Well I know my last post may have seemed a little anti-VCC but really it wasn’t about that. It was more anti-other things, people really! 🙂 And what better way to redeem myself than with a Happy Birthday Vineyard Community Church post!
Today was all about celebrating our church and what it’s meant to so many people for the last 25 years.  I was actually kind of bummed our founding pastor wasn’t there, but I get it, he’s moved on and so have we.  But it felt kind of like being a kid who’s dad doesn’t show up to their birthday party, and well I know that feeling all too well, so maybe that’s why it was so important to me in the first place.  But anyway…..
Thought it would be cool to share what VCC’s meant to me, and our family as we’ve been a part of it for the last 10 years or so.  Newly married, and having turned our back on the big “C” church due to some bad experiences, Dean and I had just stopped going to church altogether. We hadn’t really given up on God, more on the people in the church itself.  A strange thing kept happening, we kept going to the store or just out in general and we’d get served!
The most memorable for me was at the Kroger in Loveland, near our apartment, when we got handed mini candy canes with outreach cards.  At some point, Dean and I knew we needed to get back into church.  We hadn’t been married long but already were having trouble getting pregnant and my health even then, at the age of 19 was causing significant problems on my work.  Eventually, after getting handed enough outreach cards and saying what’s up with these people, we thought it wouldn’t hurt to just go once.  Boy were we wrong.  Our lives were never the same again.
I got baptized at that Vineyard in 1999, by my husband.  I remember sitting in the service feeling my baby boy kicking and hearing messages about Abraham and Sarah.  Those were the things that got me through those times, young and unsure of our future we knew we needed something more than we could offer one another. Our first servant roles were on hospitality, we made coffee together!  Ironically, we also had jobs off campus at King of Prussia mall at a coffee shop the semester we attended a bible college which had turned our whole outlook on church sour.  So it was almost as if we were able to do something good with our skills whereas before we really had used the job as an excuse to get off campus as much as possible, although there were no frappes or mochas served on Sunday mornings at VCC!  But there were at Barney’s at the mall on Sunday mornings!
Back to the point, we had an amazing small group that year when we were pregnant.  Saw some of them in passing today and wished our kids knew each other, knowing that back then we were the first to get pregnant. Knowing that one of those couples thought they’d be unable to have children is now pregnant with their 5th child. Our God is amazing.  Did we know all those years ago that when we were struggling with those issues we were then that He’d bring us to where we are today, no way!?  I remember struggling as a bunch of young adults to find the right words to encourage one another.  I remember the sadness in having to leave it all behind to start over again in the fall of 2001 when we moved back to MD for Dean’s work.
When we moved back to Cincy, in time for Christmas 2006, we thought we would try other churches out at first. We knew what the Vineyard was like but we had found a smaller church in MD and wondered if we could find something like it here as well. We tried a few places, but we also occasionally stopped by VCC since it was kid friendly and we felt so comfortable there. Around the time we started to come back weekly they had started talking about the Luke 4 initiative, and it felt like we were being called not just to be in Cincy again for Dean’s employment, but to be a part of what VCC was up to.
We eventually got back into the swing of our roles on the tech team, which is a little harder to manage with three kids as before we did it when it was just Dean and I. Before this point, I had stopped serving on tech team right before Caleb’s birth and then right after we moved to Maryland.  I immediately realized how much I missed it and loved being a part of the community and having something “adult” to do!  We found our way into small groups some times.  I served in childcare for awhile.  I helped out with the moms ministry for a short time. There are weeks I think I am here as much as other staff members!  I think I’ve done a little bit of everything around the Vineyard as far as serving goes, and after today I can say I even have ushered!  I liked it far more than I would have thought as well. I hate when that happens! 🙂
I’m not trying to boast of my serving, more than anything, I think I want to make a point for those of you who aren’t serving or who still think a mega church wouldnt work for them.  We attended a huge event today, 6000 or so people were there.  The chances of seeing someone you know, well I’m not into the stats on that kind of thing, but I can honestly say I could name at least 50 (really not sure a true number but seriously I was so thirsty by the time I finally got to my seat 10:45 this morning for chatting with all of you!) people I know, more than just by name.  This doesn’t happen when you go to church and find your seat and leave. This happens when you live your life with other people.   When you say more then hello and good bye. When you ask them how their day is going and really listen and really give honest answers and expect them! More importantly, when you are available. Available to serve. Available to listen. Available to make a phone call. Available to write a letter. Available to send an email.  Available to care about someone else. Available to see a need and do something about it.
25 years ago Steve had a vision and he could have chosen to sit down and write a book and be done with it. His book could have helped others fulfill their visions.  Instead he was available, willing and able to step out in faith alongside a handful of others in his community, his friends, to do something others might have thought impossible.  Thanks to Steve’s big dreams and God’s providence I am able to serve alongside some of the most creative, gifted, smart, talented and kindest people I’ve ever met.
25 years ago I was praying for children we didn’t know if we’d ever be able to have, myself, as well as were those other couples in my small group.   Today our children, and one of those other couples( a 3rd couple attends another local Vineyard plant!)attend Discoveryland services and get loved on by some amazing folks because Steve fulfilled God’s plan for that season of his life.  We didn’t know back then that the decisions they were making were for the lives of the children we were so earnestly praying for God to provide to us.
Thanks to Dave, Steve, Dana and all those other founders who did the hard work so we can see the fulfillment of your vision today.  Thanks for all of those who currently serve to uphold the values that Vineyard holds so dear. For those who don’t yet serve but have been wondering where you fit into this ragtag collection of folks, coffee’s a good place to start!  It smells good, some say it tastes good(sorry I prefer tea!), and it makes grouchy people happy! You really can’t go wrong- unless you choose not to serve!  🙂
