We Are Vineyard

Joel Seymour: Going Home – Planting A Kingdom Outpost In Your HometownShow Podcast InformationIn this episode of We Are Vineyard, Jay Pathak chats with Joel Seymour, a Super Regional Leader for Vineyard USA. Joel shares about being raised in the Church of Christ, his introduction to John Wimber and a wild encounter with the Holy Spirit. Joel also shares his experience of being sent home by the Lord to plant a church and how their church has found creative ways to make a practical impact in their small town. Joel Seymour is a Super Regional Leader for Vineyard USA. Joel’s passion for the Vineyard began as a teenager when he watched John Wimber’s testimony video (yay VHS!). He knew he found his home when, as a college sophomore, he took the Fuller Seminary class MC550 “Healing and World Evangelism” led by Wimber and C. Peter Wagner. In 1998, Joel and his wife Kristi planted their second church – the Lancaster Vineyard in Lancaster, OH and Joel has served there as the Lead Pastor. He has been deeply engaged in his city, bringing together the social, private, and public sectors through the Art of Neighboring Fairfield County initiative. Joel also started the Small Town initiative within Multiply Vineyard. He has served as both an Area Leader and a Regional Leader within Vineyard USA. He looks forward to drawing on his experience to encourage, equip and empower local pastors. Joel enjoys playing guitar, leading worship, laughing, and most of all, taking long daily walks with his wife. Joel and Kristi have raised 3 great kids. Show Notes: Lancaster Vineyard Church http://lancastervineyard.org Watch a quarantine throwback of Joel and his daughter dancing for “Monday Moves”! https://bit.ly/3MTfJgT Managing Leadership Anxiety by Steve Cuss Vineyard USA’s suggested reading for March https://amzn.to/3sSV9Fo

Bryan McLees: Convoy of Hope, Vineyard USA’s Partner in Disaster ReliefShow Podcast InformationIn this episode of We Are Vineyard, Brian McLees shares about growing up a pastor’s kid, studying with John Wimber at Fuller Seminary, and a formational encounter he had with the Holy Spirit and a demonized man. He also shares about the overarching theme of kindness that has defined his life’s path, how he came to join the team at Convoy of Hope and their current response to the war in Ukraine. Bryan McLees has been a part of the Vineyard church planting storyline with chapters in New England and Colorado since 1982-ish.  He began serving the Vineyard through his Network Relations Director role at Convoy of Hope in 2006.  Helping churches respond to poverty, towards a sustainable hope, is a calling he shares with an incredible team at Convoy of Hope. Show Notes: Convoy of Hope https://convoyofhope.org Rich Nathan talks with Hal Donaldson from Convoy of Hope https://vimeo.com/687243776/a7f15439de Donate to support Ukraine! https://vineyardusa.org/ukraine-support/ Managing Leadership Anxiety by Steve Cuss Vineyard USA’s suggested reading for March https://amzn.to/3sSV9Fo

Rubén Quintero: Pastoring In In-Between PlacesShow Podcast InformationIn this episode of We Are Vineyard, Rubén Quintero shares his story of becoming a Christian as a child, learning to preach the Gospel as a teen and beginning to serve the church as a young adult; from scrubbing toilets at his church to managing their finances and finally planting his own church in El Centro, Rubén has spent his life saying “yes” to Jesus and the next thing in front of him. Rubén also shares his heart for Hispanic people, his culture and the movement of La Viña churches. Rubén Quintero loves Jesus Christ, is the pastor of Imperial Valley Vineyard church in El Centro, CA, and is a chaplain for Workforce Chaplaincy, which allows him to serve hundreds of immigrants who work in agriculture in the US.  He is a CPA graduated from UABC in Mexicali, Mexico, and holds a Master’s in Theology from San Diego Christian University.  He is passionate about planting churches among the Hispanics in the U.S. Rubén is happily married to Vaneza and they have 3 wonderful boys – Rubén (16), David (13), and Iván (11). He likes traveling and baseball, so he expects to visit the 30 MLB stadiums during his lifetime. Show Notes: Managing Leadership Anxiety by Steve Cuss Vineyard USA recommended reading for March https://amzn.to/35mSqeq If you’ve been enjoying the podcast and have questions for Jay Pathak and Caleb Maskell? Email podcast@vineyardusa.org!

Tod Bolsinger: Tempered Resilience – How Leaders Are Formed in the Crucible of ChangeShow Podcast InformationIn this episode of We Are Vineyard, Jay Pathak and Tod Bolsinger discuss adaptive change in the church. Tod speaks about how his passion for studying change and helping “faith leaders thrive as change leaders” developed, and the role of the pastor as a steady force in the midst of crisis and anxiety. Tod and Jay also talk about what we learned from the crucible of change that was the pandemic. Tod Bolsinger, MDiv, PhD, the co-owner and principal of AE Sloan Leadership, Inc, an executive coaching and consulting firm that works with church, non-profit, and marketplace leaders in leading change. He is also the Executive Director of the De Pree Center Church Leadership Institute, a Senior Fellow of the De Pree Center for Leadership, Associate Professor of Leadership Formation at Fuller Theological Seminary, was the founder of the Fuller Leadership Platform, and served as a Vice President of Fuller Seminary for six years. Prior to his educational career, he served as a pastor for 27 years.  He is the author of five books, including the Outreach Magazine Resource of the Year in pastoral leadership, Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory, Leadership for a Time of Pandemic: Practicing Resilience and most recently, Tempered Resilience: How Leaders are Formed in the Crucible of Change. Show Notes: Tempered Resilience by Tod Bolsinger Vineyard USA’s recommended reading for February https://amzn.to/3LEdIV8 Canoeing the Mountains by Tod Bolsinger https://amzn.to/3oT6fb7 Reach us at: VineyardUSA.org Facebook, Instagram and Twitter: @VineyardUSA

Dave Ferguson: Making Heroes Of Other People – Our Fruit Grows On Other People’s TreesShow Podcast InformationIn this episode of We Are Vineyard, Jay Pathak and Dave Ferguson discuss growing churches. Dave encourages dreaming big enough to where you are forced to be dependent on God, and talks about some common obstacles that keep us from dreaming big dreams. He also shares tangible practices for staying hungry and motivated after long years in ministry and the shift he believes needs to happen during the life of every leader. Dave Ferguson is the lead pastor of Community Christian Church, a multisite missional community that is passionate about “helping people find their way back to God.” Community has grown from a few college friends to thousands and has been recognized as one of America’s most influential churches. Dave also provides visionary leadership for the international church-planting movement NewThing and is chairman of the board and president of the Exponential conference. He is an award-winning author of books that include The Big Idea, Exponential, On The Verge, Finding Your Way Back To God, Starting Over, Hero Maker and most recently B.L.E.S.S. 5 Everyday Ways to Love Your Neighbor and Change the World. Dave and his best friend Sue have three terrific children Amy, Josh and Caleb. Feel free to email him with questions, ideas, feedback or introductions at daveferguson@communitychristian.org Show Notes: Dave’s Website https://daveferguson.org Prepare Your Church for the Future by Carl George https://amzn.to/3uIxM2O Lyle Schaller https://amzn.to/3rFsIu2 Multiply Vineyard https://multiplyvineyard.org Dave’s socials: Twitter: @daveferguson Instagram: @fergusondave

Robb Morgan: Risks Of Faith And Living A Life Of AdventureShow Podcast Information In this episode of We Are Vineyard, our host Jay Pathak chats with Robb Morgan, the Managing Director of Vineyard USA, about the risks they took as young adults learning to hear from Jesus and how this built a lifestyle of taking Kingdom risks. Robb shares the radical story of being introduced to Jesus by a bartender, the immediate change in the trajectory of his life, and the incredible value of the formative friendships that were built during those years. This episode is full of fun and powerful stories of God moving in the lives of these two men whose faith and sense of Kingdom adventure will both inspire and ground you in the Lord’s goodness. Robb Morgan is the Managing Director of Vineyard USA. Robb grew up in Danbury, CT before going to college at The Ohio State University where he played for and captained the OSU Men’s Soccer Team from 1991-1995, graduating from OSU with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1996. In 1998, following a very dark and difficult few years, Robb encountered Jesus while on a business trip to Southern California. Over the course of one week, a bartender at the hotel where Robb was staying, and who happened to attend a Vineyard Church, proclaimed the love of God and demonstrated the power of Jesus. At 2am on September 1, Robb surrendered his life to Jesus – just a few hours before hopping on a plane and going back to Ohio. Upon returning to Columbus, Robb immediately got involved with Joshua House, the young adult ministry at Vineyard Columbus. It was there that Robb met his wife Julie, and they attended a small group led by Jay & Danielle Pathak. At Vineyard Columbus, Robb led multiple small groups, attended Vineyard Leadership Institute and interned with Bill Christensen. In 2001, along with a team of young adults, Robb and Julie moved to Colorado to be a part of the Arvada Vineyard church plant led by Jay & Danielle. In 2004, Robb, Julie and their three month old daughter Emma returned to the Columbus area and joined the Vineyard Church of Delaware County serving on staff with Danny and Penny Meyer. Robb served as an Associate Pastor until he and Julie sensed the call to plant again and in 2009 were sent across the county to plant the Delaware City Vineyard. On September 6 2009, Delaware City Vineyard held its first service and for the past twelve years has faithfully tried to live out its simple mission statement – “in the city, for the city.” Much of the ministry of Delaware City Vineyard focuses on children, the poor, the margins and the lost. The Delaware City Vineyard released the Neighborhood Church plant in Marion, OH in 2017 and have recently sent a church planter to join Vineyard61 in south London. Throughout his time in the Vineyard, Robb has served as an Area Leader, a Missions Partnership Leader, on the Multiply Vineyard team and in a variety of other translocal roles and task forces. Robb has spoken at regional and national events with Multiply Vineyard and Vineyard Justice Network. Robb and Julie will be celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2022 with a trip to Iceland. They are the parents to two teenagers, Emma and Via. As a family they enjoy good music, good food and the great outdoors. You may have seen some of the adventures in their converted school bus on Instagram (@mor.to.explore). Currently, they are working hard to raise some chickens, shelter some kittens and prepare for spring gardening and orchard planting. Show Notes: Tempered Resilience: How Leaders Are Formed in the Crucible of Change by Tod Bolsinger https://amzn.to/3LfmxEP Strong and Weak by Andy Crouch https://bit.ly/3grAZvd Pursuing God’s Will Together by Ruth Haley Barton https://amzn.to/3utM3jE

Ted Kim: Faithfulness Is Rhyming With What’s Gone BeforeShow Podcast InformationWhat constitutes a meaningful experience with God? In this episode of We Are Vineyard, Jay and Ted Kim talk about first encounters with the Holy Spirit and the slow, formational work that happens between mountaintop experiences, as well as the pastoring that needs to happen during these gaps. They also discuss leadership transitions and the idea of “rhyming” with the past, embodying the stories and history while stepping forward into what God is doing in the present time. Ted Kim is the senior pastor of the Evanston Vineyard, having taken over the leadership from Steve Nicholson in early 2020, six days after the church shut down its in-person services due to Covid. He is passionate about the beauty of Jesus, spiritual formation, and building a church for Generation Z. It is also his life mission to bend the heart of the city of Chicago to God through the multiplication and releasing of young leaders. Prior to arriving in Chicago, Ted was a worship pastor and songwriter. He spent the last decade at the Vineyard in Syracuse, NY. For some reason, God’s intention is for Ted to be cold. Ted is the son of Korean immigrants. His mother is the daughter of a South Korean dignitary. His father escaped from North Korea during the war and would later go on to be an industrial engineer. They found each other on the other side of the world in bucolic Kentucky. Ted first attended and interned at the Evanston Vineyard in the 90s, while he was a student at the University of Chicago. Despite the  occasional polar vortex, he is delighted (and humbled) to return to Chicago and serve the church that formed him more than any other community in his life. Ted is married to Brittany, an Old Testament scholar. Together they have three children.   Show Notes: The Ferment with Ted Kim https://bit.ly/3ANvfW3 The Way On – 2021 Vineyard National Conference Session 3 – Steve Nicholson and Ted Kim https://conference.vineyardusa.org/livestream/#tuesday The Evanston Vineyard https://evanstonvineyard.org/

Andy Crouch: Strong and Weak – Embracing a Life of Love, Risk and True FlourishingShow Podcast InformationIn this episode of We Are Vineyard, Andy Crouch shares about finding God inside religious practices and differentiating from the faith of his parents, and how studying Greek may or may not have added to his understanding of the Bible. Jay and Andy also discuss the transformative and purifying process of writing, as well as some key concepts outlined in Andy’s book “Strong and Weak”, which is Vineyard USA’s featured resource! This is an enriching episode full of deep encouragement and invitation to flourishing.  Andy Crouch is partner for theology and culture at Praxis, an organization that works as a creative engine for redemptive entrepreneurship. His two most recent books—2017’s The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place and 2016’s Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk and True Flourishing—build on the vision of faith, culture, and the image of God laid out in his previous books Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power and Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling. Andy serves on the governing boards of Fuller Theological Seminary, the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. He also serves as an advisor to The Repentance Project, The Pelican Project, and Revoice. For more than ten years he was an editor and producer at Christianity Today, including serving as executive editor from 2012 to 2016. He served the John Templeton Foundation in 2017 as senior strategist for communication. His work and writing have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, and several editions of Best Christian Writing and Best Spiritual Writing—and, most importantly, received a shout-out in Lecrae’s 2014 single “Non-Fiction.” From 1998 to 2003, Andy was the editor-in-chief of re:generation quarterly, a magazine for an emerging generation of culturally creative Christians. For ten years he was a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Harvard University. He studied classics at Cornell University and received an M.Div. summa cum laude from Boston University School of Theology. A classically trained musician who draws on pop, folk, rock, jazz, and gospel, he has led musical worship for congregations of 5 to 20,000. He lives with his family in Pennsylvania.   Show Notes: Strong and Weak by Andy Crouch https://bit.ly/3fEQkIl A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson https://amzn.to/3tBoYLp

Santiago “Jimmy” Mellado: We Can Only Be Loved To The Extent That We’re KnownShow Podcast InformationJoin Santiago “Jimmy” Mellado and Jay Pathak as they discuss growing up as “third culture kids”. Jimmy shares about the ever-present otherness he felt being raised in multiple countries and the way this impacted his sense of self, shaped his interests and desires, and the way God reclaimed every step of his life to shape a beautiful story of redemption and service to others. Jimmy Mellado is President and CEO of Compassion International. He has a deep love and passion for the beauty and potential of local churches fulfilling their Jesus-given mandate to redeem and restore this world for His name’s sake. Born in El Salvador and raised in seven different countries, Jimmy has experienced firsthand the powerful impact thriving local churches can have on their communities, especially in under-resourced environments. Prior to joining Compassion in June of 2013, Jimmy was president of the Willow Creek Association and was key in launching and hosting The Global Leadership Summit. His educational background includes graduating cum laude with a Mechanical Engineering degree from Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas and a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School. He is also an accomplished athlete. In college, Jimmy was a member of the 1983 NCAA Division I Indoor & Outdoor National Championship team at SMU where he competed in the decathlon and held the school record. After college, Jimmy went on to place 4th at the 1987 Pan American Games and 26th in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, competing for the country of his birth, El Salvador. He has continued to stay engaged with the sport he loves by serving as a volunteer track and field coach. Jimmy is married to Leanne and they have two daughters and a son.   Show Notes:  Strong and Weak by Andy Crouch https://bit.ly/3n08ybH Compassion International https://www.compassion.com Third Culture Kids by David C. Pollock, Ruth E. Van Reken, and Michael V. Pollock https://amzn.to/3qPD3lv Divided by Faith by Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith https://amzn.to/3q7b7ux

Christina Lowery: Soft Hearts, Tough Skin, and Holding People With Open HandsShow Podcast InformationIn this episode of We Are Vineyard, Christina Lowery shares her parents’ miraculous story of encountering the Lord for the first time, and her own story of growing up in the church, pursuing her own relationship with God and entering a life of ministry. Jay and Christina then dig deeper into the reality of the Lowery’s church planting experience, from the slow start to the sudden growth they were unprepared for, and the hardships they weathered that led to Christina stepping into the role of lead pastor. This is a powerful story of walking in obedience to the Lord that will encourage anyone who has been in ministry for a while. Christina Lowery is the Associate National Director for Church Health and Development.  Early in her ministry career, Christina served as the Events Director for a large student internship at Teen Mania Ministries (Acquire the Fire) in Tyler, TX.  In 2001, she and her husband Joel joined a local Vineyard Church there, and served on the pastoral team for several years until they were called to move back to Virginia and plant Crossroads Church. Christina and Joel have co-pastored Crossroads Church in Fredericksburg, VA since 2008. As a Lead Pastor, Christina has been a big-picture thinker and creative visionary, responsible for communicating and driving the vision and mission of the church forward. She finds great joy in preaching and teaching, leadership development, and building systems that foster church health and growth. In addition to her local leadership at Crossroads Church, she has served in other leadership roles with the Vineyard, such as an Area Leader in Northern and Central Virginia for ten years (2009-2019) and on the Vineyard Women in Leadership Team for the past three years (2018-2021).  Joel and Christina have been married for 23 years and have 3 amazing kids – Hannah (18), Caleb (15) and Zoe (8).  The Lowery family loves to travel and so far, their favorite destination is Maui, with its warm sun and beautiful island beaches.  Show Notes: Crossroads Church https://www.mycrossroadschurch.com Starting a New Church by Ralph Moore https://amzn.to/3FxXE48 Launch: Starting a New Church from Scratch by Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas https://amzn.to/3qtwAg7