What are people saying about the conference?
the vineyard movement
by Dave Workman, Sr. Pastor VCC Cincinnati
Sunday, May 10, 2009
This past week Joe Boyd and I were in Galveston for the Vineyard National Leadership Conference. Besides thoroughly enjoying the time with Joe, it reconfirmed what I love about our particular tribe and why it seems to fit me/us nicely. By the way, the head of our region, Ken Wilson, spoke at the Vineyard this weekend on the passage about the Church in our Nicene Creed series. Ken is the author of two great books; check out his last one called Jesus Brand Spirituality: He Wants His Religion Back.
Since my earliest recollection of the Vineyard and connection in 1984, there has always been a "kingdom-centered" theology, that is, the incarnation was the fulfillment of the Kingdom and that the central message of the Church is the Kingdom and that the Kingdom is expressed in supernatural and practical ways. John the Baptist's first message was, "Change the way you think: the Kingdom of heaven is near." In other words, the curtain between heaven and earth is opening and the playwright is stepping onto the stage. A thin place has suddenly been breached.
Jesus' first public announcement was the well-known prophetic passage from Isaiah 61 that had been referenced for centuries as the day when the Sovereign Lord rebuilds and restores a devastated planet, when justice flows like a river. When I look at the rampant political corruption in Zimbabwe and the desperate lining of pockets of power in an economy with an unfathomable no-kidding inflation rate of five-hundred-billion percent, or when I saw the long-abandoned massive strip-mined craters for tin in Nigeria as a result of colonialism, or read of the approximate quarter-million children trapped in sex-trade slavery in Thailand, I shout, "That's not fair. Where is the justice?" Who wouldn't?
Only one problem: what if God applied His perfect justice to me? Ouch.
Would I weep like the German Oskar Schindler, whose factory saved nearly twelve-hundred Jews, and say, "I could have got more out. I don't know. . . I threw away so much money. . . If I'd just..."? I live in a country where the average American is financially worth nearly a hundred times more than the average Indian.
And what about the unseen pettiness of my thoughts, the unspoken demand for comfort, the sense of entitlement?
How often have I turned a blind eye? Have I hoarded in ways that are indiscernible in our culture? Do I spend more on DVD's than an Indonesian makes in a year? The average American spends a whopping five hours a day watching TV; is that justice when hands and hearts are needed for the homeless, for forgotten senior citizens, for global peacemaking, for neglected children, for whatever? If justice really ran down like a raging river, would I be swept off the banks in it?
That's why I need the fresh mercies of God every morning.
But the message of the Kingdom focuses on individual wholeness and systemic social righteousness. It functions both on the level of practical justice and the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit.
That's what appeals to me about the Vineyard movement--it's not just talk. And it's not just about social causes. And it's not just about the charismas. It's the practical and supernatural outworking of the Kingdom. There is a risk element to it that we like to define as faith.
I need a family, a tribe, that's bigger than my own. It's not about "joining" the Vineyard movement. For me, it's like discovering your spiritual DNA in a family you've been searching for for years.
And that's what the conference reminded me.
Thank you for this year's conference
by Layne Fish, Sr. Co-Pastor Vancouver Vineyard Church
Thursday, May 14, 2009
The conference this year took both my husband and myself by surprise, in a good way. We were so blessed by the topics presented, the challenge for us personally and for our church; from heroic leadership to dying to self, honoring children, thinking out of the box concerning Israel, and being filled with the Holy Spirit, and from Jay being disappointed about the right things examining why we are in this to begin with. What a challenging and monumental week. We will never be the same. We are glad that we brought others from our church this year! No one will be the same, not us, not the Vineyard. Thanks to your great leadership. I am proud of you and proud of our movement.
National conference
by Marty Boller, Sr. Co-Pastor Vineyard Church of Cedar Rapids
Friday, May 15, 2009
Thank you to ALL the team that put the conference together. It was indeed the most refreshing & powerful conference we've attended in years. No...I'll go even better than that. It was life-changing. The worship was magnificent. The speakers were all directly speaking from the Lord, the serving on Wed was a huge blessing, and the fellowship (as always) was sweet, THANKS for pulling it all together! BLESSINGS from Cedar Rapids, IA
National Conference
by Michelle Wilson, Sr. Co-Pastor Coast Vineyard La Jolla
Friday, May 15, 2009
Yes! Our team went home so excited and encouraged, and glad to be part of the Vineyard. Our potential planters felt empowered, loved, affirmed, and wanted. We felt filled up, strengthened and empowered to face the challenges ahead of us. I've been recounting your teaching on the nature of heroic leadership to everyone who will listen and referring our leaders to Chrerith's teaching on line. Thanks so much for a wonderful conference!
Prayer Ministry Story at Galveston Outreach
by Mike Befus, Assistant Pastor of Vineyard North Church, Grand Rapids
Monday, June 1, 2009
God at work on Galveston Island
This just in: God shows up to Bible Belt for a Vineyard conference. Sorry if you missed it; I nearly did. First, because I was short on funds to get to Texas, and then again because I almost skipped the outreach day to start happy hour early. Day 3 of the Vineyard 'family reunion' was blocked out simply as "outreach day." As it happened, we put on the block party of the year - maybe the decade. The people I had lunch with said, "I can't remember anything like this comin' to Galveston, not even here at the former Ike 'tent city.'" On outreach I was stationed at the prayer tent, but not surprisingly the Texas BBQ was a bigger draw early on in the day. So I took a seat at the dining tent with a couple of Islanders. After hearing all about the trials and turmoil of hurricane Ike and the less-than-perfect national response one of the locals let me in on a very personal story.
I'm forgetting her name, but she was a lifetime resident of Galveston, I'd say in her 50's, and she'd been struggling ever since the hurricane to make ends meet. Earlier in the week, she'd responded to an ad for a paid dog-sitter, which was in itself a gift, but as it would happen the owner was a Vineyard pastor in town for the gathering. She explained to me that she'd been hoping (and praying) to find someone that could pray for healing. Just four months earlier, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and told she had roughly six months to live. As far as she knew, there wasn't a church within 30 miles following the hurricane. She had been hoping to visit Joel Osteen's church in Houston, but as she put it, "the drive's an hour and I don't have a proper dress." More important to her, she said "I haven't been able to find anyone that knows how to lay hands on me and pray for healing, not one person knows how." Not that she was expecting great results, because as she explained it, she'd only gone to church as a little girl and had spent most of her life working in or running local tourist bars. But since the diagnosis, she'd pulled out an old childhood Bible and had begun reading it praying for a miracle. And the answer started with an ad for dog-sitting.
The pastors with the dog prayed for her right away, but told her to come to the picnic looking for more. And so after finishing off the baked beans, we headed over to the prayer tent. Craig Heselton (of Holy Spirit Task Force fame) was sitting near the back looking especially eager and (oddly enough) unoccupied, so we pulled up a lawn chair. The team prayed with all the love and gentleness that you'd expect from experienced old Vineyard hands, and as they did she sensed the warmth and presence of the Spirit. Whether she experienced a miracle in her body wasn't certain, but she was certain that only God could've orchestrated such a 'chance' meeting on Galveston Island. And if that alone wasn't good news in this neighborhood of broken down homes and vacant churches, a new Vineyard plant is launching less than 3 blocks from her house. She intends to visit right away.
Don't you love it when God's answers to our prayers are so creative? On Day 3 "outreach day" at least one woman's prayers were answered with a thousand Vineyard pastors in flip-flops and beach shirts. Perfect, Vineyard, just perfect.