Read updates below from each Vineyard USA Association.
Our Women’s Association has had a leadership transition. After five years of faithful service, during which she built a vibrant culture of love and support among the women of the Vineyard, Melanie Forsythe-Lee has prayerfully decided to step down as leader. Mel is currently on bereavement leave, followed by a well-earned sabbatical, and will rejoin the Core Team in the new year.
Sarah Anderson is now serving as Interim Leader, and our Core Team has grown with members from all 9 regions and the other 3 associations. We’re committed to helping every woman leader in the local church reach her full potential through connection, support, and development. Reach out to a team member from your region or association with questions or to get connected.
Our Core Team launched Connection Groups this past year, and our beta groups went so well that we’ve expanded! Seven groups now meet monthly or bimonthly for women who are:
Our Mentoring Team’s new course, Leading as a Woman, is open to women in any area of ministry. You’ll process your leadership alongside other women and learn to better use your gifts to bless and beautify the Church. Topics include:
Apply from the Associations web page.
This summer, through our grant work with Tenx10, the AAPI Association partnered with the Asian American Christian Collaborative to take 12 youth on an Asian American Civil Rights Tour of California. We visited places that hold our communities’ stories: the Korean National Association, Little Tokyo, Historic Filipinotown, Manzanar, San Francisco’s I-Hotel and Chinatown, and Angel Island. Along the way, we learned from historians, ministry leaders, community developers, and pioneers of the Asian American church who built churches while advocating for “the least of these” in their neighborhoods.
The history was rich, but some of the most beautiful moments came from being together. The trip was intentionally intergenerational, and our youth connected quickly and deeply. Many grew up as minorities in their schools and communities, and several said they had never felt such immediate belonging in a group. As we keep investing in the next generation, we hope our teens come away with a bigger imagination for how they, as Asian American Pacific Islanders, can be part of change, seeing that justice work is mercy work, part of God’s calling on their lives, and that they have a place in it.
This trip, along with our ongoing youth mentoring, deepens our conviction that when faith and ethnic identity are woven together, we are freed to serve the Lord as our whole selves. We pray our teens are inspired to join in Kingdom work and grow in confidence as they understand how their Asian American identity is part of God’s good plans for them.
Sign your teen up for youth mentoring
We are delighted to share that Pastor Ed Murray will be stepping into leadership of the Black Pastors and Leaders Association (BPLA)! Ed is a gifted pastor and trusted friend with a deep love for Jesus, a heart for people, and a passion for developing healthy leaders. Please join me in celebrating Ed and praying for this next chapter! Ed steps in with strong momentum from a year of connection, community, and building as BPLA creates spaces of belonging and cultivates Black leadership throughout Vineyard USA.
We are also excited to welcome two new Core Team members: Rolisa Tutwyler from Gate City Vineyard in North Carolina and Sharbee Henry from North Jersey Vineyard in New Jersey.
At Better Together 2026, BPLA hosted a Harlem immersion experience, walking from the Malcolm Shabazz Harlem Market and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture to the historic Apollo Theater, and connecting through the stories and places that have shaped generations of Black life and leadership.
This fall, our Core Team gathered in Columbus for our annual leadership retreat. Last year, we focused on clarifying our vision. This year, we began building a framework to carry it out. At the center of that work are two priorities: strengthening relationships among Black members of the Vineyard, and creating environments where Black pastors and leaders can belong and flourish. While in Columbus, we also hosted an Old School Gospel Sing-Along at the Life Vineyard.
This year, Hispanic Association Leader Rubén Quintero joined the board of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition (NALEC). NALEC is committed to serving and empowering the Latino church for the advancement of the Gospel and the common good, and Rubén’s role brings the Vineyard to that table.
At Better Together 2026, more than 100 Hispanic leaders gathered as we deepened our commitment to becoming emotionally healthy disciples and carrying the work of the Kingdom into our diverse communities. The Hispanic Association also hosted an immersion experience in El Barrio (Spanish Harlem), where about 50 participants shared Hispanic food, enjoyed a Puerto Rican salsa band, and walked streets that Puerto Rican and Dominican families have called home for more than 130 years, connecting through the stories and places that have shaped generations of Hispanic life and community.
We’re also seeing that story continue to unfold in local churches. Palo Alto Vineyard recently launched one of the newest La Viña congregations in the U.S., and Rubén was invited to lead a workshop titled “The History of the Vineyard Is Also Written in Spanish.” He traced the contributions of Hispanic pastors and leaders from the earliest days of our movement to today, then helped the church’s leadership team imagine what God might build through their community in the years ahead.
That vision for the future is already taking shape in our next generation. Year after year, our presence at Project Timothy keeps growing, and this summer dozens of young Hispanic leaders attended at least four of Vineyard Youth’s regional trainings. We’re seeing seeds of the Kingdom take root among our youth across the nation, and we can’t wait to see what grows.