the pitt - part seven: genetic predispositions

I mentioned before that we are part of a tribe who follows after Jesus - The Vineyard - and this little dream God has for this faith community in Pittsburgh will be a part of that tribe...we're family, and that family wants to help birth new communities of faith and hope and love in the world.

Though, in my mind, Healthy = Variety, thus there will be - as there should be - a fresh expression of what others have referred to as our "Vineyard DNA" and it will be a fresh expression of what God is doing at this time in our context. As we moved along in our journey, we reached out to the church-planting leaders in the region that oversees Pittsburgh: The Great Lakes - An Exceptional Family of Beers...oops, wrong link, here it is: The Vineyard Great Lakes Region. It just so happens that I know the Regional overseers in the Great Lakes: Ken and Nancy Wilson of the Ann Arbor Vineyard.

Actually I know Ken first of all through being friends with his son Jesse (who leads the Milan Vineyard Church in Michigan) and our good friends Doug and Gretchen Geverdt. I have a lot of other close friends in that region as well, so that important relational piece seemed solid to me. But I have to admit that I was prepared for difficult conversations and lots of questions - to which I probably didn't have great answers - because this...this "thing" that God was birthing in us was...different.

As I eluded to previously, I think the dominant DNA so-to-speak that will be expressed in Pittsburgh is going to be that which has been rather recessive for a while in most Vineyards that I have visited and know...so we won't exactly look like many of our cousins. I'm good with that, but over the past few years I have looked at all of the church-planting materials from the Vineyard online, and I have to admit: I was really rather discouraged. It didn't seem to fit, the questions they were asking were off somewhat. It seemed a bit cookie-cutter and really shaped for something that I didn't see us being called to be. It was all very suburban value-ish. It was all very oriented toward BIG-ness and marketing and entrepreneur-based. In addition, it was all addressed to 20-somethings, and I'm 41.

Admission: all the "prayer for church-planters" at every single Vineyard conference and/or gathering I have been to has gone something like this: "Can we get everyone under 30 to come up, we want to pray for you, that you would be released to plant churches..." While I'm all for getting people under 30 infused with a vision from God and praying for them and that dream God might have for them, I have felt discouraged and excluded every time.  I start questioning what we were doing. Should we get some genetic-testing done to see if we "fit the profile"? Maybe we're just 'over-the-hill' and it was something of a joke, like a certain Father and Mother of the faithful? What was God thinking teasing us with this "thing"?

[aside: while praying for young church-planters is great, I would implore my tribe to be more inclusive in those relationally-ripe and Spirit-empowering moments. I think we're limiting what God might be doing by constantly using exclusive language [with respect to age or otherwise] with our own predispositions...just sayin', because it has left me out-on-an-island previously, and it took a serious wrestling with God to stir the dream again.  Of course, now I think I will begin taking the Keck-ian approach to ministry time - it doesn't matter who or what you are praying for, I'm going!  I do so appreciate how the leaders of the church-planting task force have re-worked their material to be much, much more inclusive over the past 3 years.  Thank you.]

Yet when I began to reach out to my tribe in the Great Lakes church-planting team, and actually spoke with real people, almost immediately most of my preconceived (and possibly shallow) notions evaporated. People like Jim Pool and Nate and Ken and Nancy were really welcoming and open and wanted to know how they could help and were really affirming of what God was up to. Having people who listen and are supportive of what God was stirring in my heart was really a blessing.

And so finally, my wife and I sat down to fill out our pre-assessment paperwork and give good, open, honest language to what we felt God calling us into and who we were and what struggles and experiences we had...we needed to give people a glimpse of what God had given to us so far, and at the same time, tell them our story somehow.





[to be continued...]