Overflow Coffee Bar
One Cup At A Time We are planting a church in the South Loop of Chicago, but we’re doing it relatively differently. We felt God call us to open a coffee shop, and through that a church would form. It’s not just any coffee shop, but a coffee shop that is “changing the world one […]
Poverty, Prayer and Motorcycles
Starting Small We are one of the Cleveland churches on the east side of Cleveland. We’re not a very big church. We have maybe 150 members, counting cats and dogs. We’re in a very poor area operating on a near-zero budget. We have many outreaches, and God is good and fills them up! We moved […]
An Unexpected Pastor
We Began As A Couple My name is Cathy Chester. I am a church planter and, very unexpectedly, the lead pastor of Carolina Coast Vineyard Church in Wilmington, North Carolina. My husband, Jon, and I led a small house church before God made it clear that we were supposed to be part of the Vineyard […]
Grace at the Roller Derby
I’ve had the desire to become more of a proclaimer of the gospel as well as a person known to be in the presence of the gospel. Over the last five or six years, as a result of investing in my community, I’ve been around quite a few people that are very far away from […]
Remembering John Wimber
We first met John Wimber in the Spring of 1982 when he came to a meeting in the crypt here in Holy Trinity Brompton. We had never heard of him, but David Watson had said that we ought to invite him. We collected together all the home group leaders of the church-about eighty of us. […]
The Power to Choose
A Game-Changer Being the season of giving, it is common to see advertisements and promotions for Christmas gift programs for the financial insecure. Groups such as Toys for Tots or Angel Tree cover the airwaves asking for toys to give to children whose parents are unable to purchase Christmas gifts. Churches across the country partner […]
A Nudge Plus Obedience
I had been serving as the worship pastor for many years at the Urbana Vineyard. I loved that job and felt like I had been called to do it. My family had been worshiping there for years before I got hired there. Several years in, part of my role was trying to help get our […]
God Orchestrates and Students Play
Doing What The Father Is Doing I lead the youth at our church, and one of the great things we do as a group of middle school and high school students is that once a month, on a Friday night, we go out and walk around our city. We ask God what he wants to […]
Biblical Faithfulness
Jeff Heidkamp: What are definitions of “Biblical faithfulness,” in your words? Rich Nathan: I quote Joshua 1:8: “Do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth. Meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it; then you’ll be prosperous and successful.” Breaking that […]
How The Vineyard Began
An Answered Prayer One sunny afternoon in June, 1964, my 3 year old son, Sean, wandered away from our home in Yorba Linda, California. At first, I was not too concerned when I noticed he was missing. Our neighborhood was quiet and well protected by the surrounding eucalyptus trees and orange groves. However, when I […]
