As I See It-Our 10th Anniversary
It was the summer of 1997. At the time, I was working with Promise Keepers traveling around the state, assisting pastors and lay leaders in developing effective men’s ministries in their churches. It was a very exciting job that brought me in contact with literally hundreds of men, all looking to draw closer to Jesus and become more godly husbands and fathers.
On numerous occasions that summer, I would spend my evenings sitting on our front porch, reflecting and praying as I watched the sun slowly setting behind Mercy Hospital. While I was truly enjoying my work with Promise Keepers, I was also pondering what was next for my life. I knew in my heart that my work with Promise Keepers would not last forever, and believed at some point, I would return to pastoring.
Sandy & I had served as children’s pastors at the Evanston, IL Vineyard in the early 1980’s before moving to Iowa in 1987. In Iowa City, we took our first crack at church planting and put together the first Vineyard church there in 1988. Before coming on staff with PK, I served as associate pastor at River of Life here in Cedar Rapids, and now God was stirring my heart again for stepping back into pastoral ministry.
Though we had not been actively attached to a Vineyard church for nearly seven years, we had kept our many Vineyard friendships intact during that time, staying up with our good friends at the Evanston Vineyard and with Pastors Dan & RoiLene Paxton, who moved to Waterloo/Cedar Falls in 1988 to plant the Heartland Vineyard.
One evening on our front porch, as I was reflecting on such things, I flipped through the pages of Cutting Edge, Vineyard’s church planting magazine. One article caught my attention. It was an article on the top-ten list of cities in the Midwest that needed a Vineyard church plant.
There it was! Cedar Rapids. Right there in the top-ten list! The fine print told me that all the Vineyard pastors around the Midwest were asked to give their suggestions for cities that were ripe for Vineyard church plants, and wow, did I get excited!
I took that article as just another way God was prompting me on what was next. Within a few months, Sandy had decided I was truly hearing from God, and gave me her complete support in moving toward this new goal. By mid-November, Pastor Francis Frangipane had given us his complete support in helping us begin our new endeavor, so I picked up the phone and setup my first recruiting call to Brian Brinkert. Brian and Andrea, a young, vibrant couple with whom we had built relationship at River of Life, were ready to roll, and by mid-January, 1998, we were sitting in our living room with four other couples, sharing the dream of planting a Vineyard church in Cedar Rapids.
So there it is. That’s the way it was. If it weren’t for those summer evenings on my front porch near Mercy Hospital and that copy of Cutting Edge, who knows what we’d all be doing today? But thanks to God’s faithfulness, we’re here celebrating our 10th year anniversary, and looking with excitement toward all God has in store for us in the next ten years! We hope you feel the same!
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