Earthdate: 7/28/07 Captains Log: DAY 4 Cincinnati – Vineyard Community Church (VCC)
Today seemed like a day and half chucked into 24 hours. We had just traveled overnight from Kansas City to Cincinnati. Mid-morning/middle of the night, we tried to catch a little sleep and then rush into a full day Saturday. And what a day it was!
First on the agenda, a “Block Party” with two churches, VCC a worldwide mega-church and W.A.E. Church (W = Window, A = Arts, E = Enrichment) WAE Church is a year-old, brand new inner city church just beginning with 25-30 people per Sunday. A couple of months before, WAE called VCC and asked for help to reach their neighborhood. They made plans, scheduled a Saturday, and today, that “Block Party” became a reality. Free food, free games, free inflatable jumper, free juggler, free DJ, and free Grace from God was shared with all who responded to the neighborhood canvas and word of mouth.
Wow, VCC sure does know how to do a neighborhood outreach. WAE made the call and VCC did the rest…setup, people and event. About 50+ VCC people (kids and adults) clad in their “Cincy Kids” t-shirts, joined with around 15 WAE members and just loved an entire neighborhood.
The gimmick used to get the neighborhood to check out the event was a bag of popcorn and invitation that read, “Come and check out our free neighborhood party with this invitation and you might win a brand new microwave. As the Block Party was winding down, a name was picked from a hat and the microwave winner was decided.
Don and Sonia, from our team, had the honor and privilege to go and deliver the prize $35 microwave. They found their way to a home that would have better fit in the 3rd world than it would fit in the world’s richest country, bugs were crawling on the floor, urine and feces smell permeated the air. From the home with next to no furniture emerged an older woman who welcomed them. They gave her the $35 microwave, but she responded with a gratefulness that rivaled a lottery winner. This prize delivering event culminated a half day filled with life- long memories.
As we helped pack up the Block Party, we traveled to VCC (a mega-church campus) which is the birthplace of the Servant Evangelism movement (remember our Dollar Car Wash…we stole it from VCC). Once at VCC we did some Q&A with Harmony Hensley, a literal tornado of service, love and energy. Harmony speaks twice as fast as the average human being. Harmony would take a breath every other minute, amidst her enthusiastic sharing of all the VCC outreaches, only to launch into another 2 minute long run-on sentence of awesome VCC servant event outreaches. After about an hour and half of only scratching the service of all of what VCC does, Harmony gave us a tour of their building. It is an impressive building that declares what it is about right from the beginning. Written in large letters across the front entrance were the words, “Small Things Done with Great Love Can Change the World.”
After meeting with the whirlwind of Harmony Hensley, we met with Andy Ransdell, former Teaching Pastor of VCC, and now mission developer pastor of LifePoint Vineyard Church (http://www.lifepointvineyard.com/), Monroe, OH. Andy shared the journey of moving from teaching pastor to planting a new church. Andy shared the gift of launching out of an awesome church and the struggle of trying to carve out their own identity and God-calling. He also shared the struggle of trying to figure out how to grow not only wider as a church, but grow deeper as a community of faith. He shared how he didn’t want to grow a big church, but also grow people to become disciples of Jesus Christ. Much like Kaw Prairie Community Church the day before in KC, Life Point helped us connect the dots between where we are and where we will be. It was affirming to share our first year journey with Andy and have him respond with a “Wow, you guys are doing great.” I guess deep down I know that, but it is always good to hear it from an outsider.
The piece de resistance of a very busy day was 6:30 worship at VCC. The worship band was excellent. The sermon was well crafted, practical and memorable. The whole experience was well done. Afterward, we loaded up with more pop and water from Target and poured ourselves into bed.
Tomorrow, worship at LifePoint Vineyard Church and then a five our trip to Rob Bell’s Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, MI.
If you would like to see pictures from Day 4, click….
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0CYtW7lw3aMXUg
Thanks for reading. Thanks for all your prayers…we feel them…keep ‘em coming!
Peace Out!
T-Rob
Today seemed like a day and half chucked into 24 hours. We had just traveled overnight from Kansas City to Cincinnati. Mid-morning/middle of the night, we tried to catch a little sleep and then rush into a full day Saturday. And what a day it was!
First on the agenda, a “Block Party” with two churches, VCC a worldwide mega-church and W.A.E. Church (W = Window, A = Arts, E = Enrichment) WAE Church is a year-old, brand new inner city church just beginning with 25-30 people per Sunday. A couple of months before, WAE called VCC and asked for help to reach their neighborhood. They made plans, scheduled a Saturday, and today, that “Block Party” became a reality. Free food, free games, free inflatable jumper, free juggler, free DJ, and free Grace from God was shared with all who responded to the neighborhood canvas and word of mouth.
Wow, VCC sure does know how to do a neighborhood outreach. WAE made the call and VCC did the rest…setup, people and event. About 50+ VCC people (kids and adults) clad in their “Cincy Kids” t-shirts, joined with around 15 WAE members and just loved an entire neighborhood.
The gimmick used to get the neighborhood to check out the event was a bag of popcorn and invitation that read, “Come and check out our free neighborhood party with this invitation and you might win a brand new microwave. As the Block Party was winding down, a name was picked from a hat and the microwave winner was decided.
Don and Sonia, from our team, had the honor and privilege to go and deliver the prize $35 microwave. They found their way to a home that would have better fit in the 3rd world than it would fit in the world’s richest country, bugs were crawling on the floor, urine and feces smell permeated the air. From the home with next to no furniture emerged an older woman who welcomed them. They gave her the $35 microwave, but she responded with a gratefulness that rivaled a lottery winner. This prize delivering event culminated a half day filled with life- long memories.
As we helped pack up the Block Party, we traveled to VCC (a mega-church campus) which is the birthplace of the Servant Evangelism movement (remember our Dollar Car Wash…we stole it from VCC). Once at VCC we did some Q&A with Harmony Hensley, a literal tornado of service, love and energy. Harmony speaks twice as fast as the average human being. Harmony would take a breath every other minute, amidst her enthusiastic sharing of all the VCC outreaches, only to launch into another 2 minute long run-on sentence of awesome VCC servant event outreaches. After about an hour and half of only scratching the service of all of what VCC does, Harmony gave us a tour of their building. It is an impressive building that declares what it is about right from the beginning. Written in large letters across the front entrance were the words, “Small Things Done with Great Love Can Change the World.”
After meeting with the whirlwind of Harmony Hensley, we met with Andy Ransdell, former Teaching Pastor of VCC, and now mission developer pastor of LifePoint Vineyard Church (http://www.lifepointvineyard.com/), Monroe, OH. Andy shared the journey of moving from teaching pastor to planting a new church. Andy shared the gift of launching out of an awesome church and the struggle of trying to carve out their own identity and God-calling. He also shared the struggle of trying to figure out how to grow not only wider as a church, but grow deeper as a community of faith. He shared how he didn’t want to grow a big church, but also grow people to become disciples of Jesus Christ. Much like Kaw Prairie Community Church the day before in KC, Life Point helped us connect the dots between where we are and where we will be. It was affirming to share our first year journey with Andy and have him respond with a “Wow, you guys are doing great.” I guess deep down I know that, but it is always good to hear it from an outsider.
The piece de resistance of a very busy day was 6:30 worship at VCC. The worship band was excellent. The sermon was well crafted, practical and memorable. The whole experience was well done. Afterward, we loaded up with more pop and water from Target and poured ourselves into bed.
Tomorrow, worship at LifePoint Vineyard Church and then a five our trip to Rob Bell’s Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, MI.
If you would like to see pictures from Day 4, click….
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0CYtW7lw3aMXUg
Thanks for reading. Thanks for all your prayers…we feel them…keep ‘em coming!
Peace Out!
T-Rob
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