from the VCC Newsletter on 3/16/2020: Coronavirus, Courage, and Christian Mission.

From the earliest days of the church the church understood that life in Christ was more than life here and now. This liberated the church to be courageous in the face of death unlike any other religion in history. The people of God were convinced that to live was Christ but to die was gain. This was not some haphazard caution to the wind, it was not a lack of respect for the precious gift of life, but rather it came from the deeper conviction that eternal life was at stake. Not their own eternal life, which was secured in Jesus, but the eternal life of those who were perishing around them. The thought of others dying and facing a Christless eternity drove them to be courageous, confident that losing their life now so that others might live eternally was worth the risk. 

One of the reasons that there are Christian hospitals today was that the early church led the way in caring for people in times of plague, disease, disaster, and uncertainty. They were not afraid of dying from disease, if that meant they might share the gospel with those who were dying. There in a person's greatest hour of need countless Christians gave their lives for the sake of the gospel. Likewise in times of famine Christians were known not for hoarding to survive but saving for sharing, until they had nothing left. Remember that when Elijah was held up in the home of the widow that it was her willingness to share her last morsel with the prophet that ultimately saved her life and the life of her son. God blessed them not for hoarding but for sharing even though they were not Israelites. The history of the church has been “they loved not their lives, even unto death.” 

So here we are in a crazy time of people hoarding, running amuck in fear, worried about the Corona Virus 19 (CoVid19). The stores are already out of hand sanitizer and toilet paper. (It’s not a stomach virus, so why are we out of toilet paper?)  My point is that panic has set in and the passing of misinformation is dangerous. So let me be clear, masks do not keep you from getting sick. They keep you from passing your sickness. It stops your germs when coughing and sneezing from spreading your infected droplets. It does not filter out airborne viruses from reaching you. If you put a mask on and you can still smell your dinner, proof that it’s not keeping things out, only in. The best solution for stopping the spread of viruses is still washing your hands (20+ seconds), and covering your mouth when you sneeze or cough with your elbow, not your hand. 

So then, as much as I hate getting sick, my real question is, what should we do? First we should pray. Pray for healing, pray for the stop of the virus spreading, and pray for all of this to stop. 

Second, we should ask God what he is doing and join him in his work. So that might mean we attend to those who are ill, so that we can be the hands and feet of the gospel to those who are sick. Sometimes faith is spelled R-I-S-K and the risk is real. You might get sick! 

And what if the threat actually becomes life and death? What do we do then? The answer is we do what we are continually doing even before the covid19, we die to ourselves. Do we close down services? Probably not, people need comfort in times like that, but you might need to refrain short-term because of your health. I urge you to be wise and to be innocent of evil. Do the right things, get rest, be kind, don’t hoard, don’t spread misinformation, and be helpful to others. And as you go, make disciples of Christ from among the lost whom you serve in their hour of need. 

Grace and peace,

Hal  

From the VCC Newsletter on 2/17/2020: Mission Drift (Part 5)

It has been said that what we believe is important, but what we are committed to is what we become. Commitment, whether it is to relationship, ideas/values, a way of life, a way of eating--you name it--we become what we are committed to. And vice versa, no matter what we say we value, our real values are what we actually do, those are the things we are actually committed to. Here at the Vineyard we talk about five commitments. These are the things that we believe every believer ought to be committed to doing, not just giving mental assent toward these things, but engaging in each of them. We post them on the website, both in the about section and as the key words for the drop down menu/headers across the top of the home page. They are posted at the top of the news/info sheets in the bathroom. On the app, when you hit the menu button in the top left corner, the categories down the side are based on these five commitments. You can see them in our rotating slides both before the service and on the lobby television. If you attend Vitally Vineyard (our intro to the Vineyard class), these five commitments are the last thing we talk about. And every week, when you watch the “What’s Happening” videos on YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram, they begin every video with those five commitments.  It’s really hard to miss, yet almost everyday somebody asks if they are new. Nope! They have been posted for years. So let me introduce these to you again for three critical reasons: 

1) To avoid mission drift as a church

2) Because we become what we are committed to

3) So that you can clearly articulate what being part of the Vineyard means

Connect 

Being a part of the Body, not just attending. That includes participating in a small group--like a LifeGroup, Celebrate Recovery, or a Kingdom U course. Small groups are one of the best ways to build community and encourage spiritual growth. Through our groups, you can connect with others as you grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ.

Grow

This church exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ, by extending the invitation to the kingdom of God, and to experience God’s forgiveness and mercy through Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. As well as pursuing continual spiritual maturity through study and the equipping of the saints. Growth requires an investment of your time in spiritual practices (disciplines) and learning.  

Serve

God has designed each one of us with unique gifts and callings to serve the body of believers and the world at large. At the Vineyard, we provide you with opportunities to use those talents to serve God by volunteering in the local church. We have a class called Discovering my D.E.S.I.G.N. to help you discover your place of service here at the Vineyard.

Give 

We consider it a privilege to give back to God what he has so freely given us. We celebrate generosity and the work God does through our consistent and sacrificial giving. In the Bible, there is no example of generous giving that is less than a tithe (Old or New Testament), so we begin with the tithe and then give as we have been prospered. 

Live 

To love God through a lifestyle of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control--and to avoid the works of the flesh: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like that. 

We believe that these five things are critical to being the church, rather than being a consumer of religious goods and services who simply attend church. It is our goal for everyone at the VIneyard to be the church. This is ordinary Christianity! 

Grace and peace,

Hal

From the VCC Newsletter on 2/10/2020: Mission Drift (Part 4)

Last week we began looking at how we can fulfill our mission. That newsletter focused on the topic of loving God. This week we pick back up with loving people and passing it on. While loving people is rooted in God’s love for humanity, it is also about recognizing the fingerprint of God on every person. The Apostle John asked the question, if you cannot love your brother whom you can see, then how can you love God whom you cannot see? Every person is created in the image of God, and therefore every person deserves the chance to hear the gospel and to be treated with dignity and respect. Nobody is worthless. At Vineyard it means we take extra time to treat our guests with respect and dignity. It means we do nice things for our guests, like making them feel welcome, giving them something to drink, and treating them like guests in our own home. It means we give mercy to people not because they deserve it, but because we need mercy too. It means we love people enough to teach them the gospel, even if it isn’t convenient. We also are doing outreaches, feeding the hungry, giving out cups of cold water in Jesus’ name, participating in large city-wide events, giving aid to strangers, allowing our facilities to be used for community services, and other acts of kindness.  Sometimes it means knowing when to hold our tongue, not because we don’t have rights as citizens of the USA but because we have the fruit of the Spirit ( love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control), and we choose to be kingdom-hearted people.  

Finally, we come to "Pass It On." It is not enough to be Christ-like to one another in the church, but we must be Christ-like to the whole world. This includes sharing the gospel (teaching, evangelizing, discipling) one-on-one to the last, lost, or the least of these. It means having special assemblies for the public, praying for other churches, other countries, and for our national leaders. It means serving people who may never return our kindness, or even appreciate it. It means we adapt to serve within our culture rather than asking people to change to fit our church’s subculture. It means we never compromise the gospel, but we are always willing to lay down everything else.     

That leads us into next week’s topic: the Five Commitments of the Vineyard. 

Grace and peace,

Hal 

   

Form the VCC Newsletter on 1/27/2020: Mission Drift (Part 2)

So what does a church on mission look like, and how is it different from a church that isn’t on mission? 

For many churches in the USA the goal has become keeping the doors open. Members cannot imagine life without their church, even if it is unhealthy, but little can be articulated as to the church's goals, vision, and reason for being. A church on mission is fundamentally different because it sees everything it does--worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and missions--as contributing to the kingdom of God.  They are willing to stop doing something when it ceases to be effective or when the work loses its people and support, save one or two unhappy but dedicated persons. Many people think a church starting new things is a sign of health, but the real measure of health is if a church can stop doing something it has “always” done. One of the most important questions an overworked volunteer needs to ask themselves is, “If I quit, will this ministry die?” If the answer is yes, then that ministry is unhealthy, and it probably needs to die so those seeds can fall to the ground and bear fruit (John 12.24).  A church on mission not only does ministry that matters, but it is healthy enough to review what it is doing, how it is doing, and admit when things need to change. 

Another thing a mission church does is to make sure the bulk of its resources (people, training, money, facilities) are being used for its primary mission. Too often churches end up using all their resources to do good things but get out of balance and stop actually making disciples of Jesus. Remember the church is not all about fellowship, or worship. It’s not all about living moral lives, or keeping rules. The church isn’t all about good works. The church does all of these things with the expressed purpose of multiplying disciples of Jesus Christ. If the church makes any one of these things its sole purpose, it quickly gets out of balance, and becomes unhealthy. At Vineyard we have simplified it down to: Love God, Love People, and Pass It On. So next week I will share about how we fulfill our mission, and why it matters.  

Grace and peace,

Hal

From the VCC Newsletter on 1/20/2020: Mission Drift

One of the things we say around the Vineyard is "stick to the main and the plain." That phrase has many implications; most often we use it to talk about not getting tangled up in endless controversies over opinions or minor doctrinal disputes. Instead, we focus our attention and energy on the things all Christian churches agree, and we allow for diversity of opinion on those things which divide Christians but are not central to Christian belief or part of the great creeds and confessions of the church. For instance, throughout church history, one of the primary beliefs has been that Jesus is coming back for his church in the resurrection. That is a core belief! However, from the very earliest days of the church there have been numerous opinions on how and when. So instead of spending energy on the how (a-millennial, premillennial, or postmillennial), we focus on the core belief that he is returning. It’s not that it doesn’t matter! It's that a healthy discussion includes all those views and allows people to decide for themselves without fighting about it. I have my view, but if I am wrong, we all still win. There is nothing worth fighting about. There are numerous other issues on matters of opinion, especially when it comes to worship styles, church government, dress, and a number of social topics as well. 

So why do churches get so wrapped around the axle about minor doctrinal differences, methodology, ecclesiology, or the like? That my friends is what we call mission drift. When we forget what our mission is, then we tend to major in the minors and get very cross with those who do not agree with us on our pet projects, ideas, or preferences. Jesus’ mission was to seek and save that which is lost. From that grows everything we are about and need to do. When the church isn’t on the same mission as God, we get sidetracked. Some of those discussions are about really important topics. I believe that the Bible speaks strongly about God’s heart for the poor, his hate for injustice, kindness to strangers, and issues of morality, social norms, and every matter of the heart and social interaction. I believe there are really important discussions to be had about the end times because it does affect our view of global missions and informs our views about the kingdom of God. I believe our views of church government affect how we interact with the larger church. These subjects matter, but they should not divide us.  So then that which unites us not only creates harmony, but it launches us into the world God so loved that he sent his son to redeem. 

With that in mind, next week I want to talk about what being a church on mission looks like, and then in the weeks following I want to look at our mission as a church: to Love God, Love People, and Pass It On. 

  

From the Vineyard Newsletter of 12/16: The Reason for the Season?

In our modern society, Christmas often seems all about presents, cookies, and Santa more than the birth of Jesus. Years ago many Christians began pushing back with, Jesus is the reason for the season, but the refrain often seems to be ignored not just by culture and society but even by the church. The truth is that often our devotion to Christ in the season often takes a back seat to ritual and tradition. And the “reason for the season” is actually misunderstood. Isn’t it odd that the greatest evangelistic effort ever in history, the sending of Jesus Christ to earth as a missionary to the lost (all of us), is celebrated by shutting ourselves in, and shutting out strangers? Could it be that we have pointed to Jesus as the reason but forgotten his reason for coming? He did not come to be adored, he came to seek and to save that which was lost. I hope that this Christmas season you will do the same and make room for those without families much like someone had to make room for Mary & Joseph. 

As we head toward Christmas, please review your list of lost persons that you are praying for to know Jesus and be saved. If you have not already, would you consider sharing that with me and the prayer team? 

Second, don’t forget to pray that your zeal for the lost to increase. 

Third, remember our Candlelight Christmas Eve service is just 8 days away. Please be sure to pick up some of our invites to share with everyone you know. What makes Christmas about Christ is when we do what Jesus did, leaving our comfort to reach the lost. 

Last, let me encourage everyone in the New Year to buy and read this easy little book (only 123 pages), The Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert Coleman. It is on sale for $5.99 on amazon. You can order it by clicking this link: https://www.amazon.com/Master-Plan-Evangelism-Robert-Coleman/dp/0800788087/ref=sr_1_1?crid=83EP6YRF3C9V&keywords=the+masterplan+of+evangelism+by+robert+coleman&qid=1573067333&sprefix=the+master+plan+of+%2Caps%2C485&sr=8-1

Grace and peace,

Hal

From the Vineyard Newsletter on 12/9: The Great Commission-Part 4

For the last several weeks I have been focused on our role in fulfilling the Great Commission. The first week we talked about the importance of having a salvation prayer list for those whom we wish to see come to salvation in Jesus Christ. I hope you shared your with us, so we can pray along with you. Week 2 I shared about praying for God to stir our own hearts with a passion for the lost. Then last week I shared about the power of inviting people to church. 

One of the ways that we as a church partner with you is to create events that you can invite your unchurched friends to. These special events are created to make it easy for you to bring people and to have fun. Our two biggest events are the Brooksville BBQ in October that brings close to 2,000 people to our doorstep and the Candlelight Services on Christmas Eve which bring in close to 600 people. Both of these events are as safe, fun, family-friendly events that anyone can invite a friend to. We also participate in Christmas Parade every year not only with a parade float and walkers, but also as the biggest parking venue for the event. Giving us a chance to hand out bottled water and invites to Christmas Eve. In that single event we get our name out to over 200 carloads of people and some 10,000 onlookers. It is a great way to reach out to our community.   

The greatest challenge in these events is getting church members to help us put on these events. The lost come in groves. The unchurched love these events! On Christmas Eve the unchurched outnumber our members. What we need is for church members to come and be a smiling face. For church members to come and help us with hosting, or with the worship, or ushering, or making sandwiches, or handing out bottles of water. That requires a little sacrifice on our part. If you hand out water, you may not get the best seat at the parade. If you invite people to come to Christmas Eve, it will probably mean your celebration will start after you make your guests feel welcome, and you have said a long heartfelt goodbye. 

Becoming evangelistic, and fulfilling the Great Commission, are by nature selfless, sacrificial, and inconvenient. It won’t happen without great passion for Jesus and his mission to seek and save the lost. So we must pray, and we must step out in faith. I hope you will show up on Christmas Eve, with a lots of unsaved and/or de-churched friends, family, and neighbors. Services are 4:00 and 6:00 pm.  

 

Grace and peace,

Hal

From the Vineyard Newsletter on 12/2: The Great Commission- part 3

Over the last two weeks, I have been writing to you about the Great Commission. Week one, I focused on prayer for the lost, noting that everyone (in my experience) who gets saved had someone praying for them to be saved. Week two was about prayer for our own hearts to be ignited with love for the lost, passion for our purpose. This week I want to focus on some steps to fulfilling the Great Commission, which is inviting. 

One of the easiest steps toward becoming more evangelistic in your own life is inviting people to church. As I mentioned last week, our Candlelight Christmas Eve Services are coming up. These two services are very evangelistic in their focus. They are short (less than an hour), fun, and focused on teaching people the gospel. It is a really easy, no pressure, no worry invite. We don’t do any stupid tricks. We aren’t going to talk about tough subjects. No invitation to church could be safer. But to make it simpler still, we have created wallet-sized invitation cards and also digital media for you to share with everyone so that you can invite friends, family, neighbors, and anyone else to join us. 

Inviting people to church is one of the easiest things you can do on a regular basis. Studies have shown that 70% of the unchurched have never been invited but most would accept an invitation if made. That’s incredible! But that coincides with the study that says 75% of Christians have never shared their faith with anyone. So inviting someone to church (or an event) is a great way to start. 

Grace and peace,

Hal

From the Vineyard Newsletter on 11/25: The Great Commission- Part 2

Last week I wrote to you briefly about the Great Commission and the importance of evangelism. If you did not read that letter please go back and do that? This week I want to continue those thoughts.

As I said, the best way to begin evangelism is with a prayer list. To make a list of those persons in your life that you want to see come to Christ, and begin praying for their salvation on a regular basis. As well, I invited you to send me your prayer list, and with your permission, I would even share it with our prayer team. 

This week, I want to suggest some additional simple steps to evangelism. Like the last step, this one is also rooted in prayer. It is praying for God to stir your heart with zeal for the lost. Our lives are often so full of other things, that there is not much room in our hearts (or lives) for the lost. So before we will ever make room in our schedule we need a change of heart. The place to begin then is praying, “God I know that your heart is for the lost. Please give me passion for the lost. Please give me the zeal to reach my friends, neighbors, and family. Please give me a heart for my community.” That prayer will do more to you than you can imagine. You cannot pray that prayer and it not affect your love for the lost.

If you will start with these two things: (1) prayer for people on your list, and (2) prayer for your own passion/zeal to be ignited for the lost. I promise you that you will see people get saved. 

One last thing, will you, as an act of evangelism, please invite your neighbors to our Christmas Eve Candlelight Services on December 24? We have two service times, 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm.

  

Grace and peace,

Hal