We saw an INCREDIBLE video today that describes our 25 year history as a movement and our distinctives. Everyone from John Wimber and Ken Gulliksen to Phil Strout and Rich Nathan were on it.
One comment really struck me. A church planter was recalling the first time he went to a Vineyard. All he’d known of church was very conservative. So he didn’t believe it when his girlfriend recommended he not dress up. Only after seeing a guy in flip flops did he decide he’d lose the tie. 🙂
What he said then floored me. “Up until then, my experience of Christianity was having to be something I wasn’t. At the Vineyard, I was able to be myself.”
God is so proud of who we are. He’s the Father running down the road to the son and not letting the son get beyond the “I’ve made a mess of my life and yours.” He still lets us be who we are. And He desires it!
How cool to be part of an ongoing movement that celebrates that.
Phil Strout had a cool thing too: His mentor for the last 10 years is a conservative Baptist pastor. When they first started meeting, he said, “You guys really believe God is coming to your church, don’t you? And you really believe that God is showing up with you as you grocery shop!”
Yep. We do.
The Father is always at work. We’re risking and practicing and fumbling and succeeding at trying to listen to Him and participate in whatever He’s already doing. We don’t need programs to do that. We just need to live our normal lives with an eye and ear open to Him.
Who wouldn’t want to be part of a tribe like this?!
