A Church On A Journey

I begin with a question… Have you ever pondered the thought, why do I have the rhythms of church life that I do? In other words, why I am I doing church this way? It wasn’t until I church planted and removed myself from the habits of church that I had come to know, that I realized my church life can go on auto pilot. Now, I am not talking about my discipleship to Jesus. My Jesus journey has always been about becoming like Jesus. My internal questions are from deep reflections over the past year of developing and growing a community of people that live life with Jesus at the center. If this is the goal, then what does that look like? Great question! And that is exactly the point! Sorry, I have no definitive answers for you. I just have some stories of where we are at on this Jesus journey.

Here are some of them…

Our Building

Since the last time I wrote all of you there have been some pretty amazing things take place. The first of which, is that the community of people known as Vineyard 509 has a gathering place within the Nevada/Lidgerwood neighborhood of Spokane, WA. It is an amazing opportunity to be in this neighborhood. I recently started going to our neighborhood council meetings to see and hear what is going on in our neighborhood for the sole purpose of being a blessing to our neighbors. The first meeting I went to I was told by one of the neighbors that our building location was at the center of the neighborhood. Coincidence? I think not. I was also told, that our neighborhood was the poorest and most diverse in the city. My response to this was, “Sounds, like a great place for a church.” So, we are engaging in a community and being good neighbors. I have attached a short video tour of building. We spent the entire month of September renovating. Our first gathering there as a community was September 28^th. Our goal is to do a community event once a month for the purpose of drawing the neighborhood together. Our first event that we did was a “Candy Bash” for Halloween. It was a great time of games and candy for the kiddos and a safe place for our neighbors to come together. We got to meet about 50 of our neighbors. We are in the process of planning the next events! More to come…

Trip to Nicaragua

A few weeks ago I got back from a trip to Nicaragua. I had the honor and privilege of traveling with 3 other pastors from the Pacific Northwest to visit our partnership churches in Nicaragua. There are 4 Vineyard Churches in the capital city of Managua, 1 Vineyard church in Puerto Cabezas, and 1 in Bluefields. It was nothing short of heavenly to see the work of God in these places. It is easy to forget sometimes that God is so much bigger than our church we go to, or the city we live in, the State or Country we live in. God is in the people business; the business of restoring, reconciling, and redeeming all people. As always, it is a good reminder of all the things we as Americans think we need as opposed to seeing people live on much less. I was reminded that wealth and poverty always begins and ends with the matters of the heart.

Our Community

Per capita, we are the most diverse church in Spokane. Spokane churches are known for being predominately white. We have peoples from Native American, German, Mexican, Mein, Chinese, and Nigerian ethnic backgrounds all gathered together. It really is a beautiful site. We have some visitors here and there so far but the small group that we have gathered is growing in community together. This definitely takes time. I told Amber recently that I have been ruined by the Redding Vineyard! We were so close and in such a loving relationship for such a long time this was the reason we knew we had to plant a church. We had to go give away what we have been given. The only hard part is that I want it now. I want what I had but this takes time to learn to eat together, laugh together, serve one another, sacrifice for one another and trust one another. The people that I am Vineyard 509 with are really unbelievable and I am so excited to see how God brings us all together all the while reaching out to our neighbors.

Our Supporters

Over the last 17 months we have gone from the birthing of a church plant to an infant church. We are small and fragile. We are no longer an infant but we still need love and support to grow into a mature and productive church. We just want to say “thank you” to all of you who pray for us! Whether we are a part of your normal prayer life or you pray for us occasionally when God puts us on your hearts, we just want to say thank you. It is nice to know you are with us. We still have a handful of financial partners that faithfully give every month even though they don’t have to. The reality is your support pays for the diapers! Amber and I are like struggling young parents just doing everything we can not to kill this beautiful new creation that God has given us! Our young community does the best it can to partner in investing in the neighborhood but we aren’t there yet. That is still part of our maturing process. Our financial partners are our life line. Every little bit helps in paying for the diapers, the formula, the clothes, the burp rags, the diaper rash cream, etc., etc., etc. Thank You for being the God-Parents of our church! For those that have helped in the past or those that couldn’t before and now are in a position to help, please know that every little bit helps. I mean it $5, $10, $15 per month adds up. All donations a tax deductible and can either be mailed or set up through our online giving.

Please Pray?

We are on the journey of a lifetime and we need the guidance of Jesus every step of the way. Please pray for the Vineyard 509 community to grow and mature. Please pray for the marriage of Amber and I. Please pray for the children of our church. There are a few now. Please pray for the opportunities to be good neighbors in the Nevada/Lidgerwood neighborhood. Please pray that Vineyard 509 would be a home to the orphan and widow, to the hurt and broken, and to those that need a revitalization of their faith in Jesus.

No one better to follow than Jesus,

Pastor Jason and all of Vineyard 509

 The photos below show the work we did to the building and some of the events that we've held at our church building!

One year and some change!

Update

I wanted to write everybody when we celebrated our 1-year anniversary but I also wanted to hold off because I was waiting for God to solidify some things so that I had some concrete things to report back to you all. Well, I am happy to report back to you that Vineyard 509 has signed the lease on our 1^st building. We move in September 1^st.

We are crazy excited and a little nervous. We have so many great things going for us. We have a new family plugging into the church. We have a young couple that we will be partnering with in college ministry on a couple of the college campuses. We have a neighborhood to establish roots in for our church. Our first few Sunday’s we meet at the building we will do a big pancake feed in our parking lot. Tanya is establishing an emotional/psychological healing ministry. Kao is stepping further into his prophetic gifting. And this is just to name a few.

More than anything, I can feel it in my spirit and in my bones that God is doing something here in this great city and He is inviting us to partner with him in shaping and molding heaven in this place.  I other words, we are beginning to see all the reasons why we chose to plant a church. At the same time though I know that because we are partnering with God, Satan (the great distorter of reality) is trying to distract us from this amazing work. In the last week alone my children, Amber, and Kao have all had bad dreams night after night. Tanya has been fatigued. And I had a gentleman call me out of nowhere, arguing that Jesus was created by the Father and there is no such thing as the Trinity. Craziness I tell you, Craziness!

Prayer/Needs

Friends and family, we need you more than ever before. As our level of intensity is turned up to follow God so our level of prayer against our enemy has to be stepped up. Please pray that God would send his angels to watch over and protect us.

Last month I mentioned that we needed 10 financial partners who would commit to give $100/mo so that our first year of rent is covered. So far we have 2 of those 10 commitments. We have 1 individual and one church from Oregon that has stepped up to help us. With the handful of Vineyard 509’ers that faithfully tithe we can cover the set up of the church, church supplies, and utilities but we really need those other 8 partners to really give us a fighting chance this year. Please pray and give if you can or if you feel led. If you can’t, no worries, but could you ask those around you on behalf of our church plant?

We have been blessed to have a projector, sound equipment, and some other costly expenses provided for us. I have talked with some people about chairs. If you know of any spare chairs taking up space, let me know.

We are still looking for a worship leader that would step up to help lead and guide us in our worship of Jesus in this amazing city. If you know of any folks, please give them my number.

I have been given an amazing opportunity to go to Nicaragua at the end of October to go and see what God is doing between the Vineyard NorthWest and our partnership with Nicaragua. I am so excited to have this opportunity.

In Closing

There really is so much that is going on here in Spokane, with this city, with Vineyard 509, and with many other amazing churches. We are so blessed to get to live this life we have. Thank you so much for your part in all of this. We really could not have done this with you all in our lives. I’ll wrap this update up with just a few photos and faces of people that you are having an opportunity to bless.

Muchos Gracias,

Vineyard 509

The day we arrived.

One year later! (And we are missing a handful of friends still)

We call these "Family Rules"

11 Months! 11 Months! Yes, I wrote 11 Months!

We have been in Spokane 11 months. It is crazy to see how life has changed for us. God has been up to some amazing things so I am going to do my best to share what has been going on the past couple of months.

One of the things that I asked you to be praying about was my job situation. The last update I shared with you that I got a part time job that paid just under what we needed to survive. Well, that part time job has turned into a full time job that is super flexible when it comes to my schedule. I am so blessed and thankful to have the position that I do. Just as a reminder, I am a right of way agent for the Department of Energy here in the Pacific NorthWest. One of the biggest tensions I have wrestled with has been the fact that I am pretty much doing the same job I did for Caltrans. I thought that with this leap to plant a church in a new place God would have opened up the door to impact college students by blessing me with a job that would align with the very reason I moved here. For all those needing a reminder, God can and will use you to build his kingdom no matter what your employment status is. So, it appears that we will be staying in Spokane since I now have a job that pays the bills. I have heard of the 11^th hour but seriously, the 11^th month. C’mon Jesus. I guess God isn’t through with us here J

Which leads me to the biggest thank you I have ever written. Thank you to all our financial supporters and prayer warriors over this past year. If it wasn’t for your financial generosity and praying for God’s provision we would not still be here. It is because of you that my family survived and we were able to bless many people here in Spokane. Many of you will never know how much you have touched the lives of those we spend time with but God does. He knows how you have been the body during this season of Vineyard 509. Because of this I write, “Thank You” from the depths of my soul. I cannot ever repay you for your generosity. I can only press on towards the visions that God has established in my heart.

Now, to share with you what the next season of Vineyard 509 and what God has in store for our church. As many of you have either finished or you are finishing up the yearlong commitment of supporting us, we bless you and say you are released to be free to bless others as God puts them on your heart. You fulfilled your commitment! We are still a long ways from the vision God has put in our hearts for this church and we still need partners for the next leg of the journey.

The people that have gathered and call Vineyard 509 their church are excited for what is in store. I have shared with you in past updates how Spokane is a very event centered culture. People here like to go to a place and have the event. When it comes to the religious culture, church happens at a building. While we all know this is not reality, the reality is that we have to meet the culture where they are at and bring them along on the journey. So, we have found an amazing deal in an amazing area. It is a 2000 sf building in and around differing neighborhoods in an area of the city we spend a lot of time. Two of our college gals just moved into an apartment complex 2 blocks from this building. We put an offer in and we got the building for $0.50 a sf. That is unheard of in the city, on a main frontage road. The only problem is, we don’t currently have $1,000 a month right now for a building. We have the tithes to do the outreaches and bless the community but not the money to give the community a house of worship.

This is where we still need partners. We need 10 people to commit to $100/month or 20 people to commit to $50/month. If you have been a financial supporter previously, you are not obligated to give. This building fundraiser would allow us to pay the rent on this property for a year and give us the opportunity to become a beacon of hope in this area of the city of Spokane. Everyone in Vineyard 509 is asking for all of our friends and family to help us in this crazy and wild adventure. Also, if you know of any construction people, we could use your help doing a little remodel on the bathrooms and building some children’s Sunday school classrooms.

The people of Vineyard 509 continue to build many relationships. I have attached some photos of different events we have had over the past couple of months. The best of which was our Cinco De Mayo party. It was tons of fun with great food. Good Mexican food is hard to come by in Spokane. We recently went to the air show that was at the local Air Force base. Tons of fun! Oh and did I mention, Spokane is having a terrible heat wave. It actually hit the low 80’s here a few times this past week. While it might be cold here in the winter, the spring and summer times are absolutely beautiful.

Well, there is definitely more to come. We really are just getting started. Establishing a church takes much time, energy, and patience. We are overwhelmed that God would use us in this place at this time. We miss you all dearly and hope that your lives are full in everyway!

Blessings,

Pastor Jason and Amber and Vineyard 509

Prayer Requests

10 partners @ $100/month or 20 partners @ $50/month for a total of $1,000/month

The remodel of the bathrooms and children’s classrooms

Vineyard 509 would become a beautiful church in the community

A worship leader would arise and lead us as we worship Jesus in music

We would bring glory to god in everything we do

People in and around our new building would come to know Jesus and they would be set free from all that binds them in their lives

Cinco De Mayo Party. Great Food. Greater People!

Amber had a free night for a hotel. This is where we got to stay. Its only a couple hours from our house. Needless to say, we are going back soon!

We had a coupon for a chinese buffet. We went to check it out and the owner thought we looked cute and wanted to take a photo.

This is us and some friends CrossFitting in our box.

Pictures of the building!

Just a couple photos of the kids at the air show. Most of it was video :)

Month 9 Church Plant Update

Things are heating up here in Spokane. We have finally hit the high 60’s. Praise the Lord! The sun is out, people are becoming more active, and spirits are rising. We are having a blast continuing to develop many relationships. When I take a step back and look at all that has taken place since moving here there has been much that has been accomplished in laying a foundation for an alive and active community.

            When I share with others that we are planting/starting a new church the number one question I get asked is, “How do you do that?” That my friends is a great question. There are many models to plant a church and all are very valid. In this last 9 months, I have come to the realization that I have no idea what I am doing. What I do know, is that my heart is to build a community of people that lives life given to being transformed from the pursuit of Jesus, together. In this understanding of church planting, I would say that we are definitely on our way to fulfilling the vision God has given me for Vineyard 509.

            When we first moved to Spokane to plant Vineyard 509 our heart was to reach a college/young adult generation but with the intent to grow from infants to the 90 years young as well. Vineyard 509 can only become what it is meant to be if we have people from every walk of life and from every generation currently living. In other words we desire to be a “full” community in every aspect. We currently have an age range of 4 to 59! Praise the LORD!

            We continue to look to God for his heart to reach more people. The city of Spokane is broken up into 29 different neighborhoods, each with its own distinct culture, flavor, and needs. I thought that God would have open the doors to develop more of this community adjacent to the Gonzaga campus but for whatever reason that has not happened. There are a few other neighborhoods that God has put on our hearts to be a blessing in. We pray that we would be a church that is intimately involved in a neighborhood and partners with the great city.

            On a personal note, Amber and I just want to thank all of you that have prayed for us, financially blessed us, and stayed connected with us. It has been hard to leave our home to start something anew in a place that we don’t know for the sole purpose of developing something we already had in Redding. Good news, I did get a job. It is only part time right now. Today, I start at Bonneville Power Administration. They are a part of the Department of Energy and I will work as a Property Specialist contractor for David Evans and Associates. So, for those of you that didn’t catch it, I am working for the DEA. HA HA!

            Unfortunately, the job is only part time to start and when Amber’s child care job ends at the end of May, it won’t be enough to cover all our bills. So, God continues to stretch us and develop an ever-increasing faith and dependency in Him. Luckily, I have an amazing wife who continues to remind me of the bigger picture and all the times that God has shown up and provided for us.

Ways to pray and support…

Please pray that God gives us wisdom as to the specifics of which neighborhood in Spokane we are to come along side.

How to be the most effective with our outreaches.

Protection over the lives of our children and my marriage.

Continued financial support since we do not know how the bills will get paid past May 31.

Please contact us sporadically. It is always great to hear from you all.

Feel free to come visit! We have a few visitors that are coming over the summer. We would be ecstatic to have you.