Over the last few years, I have become increasingly convinced that planting churches is one of the most significant ways the church can do what it is called to do: make disciples. Church planting is tough work and one key to thriving is focusing on what God is doing and not on what we wish […]
Church Planting in my 50s
I first visited a Vineyard church in 1991 and I experienced grace, truth, and love that broke through my walls and brought healing to my soul. It was a church that did what they said they believed. No one was excluded from having an opportunity to “do the stuff”. There I was invited into a […]
How I Accidentally Planted a Church
As a teenager I said I would never pastor a church. I had watched my father and mother pastor. It made me respect them, but I also saw the cost of pastoring first-hand. I pursued my education in law school, but every time I turned around there were people around me, people I was loving […]
Anchors For Healthy Church Planting Families
Church planting is a wild ride with ever-changing relationships and the need for fast and flexible movement. When our family was planting our church, we started by hosting small groups in town before we began holding Sunday services. It was a great space to engage with God and each other. We grew quickly and with […]
Finding A People: My Journey To The Vineyard
My wife and I did not grow up in the Vineyard movement. She grew up in the Lutheran church and I grew up what I call “straight-laced evangelicalism.” We prayed and believed God answered prayer, but our understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit wasn’t fully fleshed out. The gifts of the Spirit were […]
What’s Your Dream For Your City?
We moved with ten people from Columbus to plant a church. Our call was really clear, and it was repeated over a number of years for a very specific place called Arvada, Colorado. As we were moving, we had an opportunity to sit with Carol Wimber and talk about our story. When we finished, she […]
Finding My Restored Identity As A Leader
I’m a church “re-planter” and a pastor. Those words still seem a bit foreign and awkward when they come out of my mouth. I grew up as the youngest of my siblings and the youngest in my classes in school. Although I didn’t recognize it until more recent years, my birth order and age among […]
How God Called Us To Church Plant…Again
After 20 years in the Vineyard and 10 years in ministry, we had been on two church planting teams, but never planted a church ourselves. I felt that God was asking us to do this, but my wife, Jacinda, wasn’t sure she wanted to step into planting again. We knew it would impact not only […]
Everyone Really Does Get To Play!
As we started serving on ministry teams at our local Vineyard church, we learned more about the Vineyard’s values and beliefs; We absolutely loved the mantra that in the Vineyard that “Everyone gets to play”. Not long after we started getting involved at the church, I got to personally “play” by being invited on staff […]
Discovering We’re Church Planters After Retirement
After my wife Beth and I retired from the military, we spent a lot of time in prayer about God’s will for us. We came to Chesaw, WA thinking we were fully retiring, but after living there for a couple of years, we grew to realize there were a lot of people who weren’t being […]
