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Vineyard Church North Phoenix | VCNP Leadership Monthly for October 2009

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VCNP Leadership Monthly for October 2009

October, 2009

Greetings!

We love fall... Football season starts, the weather begins to get a bit cooler, the leaves begin to change color (well, we can imagine they do!), and pumpkin pie is right around the corner!

As we begin this fall season, we wanted to pass along some updates:

  • First of all, we baptized 115 people at our Labor Day baptism on Sept. 7th! So far in 2009, we have baptized 250 people and we still have one more water baptism on Nov. 15th!

    We want you to know, baptizing that many people is an incredible privilege God has given us! Many churches don't even baptize one person in an entire year! God has truly blessed us.

  • We also wanted to let you know that through our compassion ministry, so far in 2009, the following has taken place:
    • 4,641 guests have received food;
    • 3,650 guests have received clothing;
    • We had 109 salvations through our food bank;
    • 1,956 volunteers have served; and
    • 159 new volunteers in 2009.

    What another incredible privilege God has given us to minister to the physical needs of that many people in our community! Praise God!

  • We also hosted an event at our church this past August called "Project Homeless Connect." We partnered with several other secular organizations to bring about 240 Homeless people onto our campus and minister to their physical and spiritual needs. We had 90 Vineyard volunteers who helped make that happen!

    It was a great event and we want to host it again next year!

    We want to be the kind of church that if we suddenly ceased to exist, the poor in our community would weep! We're blessed to have so many leaders helping to make this a reality.

  • Some other news we want you to have, in case you missed the Leadership Meeting we had on Sunday night, Sept. 20th is that we will be having a Volunteer Appreciation Banquet for everyone who serves in any capacity here at the Vineyard. This banquet will be on Sunday night, Dec. 6th, at 6 pm in the main auditorium.

    You are not going to want to miss this banquet! Our pastoral staff is busy making plans for it to be a memorable, very fun evening. Please put it on your calendar!

  • We are currently in Portland Maine for a Vineyard USA Board meeting, but will be back this weekend.

  • One last bit of news we want to share with you is about me (Brian) having shoulder surgery on Oct. 20th to repair a torn rotator cuff, and get rid of a bunch of bone spurs and arthritis I have in my right shoulder. I'm sure this is from an accumulation of baseball injuries over the years!

    It has been hurting for over two years now, keeping me up at night, etc., so I decided I needed to get it fixed.

    I would appreciate your prayers for me about this. I will be out of work for about 2 weeks, in a sling for 3-4 weeks, and then rehabbing for 4-6 months.

Thank you so much for all you do to help make our church the church that it is! Without you, we would not be making the impact in our world that we are making!

Let us take this opportunity to remind you, once again, you are making an eternal difference with your life!

Love,
Brian and Thora

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I love our church. I am sure that our the outreach reaches God and makes Him smile. As followers of Jesus we should seek ways to do more for the poor and downtrodden. In our modern world we have become like those who passed the hurt man on the road and waited for someone to reach out and take care of him; we appear to be waiting for the good Samaritan. Thank you leadership who actually put compassion into motion. I am glad to be a part and I am learning what it means to seek the Fathers heart.

The offspring of Abraham were to be the light unto the world. Over centuries, they became withdrawn. We are to be lights unto the world. What has happened to us, maybe we have become withdrawn and self-centered as well.

While I was taking VLI, a missionary spoke to us and asked us this question. Does the offer of salvation require us to be a Christian? We thought so, but were curious over the asking of the question. And I am not challenging good intentions. But think of this. Jesus was not a Christian. The 12 apostles were not Christians. They were Jews. After Jesus died, and then resurrected, many followers of Jesus wanted the new followers to become Jews first. But Paul was a missionary to the Gentiles, as many of us are. Paul, and later Peter, became convinced that one did not have to become a Jew to be a follower of Jesus. They did not have to obey all the cleanliness laws. They did not have to become circumcised. They were merely advised not to offer and partake in sacrifices to the false gods and to not defile themselves in such a way as to make themselves unpresentable to the Jews. I had to rethink this, what does it mean to be a follower of Jesus.

About 325 AD, the whole concept of what it meant to follow Jesus was boiled down and became creed, eg. the Nicene Creed. We now have thousands of "Christian" denominations, which means that there must be some perceived difference as to what it means to be a Christian. We have to get over this whole idea of differences of the Body of Christ. We need to get back the creed. We need to get back to our roots. The Gospel comes in power. The power comes from the Holy Spirit. We need to seek our Holy Spirit giftings (Charisma -- Gods grace breaking through becoming manifest). We need to seek out ways to minister to the pool and downtrodden. We need to know and use our Holy Spirit giftings.

All across the world, everything is under change. Many scholars believe we are in a Post Christian era. John Wimber, on the other hand, thought we are in a weak, lethargic, secularized Christian era. We are going to have to seek the Holy Spirit to help us get over this lethargy. We are going to be challenged in many ways. Do we follow the world view? Or do we follow Jesus. The answer to the challenges is going to come from following Jesus and "seeing" what the Father is doing. We need to seek what the Father is doing and join Him. We can only do this the same way Jesus did it. We must be full of grace and truth and the Holy Spirit.

Thank you Brian and Thora for seeking and following and joining.

Love you,Love this church,Dave Glick

posted by David Glick on October 1, 2009
Hope your surgery goes well. We'll be praying!
posted by ronstine on October 1, 2009
Thanks for the encouragement it is right on time
posted by jcampbell on October 2, 2009
Your surgery will go well,you are under the wings of the master surgeon.My prayers are with you as always. Thank you for your leadership this church has made a difference in my life.May you and this church continue to be Blessed by the "Great I AM"
posted by jcampbell on October 2, 2009
Brian,I know your surgery will be a success, God will guide the Dr.'s hands. It's about time! You will feel so much better afterwards - please wear your sling - it helps the healing process. God Bless you and Thora and your children for devoting your lives to deliver the word of God. Thank you!
posted by Roz S. on October 5, 2009

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