The Astonishing Tales of Costanza - Volume 1

The Astonishing Tales of Costanza – Volume 1

Ok, so I should’ve known better than to be picked up from the airport by Mark Wittig. The dude’s unbridled intensity is matched only by my buddy, Sabo (which is saying a lot). Literally, Mark picks me up from the airport, only to take me straight to the Mosaic HQ in Pasadena. Apparently, Mark thought it’d be better for me to get right to work than unwind from a nine hour traveling experience. Good call.

Remembering my Jewish roots, Mark locked me in the accounting office (you know he had to be thinking: Jew + Money = Good Things), where He and I worked together counting the past week’s tithes and offerings. This allowed us some time to catch up because I hadn’t seen him since Brad Kosar got married (coincidentally this is where I got “girl Brad” to dance with me – she loved it). However, with all this catching up, we made a few mistakes counting – apparently, as we now learn, not all Jews are meant to count money.

Though we had a great time counting together, I did actually do one serious thing – I took the Gallup StrengthFinders Test, learning that my top 5 strengths are: 1. Strategic; 2. Input; 3. Ideation; 4. Command; & 5. Competition. Though I feel this test was dead on with all five top strengths, I would like to call your attention to the summary for “command:”

Command leads you to take charge. Unlike some people, you feel no discomfort with imposing your views on others. On the contrary, once your opinion is formed, you need to share it with others. Once your goal is set, you feel restless until you have aligned others with you. You are not frightened by confrontation; rather, you know that confrontation is the first step toward resolution. Whereas others may avoid facing up to life's unpleasantness, you feel compelled to present the facts or the truth, no matter how unpleasant it may be. You need things to be clear between people and challenge them to be clear-eyed and honest. You push them to take risks. You may even intimidate them. And while some may resent this, labeling you opinionated, they often willingly hand you the reins. People are drawn toward those who take a stance and ask them to move in a certain direction. Therefore, people will be drawn to you. You have presence. You have Command.

On top of helping me understand myself a little better, reading these summaries allowed me some insight into how the rest of the world perceived me. Though I laughed when I first read the “command” summary, I soon realized that in many situations this characteristic can be an invaluable asset or a costly obstacle when interacting with others. It can overwhelm and intimidate or intrigue and draw in; an idea, of which, I need to be very aware.

The last few sentences of the summary articulate something I’ve felt for a while but you need to change out “command” for “passion” (which in many instances, the two are synonymous). And, though passion has the potential to be caustic, most people are drawn to passion and passionate people – it’s magnetic. This is probably because most people desperately desire to be passionate, even to the point where they crave it, yet they are not passionate. Being around passionate people triggers this in them. One person’s passion can consume, encourage and influence another person.

Recently, I’ve realized that, as a believer, your insatiable passion can be the most powerful part of your interaction with non-believers. At first you might equate passionate believers with fanatical believers but there is a fundamental difference. There is freedom, boldness and creativity in passion; these are the things that drive passionate believers. Conversely, fanaticism breeds fear, legalistic and rigid thought with little grace. Thus, your passion is indispensable.

To recap a little, I spent this past week primarily learning about Mosaic’s core values and volunteering in a few service works projects. There is a nuance to the way they’ve enumerated their core values. For starters, one of their main core values is: relevance to culture is mandatory not optional. Compared to a traditional church, this value allows fluidity. Fluidity is paramount to success because we are living in a time where pluralism permeates our culture, mandating an ability to address and answer a myriad of issues.

Further, the pervasive idea underpinning their entire movement can be expressed as: sometimes there is a need to rehabilitate and sometimes there is a need to re-invent; now is the time to re-invent Christianity (albeit while staying doctrinally sound). McManus encapsulates this idea with the statement, “The number one enemy to the movement of Jesus Christ is Christianity.” This statement from McManus’s book, The Barbarian Way, epitomizes the fervency of Mosaic’s desire to re-invent Christianity. And, to tell you the truth, standing alongside of them in this attempt is an awesome thing.