The Faces Of The Vineyard
Who is the Vineyard? It’s all of us who call ourselves a part of the Vineyard family, from all walks of life, backgrounds, and stories.
We’re a diverse movement of churches, filled with Kingdom dreamers serving their communities and families with vision, action, and over-the-top love.
Meet a few of those dreamers below in this inaugural post of Faces Of The Vineyard.
Le Que Heidkamp
Age: 40
City: Minneapolis, MN
Occupation: Co-Lead Pastor, Mercy Vineyard
Your Dream: My dream is for the next generation of young people to experience God in a way that is incredibly personal and powerful. My dream is that they would transform their generation – in their individual lives, but also in their countries, their neighborhoods, and their families. I came to Jesus, and He turned my world upside down. That is what I want for the next generation – to see Jesus turn their world upside down, whether they have known Him as children, or whether they know Him for the first time in adulthood.
Dream For The Vineyard: My dream for the Vineyard is that we would become a place that is really diverse, able to reconcile people from all kinds of ethnic, linguistic, and religious backgrounds – in Christ.
James Michael Menephee
Age: 46
City: Sugarland, TX
Occupation: Associate Pastor, Sugarland Vineyard
Dream For The Vineyard: My hope is that the church rises up to its place in being the reconciling group that God has called us to be. I’m growing, even as a pastor asking, “God, what’s my piece in that? What’s my family’s piece in community to be reconcilers wherever we are – wherever my kids go to college, or in the military?” That’s my heart – that we continue to grow to be able to seek God and say, “Where is our place in that reconciling heart?”
Dreams For Your Family: My dream for my four children is that they would find out what their gifts are. Ultimately, I want them to know what God created them to be and to do what they do with all their heart – whatever that passion is.
(Hoa-Khanh) Kathy Maskell
Age: 37
City: Media, PA
Occupation: Pastor Of Discipleship, Blue Route Vineyard | Steering Committee, Vineyard Justice Network
Dream For The Vineyard: My dream for the Vineyard is that we could become excellent at practicing a theology of hospitality. It’s something I’ve been working on and talking about with some other folks in the Vineyard, unpacking where the word hospitality even comes from. Not only does it turn us to the host, and to communion, and to Jesus as our host, but it also turns us to the root meaning of host, which is ‘stranger,’ ‘foreigner,’ and even the word, ‘enemy.’
So, a dream I have for the Vineyard is this – what could it look like if we were so in tune with the surprising power and work of the Holy Spirit that the kind of table Vineyard set would be surprising? That it would bless the worldwide church in such a way that they would inquire of us, “How is it that you were able to sit this person to your left and this person to your right? They’re so different, yet they’re leaders, and pastors, and church planters? This is so out-0f-the-box – this is so not what we predicted.”
Then we would stand and say, “Because we’re a people of the Holy Spirit who listen well.” I would love if, when my kids are of church-planting age or a cognitively critical age, that they would be able to say, “Yes, the Vineyard is still a spiritual home for me because there are people who look like me, and people who are leading, being, and pointing the way to a Revelation vision of community.”
Hobbies: Reading, exploring new neighborhoods in the city, and traveling to exciting, far-off places (when we can).
Rian Alexander Vargas Emano
Age: 22
City: Overland Park, KS
Occupation: Video Producer, Vineyard Overland Park
Your Dream: For everyone to realize that they are a creative person in Jesus. Even if they don’t feel creative, that God has called them to be creative because we were made in His image – and that’s an amazing thing.
Dream For The Vineyard: I’d love to see more creatives taking initiative and taking more leadership roles in the Vineyard.
Hobbies: I love shooting movies, playing music (keyboard), beat-boxing – anything musical or creative in general.
