can belong long before they believe. This is really just a reflection of our value for those who don’t normally associate themselves with church. Have you ever walked into an environment and felt totally out of place? I remember a rather memorable evening spent at a local gay bar. A friend of ours was performing that night and we decided to get a crew together to come out and support...

Aaron Loy http://aaronloy.typepad.com/a_ragamuffins_blog/2009/09/belong-before-believe.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e0098acbcf88330120a4d3c8d3970b 2009-08-08T16:26:12-07:00 2009-08-08T16:26:12-07:00

“In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when...

Aaron Loy http://aaronloy.typepad.com/a_ragamuffins_blog/2009/08/create-something.html