Blogs & Podcasts

A question that we all wrestle with is “should we be doing more marketing?”. I’m sure that no one in this economy has a lot of discretionary money to use for marketing, so what is the best way we can utilize the limited funds that we have?  Here are some thoughts…..

This month’s question is posted by Nicole McAdoo-Popovich, Denver Hub pastor from Arvada Vineyard, CO and answered by Jeff Heidkamp, co-pastor of Mercy Vineyard in Minneapolis, MN with his wife, Le Que Heidkamp, and editor of Cutting Edge, the Vineyard church planting magazine. Nicole is one of a group of current and potential church planters within Arvada Vineyard, and this is one of the most common questions they struggle with.

A provocative question, asking which race a person prefers.

I have just finished a book by Malcolm Gladwell called "Blink" which I found a fascinating read, and I was captured by this question in one section of his book where he talks about a test a person can take to show what they unconsciously feel toward African-Americans and European-Americans.

When my wife was having our first child, the midwife was very concerned because the baby was in the breach position. If the baby was to try to leave her body that way there would be real damage to the baby and my wife. In the birthing process leaving well is critical.

Leaving well in the birth of a church is important too! We want healthy, strong churches right from the start that have what they need to grow to full maturity. There is a lot of unnecessary pain and agony when the leaving is done poorly.

This year, at the Vineyard 2009 National Conference, we on the Ethnic Diversity Task Force used it as a place to introduce ourselves the larger Vineyard movement -- and we had a great time doing it! Every conversation I had felt like I was making friends with a kindred spirit on this journey toward a multi-ethnic community of believers.

A frequent question for church planters is how to balance church and family. I generally give a two part answer: one answer for the first year of planting, another answer for all the years after that. In the first year I recommend working all out, especially at gathering, in hopes of getting the church to an attendance of 100 or so in the first year-two years at most. This would make all the other things more simple. Which means that in the first year a planter has to get by on minimal family time.

The Ethnic Diversity Task Force would like to invite any ethnic minority pastors and their spouses to attend a luncheon on Tuesday, May 5, during the National Conference in Galveston, TX. This lunch is open to associate and senior pastors.

We would love to take the opportunity to meet you and hear about your interest in the area of ethnic diversity in the Vineyard.

Please just RSVP with an e-mail to leque@mercyvineyard.org so we can be sure to have enough lunch!

Today a friend told me about visiting a church in another city. The first time he went it was for a Sunday evening service he found on their web site. But when he got there the place was closed - no signs, no lights, no notice, and no people except for three other newcomers who did the same thing - look on the web and come to the stated service time. So eventually he tried again on Sunday morning. But the service was much longer than he expected - he had arranged a ride from someone else and had to leave after 90 minutes and the sermon still hadn't started!

We are excited to say we've identified the threads we want to use to begin putting together the tapestry of how greater ethnic diversity might come about among Vineyards across the country.

I would consider myself a theologian of sorts. That is not saying too much because the fact is, every Christian is a theologian of sorts. Whether consciously or unconsciously, every follower of Jesus Christ is either a good or bad theologian, as all disciples of Christ have some sort of belief system and do some reflection on those beliefs and their importance for the Christian life. That is what theology is. Theology is the discipline that involves reflection on faith and the articulation of those beliefs. Why is this discipline important?