Singles

In 1989, Art Norton was asked by Danny Meyer, the overseeing pastor, to start a group to ministry to the needs of our singles. The group continued for a couple of years under Art's leadership along with the help of other leaders. Then in 1996, Art Norton and Dale Hoppe started a "Friday Singles" Group which lasted several years.

In the fall of 1998, Sher Isaacs started the Free Swing & Social Dance Classes on Friday nights under the Evangelism Ministry which worked with the Singles Ministry. In 1999, the Singles Ministry hosted our first Christmas Dance followed by a Spring Dance to reach out to the community.

During the next several years we had many groups that had a combination of teachings and social events. Rick Blubaugh and Sher Isaacs started the "SOLO" Group and the "Friends" Group was started by Cindy Coghill and Jill Mclain. Toni King took over leadership of "Friends" with Sara Parker and Linda Miller who had started a monthly singles activities group. After Linda and Sara moved on, Toni continued with one of the most popular events being the Marmon Valley Farms Outing. We also had our "Relationships" Group, Leaders: Jim Jarrell, Lisa McCoy, Jon Schneider, Karen Bender, "In His Grip", Leader Karen Stephens and our "AIM" Group, Leader Joy Stelzer as well as Virginia McInerney leading Monthly Singles Seminars.

In 2002, when Danny Meyer left to start The Vineyard Church of Delaware County, Kerry Davis became the overseeing pastor for these groups.

We started advertising the upcoming fall Swing & Social Dance Classes in 2003 in the local paper and 100-150 people started attending. In addition to our other events in 2005, we hosted the Dance Under the Stars in our south parking lot and we had 500+ people from the community join us. We started looking for better ways to integrate the attendees from the community into the church.

When Kerry Davis became the pastoral director of the Community Center in 2006 Stephen Van Dop became the overseeing pastor of our S.A.M.

We then added Dinner & Discussion Relationships Series with Stephen Van Dop & Bill Christensen teaching. Topics included Purpose Driven Life, The Da Vinci Code and Holy Sex and we had 100-350 singles attend. In our 2006-07 season, our attendance for our 1st & 3rd Friday Dance Classes has grown to 250-300 people.

The Single Adult Ministry (S.A.M.) at Vineyard Columbus exists to provide a safe community that addresses the needs of singles and integrates them into the life of Christ and his Church through worship, fellowship and mission.

Presently we have over 50 volunteers and are providing

Social dance classes in the Community Center for beginners, advanced beginners, intermediate and line dancers.
Fall Dessert & Discussion Series on the 2nd & 4th Fridays with Stephen Van Dop & Bill Christensen which will include married couples as well as singles. The topic will be "Pursuing Wholeness in Community".
Social Fridays - Dance Class & Cards on the 1st & 3rd Fridays starts its 10th season on October 5th and includes married couples as well as singles, card players as well as dancers.
We continue to host social activities for the community such as the Marmon Valley Farms Outings, Euchre Party & Game Nights, OSU/Michigan Game & Super Bowl Parties and help with other Vineyard community events such as the Single Parents Fair.
We host 3 dances/year and our Vineyard Dance Team performs for dances, nursing homes, and other venues.
In the winter of 2008, we will host a Living Single Again class on Wednesday nights for those who have been in a broken relationship or want to make their relationships better.