EP01 | Extravagant Hospitality at Mosaic with Carrie Waters

And, as I pull into the parking lot, I I'm sitting in the parking lot, and I see the front door, and I'm terrified. I'm like, what all my fears. You know, what if they don't like me, or what if I'm you fear a failure and all of that. And it felt like a million miles away, the front door did. And so finally, I said, I'm I'm a big girl. I can get out of my car and make it to front door. And as I did, I met with somebody who was standing there, and she was so kind. And then I got further in the building, and the further I got into the building, the more I felt calm and, loved, and I felt like it was home. I felt like, gosh, this just feels feels like home. Mhmm. And so as I left that day, there was people who who wanted to have coffee with me, and they wanted to invite me into their home and teach me who Jesus was. So I kept saying yes, and I kept saying yes. And I realized that the people in this environment were people that they say they love God, love people, and serve the world. And I really I felt it. I experienced it myself. [00:04:15] (56 seconds)  #GospelAtEveryTouch

and I read about God's love, I am surprised always that it's that good, and then I'm always delighted. And so, how is it that we can create spaces in our in our church to when somebody walks in, they're often surprised, which causes you to go, and then they're Yeah. Greatly delighted in the surprise. And so you don't wanna be surprised and undelighted. So it's the we have make sure we're delighting them after the surprise. [00:20:28] (28 seconds)  #KeepSurprising

But and and it's hard too because sometimes, like, with you, for example, you've been here since the beginning. So we're often thinking, well, how do we surprise and delight those who have been here for a while too, constantly rethinking things to to add to it? So when they walk up to the tape the breakfast table in the morning and they see there's a there's a different flavors of donuts, that, you know, there's a, wow. Or when they go meet somebody who's standing in the lobby on the connect team and they're just so kind, they're it's different than the world. That's a surprise. It's a delight. Because we want to be around the people who take great delight in us. Yeah. And so that's our goal is the people who walk in here, how do they feel delighted? [00:20:55] (75 seconds)  #VesselsOfHisLove

``and it's moving towards people. It's continuing to to get to know them, to ask questions, to engage in their story. It's it's every process we have here. We only have processes in order to engage deeper with people. And so the the the processes are for encounters and to engage and to help people feel loved. And so we say, don't just open a door if you're not gonna see the person go through the door because the person going through the door is why you're opening it. So engage with that person. [00:28:13] (26 seconds)  #MeetThemAtTheDoor

being vessels of his love? And so, when I went up to New York, I was going to visit another church because I love to not forget what it's like to be new. Yeah. So I like and I like to learn. So I went up and picked two churches up there. There was a guy who had a church that I love his philosophy and his theology. And so I'm like, I'm gonna go to that church. And then I picked another one because it's really far away to go to just one church. So I picked another one that I thought, this is a big church too. I'll go to this one. But I knew that I didn't align as much with their philosophy or their theology. Theology. Yep. So the first one I went to, I was very excited. I thought, oh, I'm gonna get to And this is a a hero teacher Yes. Course, and someone that teaches so well. So well. And every time I podcast him and hear his messages, I hear the gospel brought to to bear. Right? He just and it's wonderful. And so I'm always refreshed by the gospel. [00:35:40] (44 seconds)  #FirstImpressionsMatter

But then I kept thinking, you know, how do we have a space here at Mosaic where the the gospel is being displayed? The beauty of the gospel is being displayed the moment you pull onto our parking lot. And every touch point, every person who's doing is serving is the display of the gospel. And and the deeper you get in, the more in love you are with Jesus. Then you sit at the sanctuary chair because we have chairs for you Yeah. At the table, in the living room. And then and then you're by the time you leave, you're just like, what just happened to me? That's the friendliest place in the planet. And even, you know because hospitality I I go ahead. Because I do want to make sure that, you know, in that in that church that I visited, I heard the gospel through the message, but I didn't experience it in the lobby. [00:39:19] (86 seconds)  #SurpriseAndDelight

So I was doing some research You and me both. You like it too? I do. But I'm bummed because on on holidays when you get the assorted boxes of chocolate, there's never mint, and that's always my favorite. And so I'm always sad. And so one day, put a piece of Love that. There's an expectation not not not met. That's level one. Level one. And so I went and I no mint. None. I put a piece of mint chocolate in the assorted and put the lid on. And fifteen minutes later, I noticed that when I opened up, it was all contaminated. All of them just tasted like mint. So I thought, oh, that's why they don't have mint in the assorted boxes. And so I did some research, had some free time on my hands of how to make chocolate in chocolate factories, and noticed that during the holidays, they would make a batch of mint chocolate. [00:43:16] (40 seconds)  #BeTheMint

And at the end of the batch, they would have to clean the machine with a toothbrush. Because if there's, like, a smidge of mint left, they would have to throw that next batch away because it would just contaminate it, and it would be a waste of money. So they started making separate factories for just mint chocolates because it saved them money. And so when I think about all of this, I always think about our connect team or just how is it that we can be the mint to people so that we contaminate everyone who walks in, and they have to, like, use a toothbrush to get them they can't get us off their mind. Not because of us, because I want them to every time they think of this church, they're thinking of who Jesus is, his love. It's extravagant. It's extraordinary. [00:43:56] (36 seconds)  #WelcomeHomeMoment