Why Vineyard? Part 1

If you follow my blog, you're aware of my reoccurring nostalgia lately. Even an assignment for our past two home group meetings has inundated me with memories - a brief look back at the history of Gadsden Vineyard which is now 34 young. (That's about half of my life.)

Last weekend, I woke up one morning with an old gospel song playing in my head, and I couldn't shake it. It kept replaying over and over and over again.
And . . . it's not even a favorite of mine. 

I wouldn't take nothing for my journey now

Got to make it to heaven somehow

Though the devil tempt me and try to turn me around

He's offered everything that's got a name name

All the wealth I want

And worldly fame

If I could

I still wouldn't take nothing for my journey now 

After this chorus played about a hundred times in my head, I thought, "Is God speaking to me through this song?" Well . . . Of course.

I really enjoyed sharing the adventures of the last 34 years with my home group because our history was and still is an amazing journey. This week,

I feel inspired to blog about why I chose and still choose Vineyard. Really, Vineyard chose me.

I was raised a Baptist and didn't even know that a modern translation of the Bible existed until I entered college (1971). In college, I experienced different denominations and their values and enjoyed getting to meet and to know these wonderful people from all over the world. I also began to question the values of "my" denomination in lieu of what I was encountering in these different services. 

Music had always been a huge part of my life. I began singing in church and elsewhere when I was old enough to stand on the piano stool without falling off. I traveled and sang solos, in choirs, in duets, in trios, in quartets, in stage bands. College was no exception. There I found a community of musicians who loved music as much as I did.

Contemporary worship was  in its infancy at the time, and I so loved the "God" music that sounded so much like the music I enjoyed on the radio.  Loving this new music almost felt sacrilegious because drums in the majority of churches were "of the devil." God forbid an electric guitar. (I never understood why a bass guitar was allowed when these other instruments were banned.)

I graduated college in 1974 and moved to Gadsden because I had a teaching job. That job afforded me many opportunities to once again sing, sing, sing in many different venues.

In 1976, I met Lanny, who is now my husband and who worshipped in a Lutheran church, and eventually joined him there. I was married in that church and became a part of that community and embraced ALL the differences. I even became their choir director and again, God forbid, moved a piano into the sanctuary and introduced some gospel songs into their mix. WHAT?

Okay. But where does the Vineyard stuff come in. I'm getting there. Please be patient.

Even though I had been "serious" about God almost my entire life, I REALLY got serious in the late 70s, so much so that I recorded my first album, For All Those, and began singing anywhere anyone asked me to sing. 

At the same time, the Charismatic Renewal was impacting mainline denominations. Our Lutheran pastor at the time encouraged us to check out this movement, at least to keep an open mind. (He didn't last too long after that.) A pretty good sized group of our fellowship took him up on it, and it changed our lives. It also got us booted (literally) out of the church. The disenfranchised began a new church that still exists today. 

I've shared all of the above to get to this point. All of my journey so far had left me with an ache in my heart - "There just has to be more to all of this."

Enter Jim Bentley and Wayne Findley who taught where I taught. They too were aching for the "more." Jim was like me and had been in church his whole life. Wayne, on the other hand, was a new believer. We all connected, and BOOM. Things started happening, and we started growing.

None of us realized how hungry and thirsty we were for the living God. We read scriptures and books and magazines, analyzed the things we had been taught and the things we had read, listened to cassettes and contemporary worship (nod to Keith Green), sat with our families and others talking way into the night, shared everything we learned with whoever was willing to listen (many of our students), and began praying for folks. We even encountered the powers of darkness, dare I say the demonic. For real. We were not equipped to handle that.

I met Nori Kelly somewhere in the middle of all of this, and we began working together on another album, Tears for the Harvest. He also became part of this group of "seekers."

One evening, Wayne said that he had found some interesting reading in Contemporary Christian Magazine. The article was about a course taught at Fuller Seminary in California by man named John Wimber. The course  was named MC510 - Signs and Wonders. What we read made so much sense and stirred our hearts, and Jim set out to meet John. 

Jim met John in Nashville and "adopted" Vineyard as his new home. They gave us 100 cassettes of music and teachings (we got to pick), and our lives have never been the same. In 1984, we attended the "famous" MC510 conference at Anahiem. That winter, Jim began meeting in his home. In December of '84, my responsibilities at another church ended, and I was free to come on board. We were incorporated in 1985, and folks, the rest is 

HIS-STORY.

It would take a book to tell the whole story, but I will say this. The journey has been MARVELOUS and has been filled with many peaks, valleys, and pits. Yes, we've had our share of moments (too many for my comfort) when I literally thought we were going to be ripped apart and cease to exist. However, we were determined to let God build this church, and thanks to Him it still exists today. 

And I do wish to thank my fellow travelers along the way for allowing me to be a part of their lives. It has been and I hope will continue to be an amazing journey that I treasure.

Please see Part 2 for the remainder of this blog.