LIFE UPDATE

Have you ever been on a Wild Goose Chase?

There’s something about the ancient Celtic people that just moves me deep in my bones. They saw the Holy Spirit not as a hovering white dove but as a “wild goose.” The wild goose is passionate, noisy, and courageous. The Celtic people saw how the Holy Spirit has a tendency to disrupt our lives and surprise us. They saw that the Holy Spirit moves in our lives in an unexpected fashion, similar to the actions of a wild goose, a symbol to remind us that God’s spirit cannot be tamed or contained. I love that.

For the past year or so, I feel like I’ve been on a Wild Goose Chase. I’ve felt the Holy Spirit hovering and stirring things up. I tried to make sense of it all, but all I could do was to keep chasing that Holy Wild Goose and see where that chase would lead me.

Coming out of COVID, I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to “keep on keeping on” or if God was going to lead me to something new and different. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when the answer to that question is YES. So often with God, I think he delights in the both/and instead of binary “this way or that way” thinking.

In July of 2021, on a spiritual retreat up on the North Shore in beautiful Minnesota, I felt God clearly calling me to continue to preach the Word, love people, and make disciples and to keep shepherding and leading MOSAIC, this beautiful little church we helped start 7 years ago. But also, to be on the lookout for where the Wild Goose might lead.

Fast forward to August of 2022. My friend from high school, Molly, texted me that she and her husband were coming to visit our church. Her husband Craig had been the High School Pastor at Plymouth Covenant Church for the last 8 years but he had just taken a job with our denomination- Converge. Which meant he needed to find a Converge church to attend. After service, our two families went out to lunch and we had a great time connecting. Molly and Craig and their two beautiful children are so amazing! I was pretty sure they would pick another bigger church, but I was hoping and praying that MOSAIC could be a church home for them. Well, a few months later, they decided to make MOSAIC their home church! We were thrilled and invited them to join our Thursday night Community Group!

Then in December of 2022, Craig’s former pastor reached out to me and asked to grab coffee. We hit it off immediately. Danny is an awesome guy who is so encouraging and faith filled. In January of this year, Danny and I grabbed coffee again. Let me tell you- the Holy Wild Goose was at work! That led to more coffees and lunches and texts and emails… which led to me accepting a part-time, interim position at Plymouth Covenant Church as the interim High School Pastor! So now I get to help shepherd and love and disciple the students Craig invested so much into and help care for them until Plymouth Covenant Church hires a full time high school pastor. I will also be a hired consultant to help give some feedback and suggestions to help Plymouth Covenant Church be more effective at being a “sticky church” that looks out for the left out.

It was such a sweet, God moment this last Wednesday night as Craig got to introduce me to his former youth group at Plymouth Covenant Church. He told his former students: “this is my new pastor and you all know that I must have done my due diligence and worked hard to pick a good one. And now I get to share him with you all in this interim season!”

I will continue to lead and shepherd Mosaic Church in Maple Grove while also stepping into this new opportunity.

“Umm…Erik, HOW are you going to do both jobs??”

Great question! The truth is, MOSAIC is the healthiest it has ever been. Yes, in the past we’ve had more people showing up on a Sunday morning, but Sunday morning attendance is just one metric to judge the health of a church. By every other metric, we are at the best place we’ve ever been. We are the most unified and Spirit-led we have ever been. Our staff and governing team has 100% unity AND we all really like each other and like to spend time with each other. We have celebrated new salvations and baptisms and baby dedications and people becoming disciple-makers for the first time in their lives! MOSAIC is at a really healthy place right now! (And we’ve grown by about 30% in the last year!) With the church doing so awesome…I felt like I had some extra bandwidth and I was looking forward to a new challenge. I really wasn’t sure what that new opportunity would be but I kept chasing after that Wild Holy Goose. Which led me to accept this part-time, interim position at Plymouth Covenant Church!

The way this all worked out and came to be just HAS to be the Holy Spirit. I’m choosing to live open handed, walking by faith, and trusting God, even when sometimes it feels like I’m on a wild goose chase.