16 Jan No Work Too Small!

Hi everyone!  

I wanted to bring you up to speed on something super important to the life of this church, and this will be especially of interest to you in case you missed last Sunday!

One of the most interesting revelations the book of Acts provides us with is in relation to the value of work – or more specifically, the value of different types of work. 

In the sixth chapter of Acts (6:1-7), we see this issue arise in regards to administering justice, or in this particular case, widows being neglected during the distribution of food.

Now whether these widows (this is my own Pastor Barnabas version!) didn’t get tartar sauce with their catfish plate, or someone forgot to include the buttermilk biscuit, isn’t really clear. I’m joking, of course. But what is clear, is that the issue needed to be resolved. 

After calling somewhat of a town hall meeting with all the disciples in that community, the twelve apostles said something that at first glance sounds somewhat condescending, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.” Wow! Some nerve, right?! Are they saying that preaching the word is more important than serving the practical needs of others?

Hold on, before we pick up our stones and pitchforks, let’s listen to what comes next: “Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”  

If serving tables is seen as such a menial task by the apostles, then why would it warrant choosing individuals full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom? It would seem that caring for the needs of others in a way that honors God requires just as much anointing and empowerment from the Holy Spirit as preaching a great message!

My hope is, first of all, that whatever you put your hands to, that you would know that God sees your work as valuable and He desires to fill you with His spirit so that your work can bring others closer to Him! 

That being said, as I mentioned this past Sunday, we have ten individuals (see attached image) that we are presenting to you as nominees to assume the role of deacon, as most Bible scholars believe is first introduced here in Acts 6. 

So what is a deacon? 

A deacon is a purposeful and biblical leadership role. When identifying a potential deacon, some of the things we look at is spiritual maturity, the heart of a servant, and generosity toward the church with their time, talent and treasure. 

Before moving forward with being confirmed as deacons, we are giving the Mosaic community about 30 days to communicate to us any concerns you may have about any of these individuals assuming this serving role. We don’t take this role lightly and trust that you will be prayerful and thoughtful in any feedback you provide to us. Please send any feedback to deaconnominees@mosaicchurchaustin.com. 

Once the 30ish days are complete, if there are no major concerns, these individuals will be confirmed as deacons sometime next month and will join our currently existing deacon team (the rest of whom you can see on our website). But here are our nominees:

So what have I said? Let me summarize like I did last Sunday:

1. God is doing great things in our church
   
2. We need your help to do this work
   
3. Please be in prayer for these individuals over the next 30 days, especially.
   

Thanks again for reading, for praying and believing with us. 

Much love,

Barnabas