Mosaic was prominently featured as the cover story for the week of August 6, 2007. Here's an excerpt from the article entitled, Churches Bring New Life to Shopping Centers, Retail Sites.
For Mark DeYmaz, spending tens of millions of dollars to construct a fancy mega-church at a high-profile location simply doesn't make a whole lot of sense, even if the money is readily available.
And though there are plenty of highly visible examples of enormous church buildings stretching skywards along dramatic hilltops and beside heavily traveled interstates, there are ministries taking the opposite approach by quietly taking over and revitalizing ghostly commercial structures and former retail spaces.
DeYmaz, teaching pastor and founder of Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas, and his membership currently occupy a former 80,000-SF Wal-Mart store on Col. Glenn Road and recently locked into a deal to purchase the abandoned Kmart complex at the corner of University and Asher avenues for a permanent home. DeYmaz says his congregation is just practicing what it preaches.
"We preach the resurrection of Christ, and we want to live that and demonstrate and represent that in everything we do," he said. "One way to physically represent that is to find these abandoned properties in somewhat neglected parts of the city and turn the lights on and provide a church where we can meet and celebrate. It's a physical manifestation of the resurrection, and is largely symbolic of what we preach."
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