UPDATE

A Revisionist History of the Church on Brady?

Mosaic's Response to the original post

Soon after "A Revisionist History of the Church on Brady?" appeared here at Solid Foods, a new article on the "history" of Mosaic appeared at Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic_Church

*Article has changed again: see below for explanation.

While this article acknowledges the basic facts of Brady's history it still contains misleading errors.

On March 3, 1993 The Church On Brady unanimously invited Erwin to lead the congregation into the 21st century.

A vote to install McManus as Senior Pastor was not unanimous: so far this blogger has identified 4 members of the congregation who voted against McManus. It is not unlikely that additional members who voted "no" will come forward as this new bit of "disinformation" becomes more widely known.

In 2003 Mosaic sold its property in East Los Angeles and became entirely mobile, operating as nomads for the gospel throughout one of the largest metropolitan cities in the world. Still growing, they are ever more convinced through our experience that the church is people, not the building

Once again, the undeniable facts regarding the "Believe the Impossible" campaign have been completely ignored.

Erwin, born in El Salvador, became the congregation’s first ethnic minority Senior Pastor.

While it is true that McManus was the church's first ethnic minority "Senior" Pastor, he was not the first ethnic minority leader. Pastors Tosh Garcia and Robert Martinez (both hispanic) preceded McManus' arrival at the Church on Brady. At that time, the board of elders was also a racial mix of white, (Pastor Thomas Wolf), hispanic, (Pastor Robert Martinez, Enrique Vasquez), and Japanese (Rick Yamamoto.)

This page is under construction and will continue to be updated as further information becomes available.

*PERSONAL NOTE FROM YVONNE: As of April 2, 2007, the Wikipedia article has been changed. Due to the change in content the alterations were made by an unknown person familiar with my work. The following is the original Wikipedia entry submitted by Mosaic which was taken from page 25 of the 2005 "The Origins Experience" brochure:

A Brief History

From Humble Beginnings...

Thirty-five charter members of the Bethel Baptist Church began meeting on January 3, 1943 in a rented storefront at 5637 E. Whittier Boulevard, Los Angeles. That first service seemed to serve as a poetic and prophetic metaphor-chairs ordered for the occasion failed to arrive, so the families brought chairs from their homes.

...And Decades of Faithfulness...

In 1969, God brought Tom Wolf to become the pastor of what had become the First Southern Baptist Church of East Los Angeles. At 24 years of age he brought a youthful enthusiasm to a place that had nearly lost its dreams.

Brother Tom led the church through a common mission to "become a spiritual reference point east of downtown Los Angeles and a sending base to the ends of the earth."

In his 25 years as Senior Pastor, the newly renamed Church on Brady saw the Lord take a handful of people and give birth to a vibrant community of 500 in average attendance. During those years, an extraordinary movement of God resulted in The Church on Brady starting churches both in Los Angeles and internationally.

In October of 1991, Erwin McManus was invited as a key note speaker for Church on Brady's (sic) Spare Not Conference on World Evangelism. It was a sovereign encounter that would foreshadow things to come. Erwin, his wife Kim, their son Aaron, daughter Mariah, and their daughter in the Lord Paty, soon moved from their home in Dallas to Los Angeles. Pastor Erwin brought with him 15 years of experience as an urban church planter, metropolitan consultant on evangelism and church growth, and national conference speaker.

On March 3, 1993 The Church on Brady unanimously invited Erwin to lead the congregation into the 21st century. Erwin, born in El Salvador, became the congregations first ethnic minority Senior Pastor. Believing that the metaphor matters, Erwin sought a new name for a community on the forefront of God's dreams for the future.

In 1996, Mosaic became a multi-site church.

"A mosaic is a work of art resulting from broken, fragmented, and isolated pieces taken by a master artist and joined together to create a unified picture of awesome beauty, especially when light strikes through it."

...Comes Radical Future.

In 2003 Mosaic sold it's property in east Los Angeles and became entirely mobile, operating as nomads for the gospel throughout one of the largest metropolitan cities in the world. Still growing, we are ever more convinced through our experience that the church is people, not a building.

Our community now meets on Sunday mornings and Sunday nights at The Los Angeles Entertainment Center and Nightclub in downtown LA, as well as in Pasadena on sunday mornings. We have changed our name and our location but our mission to reach the nations by impacting Los Angeles continues as we are reminded by our leadership, "Los Angeles inhales the world and can exhale the Gospel."

Under Erwins leadership, we weekly see those searching for life find hope; the number of overseas workers sent from our community continueing(sic) to grow; and new church plants beginning. This transformation has made us more ethnically diverse, increasingly passionate, and has awakened our rich creativity.

We have a long history of various locations, buildings, and even church names, yet our essence remains the same: mission is why we exist. We look forward with great anticipation to the future the Lord is dreaming through us as we continue to live by faith, be known by love, and be a voice of hope throughout Los Angeles and to the ends of the earth.

[Note: the text contains numerous typos - I have reproduced them all as is and flagged only the most obvious.]