Episode 182// Mosaic MSC Part 2
We had such a great chat with Carlos and Mariah from Mosaic MSC that we needed to make it two episodes! Enjoy!
Podcast Transcript
Ryan Loche
Welcome to the church collective podcast. In this episode, we are going to listen to the second part of our conversation with Mariah and Carlos from Mosaic MSE. Here we go.
Chris Bellamy
So you guys have only been back for four months.
Carlos Pimentel
I think like about six months. We, I mean, I can’t keep track of time. We started we were close for for over a year, right?
Mariah McManus
LA was like you couldn’t meet. Couldn’t even go out for at least a year. Yeah. So we started doing like small gatherings of like, less than 100. You know, because we didn’t, there were a lot of like, few go over 100 They’ll turn off your water or like, please, oh, calm or whatever, you know, and we didn’t know what was going on, or like legitimacy of all those things. And so we did like small groups, we call them houses. I was eight houses. And that was a really cool thing to you know, like, really special for what it was, and especially after a year of not seeing anyone. And then yeah, probably like, definitely before Christmas. Like, actually being able to, like meet. But even we couldn’t say until recently that we were like, officially open because you couldn’t open. And so recently in the last like, three weeks, everything’s open now. So
Chris Bellamy
that’s crazy. I was at Calvary Chapel doing a conference at the end of last year. And I just remember thinking how different like West Coast and East Coast like regulations are is crazy.
Carlos Pimentel
You were you were in Calvary Chapel in Orange County. And that’s completely different than LA
Mariah McManus
County’s like a different, like world different world. Like they would have no masks and you know, you go 20 minutes up the freeway, and you can go outside, you know, like, yeah,
Chris Bellamy
yeah, because we were going back and forth. You know, going to, like stores in LA. And I was so confused with everything, you know, like
Mariah McManus
Yeah, even just like we went recently to Nashville, and, you know, we’re able to share our album with some people and just even sharing the experience of La like it felt like what? Yeah, like, yeah, Archer shut down for like,
Chris Bellamy
right. Yeah.
Mariah McManus
And we were just shocked even like, okay, we’re realizing that like, this was a completely isolated, like California experience, you know, in some different places like New York and stuff. But it was very different than most of the last of the world.
Ryan Loche
It’s crazy. When you mentioned like, churches, churches different now, which I think we all feel. And I’m just I’m like really interested in like, what on earth is the Lord doing? Like, what what’s church going to be? Like? Like, what, what’s your guys’s sense now that we’re back? You know, what’s good? What’s bad? What should we be repeating in which believe we’ll be leaving behind?
Mariah McManus
Yeah, I mean, we just sort of decided to, like, change everything, you know, like, from, like, our, you know, like, a lot of like, contemporary churches and cities, like, our auditorium was black. And there were all sorts of like, you all like to like, oh, yeah, no, yeah. Like, that’s exactly what our service does, like, you know, and had like, a normal sized stage with, like, all of this stuff, you know, like, and it was so good for that time. And, yeah, I mean, you know, I’m not saying anything bad about it, because that’s what we did, you know, for years and years and years. And Church Online for Mosaic was so good. Like, it was such a good time, and people were so engaged, which really wasn’t what we were expecting. Yeah. So we, we just like, we’re going back, we’re like, this has to be better, you know, this has to be better than we were and asked me better than that. The, the ease, and like the quality of being able to just watch Church Online and it’d be a great experience. We have an amazing, like, production team and tech team and all of that. So they, you know, we spent a year and a half like putting all of our staffs energy into making the Church Online. Incredible, you know, right. And so we just painted the entire we read the stage of the wall, we took all the lights out of the auditorium, the screen, the CO windows in, we took the screen now. We painted everything white. Oh, wow. We have a stage that’s about half a foot from the floor. Um, and it’s just like, we sort of ditch to like the trying to make everything feel like the most perfect thing. You know, just like, we want you to feel a lightness and a peace when you come in here and a human, like experience, and not human experience from like the consumer, like the person that’s experiencing it, but from each person that’s onstage like, there’s no barrier between you and I, this is as human as it gets, and as imperfect as it gets. And, you know, I think we, we pride ourselves in excellence in a lot of ways. And for us, that just looks like being more human. Yeah, you know, caring less about the transition between the speaker and the guest. Yeah, and sort of being able to make everything have a more human essence to to it, you know, and it’s a different even now being in the rhythm of doing Sundays every week, it’s hard to go back. It’s hard to not go back into the old way of like, let’s make everything just like seamless and perfect. But we’re trying to ask the question of like, what’s, what pulls people in, you know, what makes people experience? Jesus more? You know, let’s take away, take away all of the barriers, let’s just make this as simple as possible. Yeah,
Carlos Pimentel
I didn’t do like I said, was extreme, too, because like, Mariah, and I were both. Like, we do MSC, and we ride and do all these things with with our worship team. But we also are part of our pastoral team here. And we help build our worship team in our Hollywood location, and also in our passing location. And we have campuses and other places, too. But I think that we had, during the pandemic, we realize that not everyone, everyone was at a different place. You know, like people that we thought they were doing great, we realized that they were not doing maybe that good. We had a ton of people that moved from the city and they moved back to with their parents. Yeah, we, you know, like it kind of like, everything changed. And we kind of had to, like made like, God, we got to a place that we have to realize that hey, like, we got to start from scratch and sign from scratch, it means that we’re not assuming that anyone is good. You know, we’re assuming that we’re all dealing with our own things that we have, we’ll have to we’ll have to figure out our relationship with Jesus before anything else. And we kind of like stripped down even I will say like, our worship ministry, like we like we went back. Okay, let’s, yeah, let’s start over, you know, who do we have? Who can saying how you doing you know, how to live as your relationship with Jesus has a relationship with your wife, and let’s go and we started from there. And then like, even on Sunday, still, like our worship gathering was not necessarily like, oh, like, let’s do this, like full band and like, elaborated, said, We like if we have a keyboard player and to vocalist, that’s where we’re going to start, we’re gonna go ease, ease into it. And then we’re going to start building based on not on on the expectation of creating amazing music, but more on the expectation of having a healthy team. Yes. And I feel like now after like, six months, I can, you know, we can say that we’re at a much better place. And we kind of were finding a good groove and a good rhythm where I feel like character arcs Archer is there, but also like, you know, there’s a lot of like time to people that have great character, too. And I don’t know, we’re also we’re also a family. So we get to, like, work together a lot and like, learn from each other a lot. And I feel like I don’t know we’re moving in the future feels very exciting right now. But it is because that, like, if you look back a couple months ago, or a year ago, it was it was very hard.
Ryan Loche
Yeah. My man, I got so many cool. I’m just like furiously writing questions bounce to bounce off. I’d love to hear like, just say Church Online was so good. I don’t think I’ve heard anyone talked about talking about church online like that. It was always like, let’s get back to what it was. Maybe like, tactically? What did that look like? Like what was so what did you guys do? That was so great. Like what was awesome about
Mariah McManus
it? Yeah, I mean, like I said, like, we put all our energy into that. So we, you know, like, I want I’m trying to think so it was like a distant memory that I buried him. But it is like we every month. I think like every couple months, we’d shoot worship Yeah, so like we
Carlos Pimentel
were for trauma and for the eight for the two months. Yeah, so
Mariah McManus
we do it for like, we’d have different sets, like sort of in like being, like, almost like a series, but not so much talking more like in, in like theme and style. So, like, we’d have a set, we do worship for two months. So like, you know, however many songs we literally shoot all day. And then we have like, basically, our team would edit all the vocals, all the music, and basically make it as good as we possibly could, which is awesome. Because, like, we really struggled with like live stream stuff when we were in person. Yeah, because it’s like, not, it’s hard to make live stream sound good, especially when you’re like, directly doing it, you’re watching in real time, right. And so we were excited to be able to make this like, an experience you really wanted to listen to, and, and worship with, you know, and then, and there were many iterations of that, like, throughout the year and a half, like we did it, you know, on iPhones, when we were super locked down, I think a lot of you know, a lot of different places did that which is, is awesome. And it, it worked super well, especially when we’re all isolated, you know, which was the hardest thing I’ve literally ever done, like having to like, film myself, and then sing the entire song, make sure it was plugged into Logic and all this stuff. You know, so we would do that for like two months, and then we’d have this, their entire team would like do messages. You know, like I did a couple, I think I’ve seen you did one and he did one, like everyone would shoot messages. So we’d all just have to be repaired at any time. And they basically just shot like, I want to say like 60 messages or something like wow, so every week would just be a new thing specifically for the people online. And so it was just like, we just tried to make it, I think, for us to like, we want to be able to like go to church, you know, like we want to be able to, like engage in that. And so we want to get something that was like that kept people you know, that like, kept the people that we had, but also engaged people that don’t live in LA, which is what we ended up seeing happen anyways was like people from all over the world more so than even la ended up engaging in it had been like regulars. And so we had teams that would be on the chats, teams that would you know, respond to emails, we had, like, Bible studies, then groups and you know, all throughout the week. But, you know, we had team nights via YouTube, and, you know, like, we did lots of stuff, but I feel like it was mostly just like, our team putting all the energy and it was super exhausting, especially like learning a new, having, like our editors having to edit like constantly for a year and a half. Like, it’s just a hard job, you know. But it really, like created and it almost was hard, like when we went back in person, like what did we just do? Because we have all these 1000s of people that are not in LA, you know, that we if we put if we abandon this outlet, and just put all of our energy into like physical church, we’ve lost an entire, like, congregation. World. That’s a great so you know, it’s, it’s, it was a unique pivot. You know, like, we didn’t go fully in it, I don’t think until like six months. And yeah, when we were able to like actually come and tow work. Like, that’s when I think we were like, Hey, we got to make this the best experience. Yeah, you know, and so it was a lot.
Ryan Loche
Wow. Is there? Is there a balance? Yeah, I was gonna say, is there a balance now? Like, if it seems like the expectation might be really, really high. So if you’re trying to do this physical stuff, like what do you what are you doing now with that?
Carlos Pimentel
We’re doing both like we’re doing we’re doing our normal on the gathering. And then we film stuff like we’re filming our Sunday’s Sunday worship. And that’s what we use for for the online and then also at the message from Sunday. We also film it and and we edit it and it’s produced just everyday we’re using Sunday content, but it’s produced for an online experience. I don’t know if that makes sense. Like we have we have our own like host that they film specifically for our online community and they have like different announcements and different ways of getting people to engage with what’s happening online that is that’s like the part that it’s like drastically different from also we’re live in person.
Mariah McManus
Yeah, we basically practically shoot everything else spend it and then release it
Ryan Loche
the week after. Yeah, just to give yourself
Mariah McManus
yeah, yeah, still like Live streaming a way but it’s, you know, we’re able to like edit the music. Make it sound good. Make sure that you know, talk is all like sounds good and looks good and all that, right?
Ryan Loche
Are you guys thinking about like the it’s so different to like lead people in worship that you’re basically not ever seeing like a like maybe speak a little bit to what you’re thinking, as you’re recording? Like, how much is that going across your mind?
Carlos Pimentel
I mean, I personally, I don’t know if I have an answer to that I was so interesting when you are you recording worship for, like online? And there’s no people? Because in my experience, is it just it, it takes more work? To not fool yourself to not be too self conscious about what you’re doing? Because there’s no there’s no response or it’s not reaction to what you’re doing. So it’s a little easier to like get in your head and be like, Oh, am I singing the right? No, like, do I look good, like, oh, this, like natural things that, you know, can come to our minds. But again, I just like seeing, seeing how far our music and how far our, our what we produce for Sunday has been able to go like I was I was part of the team that kind of helped manage, we had like over 200 houses around the world. And just I’ve been in contact with them and seeing how how impactful was everything that we were doing for them? I think it was it was it was very special. And I even like for us. You know, I want people to connect to worship. But that’s also just one aspect of what the Sunday experiences. You know, like, as much as I want people to connect through worship, I want them to get back to Jesus, you know, more than anything else, you know, I wanted to respond to your message. I want them to feel encouraged to be more generous, you know, like, it is I’m pumped to be part of doing a little bit of what God is doing. Yeah. And so as a whole as part of the whole. Yeah, I
Mariah McManus
think to like one thing, even just like when we were in the room, the idea of like not getting so swept up in your own personal. Like, world. Do you know what I mean? Like, I feel like a lot of times in worship, it’s easy to be like, Oh, this is really speaking to me. I don’t know why your thing keeps putting
Ryan Loche
up. That’s awesome.
Mariah McManus
It just keeps doing
Carlos Pimentel
this, like maybe like when you see the hand? Maybe?
Ryan Loche
That was the first time I’ve seen it on this end. But yeah,
Carlos Pimentel
yes, yeah. When we engage in saying I call you Hansestadt and race in 10 seconds.
Mariah McManus
But But yeah, like getting swept up in your own emotion and your own your own, like worship, which I think is obviously a big part of worship leading is being able to connect to Jesus and be able to, like translate that, but there is a line where you’re so wrapped up in your own encounter, that it no longer translate to the collective whole. And so it’s the same way like doing that for online even like even though it’s just, you know, filmed now and we post it, like, being able to remember that you’re pulling people in. Yeah, you’re not just like doing a show. Yeah. It’s not like, just watch me encounter Jesus, and maybe you’ll see what it’s like. It’s like, let me you know, like, let’s do this together. And so I think it’s the same, even translating and it was super hard doing it like in a studio. You know, like feeling super self conscious, like, do I look good? Or do I sound good? Like what? Like, this was like, way more intense than being on stage. But just being able to always have that in mind if like, I’m pulling people in like, I need to also I need to have my own encounter with Jesus, my own relationship, but I also need to be able to translate that in a way that pulls people in it. Yeah.
Chris Bellamy
Are you guys planning to take this album like out on the road? Are you going to be doing festivals this summer? We’re gonna be doing live stuff.
Mariah McManus
We’re doing one festival
I don’t remember what it’s called. But it’s ordering one in July. A couple of things in July that we’ve had scheduled for like years. Yeah, I mean, we it’s been a while since we’ve been in any of that. So we’re hoping to you know, we don’t have any plans to do that. But I mean, one thing that’s really Awesome, is that I just feel like we’re in the best position to do that. And for our church to be in the best hands like we have, like the healthiest people that we’ve ever had and like, some of the cool going on, and it’s just really exciting especially, you know, because being here through so many different seasons to know that like, when that opportunity comes like to tour a yen or to travel like that our church is getting the best of the best even when people are gone and traveling. And so, you know, we hope that we’ll do our soon. Get out of here.
Chris Bellamy
You guys, are you guys both from LA originally? I am.
Carlos Pimentel
She is I am I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. And I’ve been in LA for 10 years.
Chris Bellamy
Okay. I’m like totally shifting the conversation but like what do you guys like to do an LA like as locals?
Mariah McManus
No, I love it. Like our favorite.
Chris Bellamy
I go there a lot. But you know I do tourist there. Yeah.
Carlos Pimentel
Oh, well, next time. Next time that you come we got it. Yeah. Send us a text you. We love coffee. We love going to eat. pretty much always. I love going to the beach. To the beach.
Mariah McManus
I love going to Malibu like we’ll go to Malibu a lot to eat burritos and sit on the beach and like my husband will serve you know, I was terrible at it. And you know, that’s like definitely Malibu is like the I think if you’re there’s definitely way nicer beaches in Orange County. So if you go there often like that’s definitely where to go. But Malibu is super cool and, and chill and lots of farmers markets and yeah, there’s not like a lot of places to walk like most cities, you know, like, you can just walk around this area but Abbot Kinney is one that we love going to like even locals go there all the time, not just tourists. So yeah, we pretty much just like eat all the time.
Chris Bellamy
We’re getting to where you guys have have like the best of everything like the best, you know, boutique, clothing shops and shoe stores. Oh, yes, that’s like happened.
Carlos Pimentel
It is. Yeah, it’s pretty fun.
Mariah McManus
We’re spoiled.
Ryan Loche
Thank you so much for listening to this week’s episode of the podcast make sure to connect with us over on Instagram. Tik Tok is where we spend a lot of our time we cannot wait to see you over there.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai