Hi church family! Last week, I wrote about our heart for multiplication and how our Holy Spirit breathed vision for planting/launching 30 vibrant and spirit filled Vineyard churches is beginning to take root.
Last week I introduced Jake and Julie Shepard to you and shared their excitement around Oelwein. By the way… when our vision for church planting started being discussed, Oelwein was actually the first town that we began talking about. So how appropriate is it that HVC Oelwein will quite possibly be our first satellite campus?!
After making the decision to go “All In” on Oelwein, Jake and Julie took the next big step.
This step has involved gathering a team around them who share the same heartbeat. This group of now 20+ people is meeting weekly in Oelwein at a golf course clubhouse owned by our very own Chris and Jen Black.
On Sunday afternoons in this small clubhouse, worship, prayer and growing in relationship is the focus. Jake and Julie have also used this time to begin instilling into the group the things that we value so dearly here at Heartland Vineyard Church…. Intimacy with Jesus, Grace, Holy Spirit Leadership, Servant-hood and being a Missionally-Minded people.
Jake presented this vision statement to the group recently…
Heartland Vineyard Church of Oelwein is a community of believers who are committed to bringing the hope and love of Jesus to a lost, hurt, and broken world.
Everything we do comes from a foundation of intimacy with Jesus. An authentic relationship with Jesus and each other is always our highest priority.
We are a people who pursue a supernatural life not a supernatural day. We want to take the light of Jesus out of the four walls of our gathering place and use it to pierce the darkness.
We are a people who come together to serve each other and our community. We are not here to be served or entertained.
We are a grace focused church. The motivation for everything we do is simply a response to God’s amazing love for us; not an attempt to score points on an eternal score card.
We are a church that loves people exactly where they are in their story. Our job is not to judge a person’s past, but to help them realize the incredible destiny and calling God has on their life.
Everything we do is through the lens of the living Word of God. We believe that the same power found in the New Testament is still alive and working today. We want to live lives partnered with the Holy Spirit to see those things happen today.
This is a powerful statement that gets me excited every time I read it! We are committed to ensuring that every church we plant moving forward is completely immersed in these values.
On Saturday February 16th at 6:00pm, the next step of this journey begins. And this next step doesn’t just involve Jake and Julie and their team. It involves you!
Here’s what’s happening…
We have rented the Coliseum in Oelwein for the evening where will be playing live music by team members from the Heartland Vineyard Worship Band. We will also be serving world class BBQ from T&T BBQ out of Oelwein. Our hope is that live music and food provides an environment where we can together, began to build deeper relationships with eachother, and more importantly, with the people of Oelwein and its surrounding communities.
We will plan to caravan out together from our location on Titan Trail at around 5:00. We hope you’ll join us! We are looking forward to a fun night!