30 Apr A Conspiracy Un-“Masked”
You may know that we significantly support some missionaries, through our larger Every Nation spiritual family, to the underground church in China, named Mike and Michelle (*not their real names). Mike was actually a Chinese international student at the University of Texas who came to Christ there many years ago, and Michelle is also an alum. Hook ‘Em!
About three weeks ago, Michelle reached out and asked if Mosaic Church would like to be the recipients of thousands of both N95 masks and surgical masks, to be able to give to the medical community here in Austin in anticipation of our COVID-19 peak.
To which I said….um, YES! These masks, she said, were purchased by our Christian brothers and sisters in China: in Wuhan, Beijing, Shanghai, and Xiamen–many of whom had lost their jobs to the economic fallout, or had family members become sick and die because of COVID. Basically, out of their poverty, and desiring to be able to give back for all the support that our church and others in the States have provided them, they received a large offering, and purchased tens of thousands of masks to send to churches all over the US to be able to make a difference in their communities!
On top of this, we (Mosaic Church) were able to purchase an additional 1000 N95 masks from these same contacts because of your giving to our COVID-19 fund.
So, and here is where the story gets good…while I had said “yes” to a certain number of boxes for us, what I didn’t know is that somehow, because of Chinese government scrutiny, my garage would become a kind of distribution hub for masks from all over China, going back out across the United States.
Specifically, masks that were supposed to go to California, Massachusetts, and New York, some of the hardest hit areas, all ended up in the Stephens’ garage (and my in-laws’ garage, I might add, who live near us). For days on end, boxes of masks meant for us and others were showing up on my doorstep through every delivery service our country has.
New York, specifically, needed their masks quickly, and so I was asked to turn around and ship a number of large boxes to Every Nation New York, to be able to redistribute.
After a slightly tense moment in the store, where I was eyed a little suspiciously for wanting to overnight boxes of masks to New York, it all worked out, and they shipped.
Additionally, and after this, we were able to send another 1000 of the masks we purchased to them, when we saw how badly they were hit (Pastor Ron Lewis, whom some of you may know, called the situation “apocalyptic”, and through tears, thanked us, as one of his church members, a young, Asian-American nurse, had just died two days before, through contracting COVID while treating patients without sufficient protective gear).
This picture below only shows you a portion of what we have received, both to give to our local medical community and to New York City frontline medical workers. We have received and sent out another roughly 50% of what you see here.
So, Mosaic…Thank you for making a difference.
Morgan
P.S. If you are needing/desiring to be water baptized in order to be able to be a part of our online baptism service, next Sunday, May 10, please head here for more info and to register. The deadline to register for this round of baptisms is in just a few days on Saturday, May 2. We would love to include and celebrate you!
P.P.S. Starting next week, we are adjusting our weekly “rhythm” online. Up until now, our Wednesday theme has been “Wednesdays are for Wellness”. We are moving to a “Wednesdays are for Worship” theme starting next Wednesday. What that means is that each Wednesday we will be having live worship from one or more of our Mosaic worship team that evening at 9 pm, on both Instagram Live and Facebook Live. We hope you will join us!
P.P.P.S. There is a new staff position opening up at Mosaic! After many years on our team, the incredible and irreplaceable Drea Kelly is rolling off as her third child comes, and that is opening up her role–but in a slightly different way. The part-time Director of Communication position is posted here.