Keeping Our Hearts Outwardly Focused
In a few weeks Vineyard Columbus is going to host what has become for us an annual event over the past 8 years, something we call Fall Festival (we used to call this event Summer Harvest and we hosted it in mid-summer). I believe we've been doing this event since 1994. We used to actually set up a large tent outside in the parking lot.

The event has evolved over the last decade. This year we are going to host a Women's Coffee House (Thursday evening, September 26, 7:00-9:00 p.m.). Anne Briggs will be sharing her personal story over dessert and coffee. Many women will be able to relate to Anne's account of a life spent looking for fulfillment in things that can never truly satisfy, and her life-changing experience with Jesus Christ that brought her true peace.

We are also hosting a Men's 3-Way Chili Dinner on Friday evening, September 27, 7:00-9:00 p.m. I'm going to be sharing a brief talk; we will enjoy a great dinner together, some good-humored fun, and a personal story of how Christ changed a man's life.

In addition, on Saturday, September 28 at 10:00 a.m. Vineyard Columbus will be doing a servant evangelism project in some of our city parks. This is a great opportunity for small groups to pitch in together to serve the needs of our community. We will be hosting a music festival here in the parking lot on Sunday, September 29 from 2:00-6:00 p.m. And to start the week of Fall Festival off, there will be an outreach event for teens and middleschoolers on Monday, September 23 from 7:00-8:30 p.m.

But however this event has evolved over the last 8-9 years, the purpose of us doing a Fall Festival remains the same-to keep focusing the heart of our church outward. The tendency of most human beings, and sadly most churches, is toward extreme introversion. The major question that's on the hearts of most people is "What about me? What about my needs? What about the way I feel? What about what I'm going through?"

Continuing to Stay Outwardly Focused
Over the years, the Columbus Vineyard has been the recipient of God's extravagant grace in many ways. In 1987 we were a church of about 150. We had three staff members and had just purchased our first church building. It was a little traditional church building south of Morse Road. We purchased the church building from a church that was selling because a very highly paid church consultant told them "no one could grow a church at this location."

God went beyond, in the apostle Paul's words, "what we could ask, think, or imagine." I love the way that Eugene Peterson in his Message version of the Bible translates Ephesians 3:20: "God can do anything, you know. Far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams. He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. Glory to God in the church! Glory to God in the Messiah in Jesus! Glory down all the generations! Glory through all the millennia! Oh yes!" "He does more than you could ever imagine, or guess or request in your wildest dreams."

And that has been our experience as a church. We grew to over 900 in that little church building that the church consultant (who apparently forgot about Ephesians 3:20) said "no one could grow a church." The building had one men's urinal! We had 45 parking spaces. We broke every single church growth rule regarding the number of square feet you needed per person, or the square footage you needed for our kids Sunday School rooms. Yet God still brought more people.

And over the years Vineyard Columbus has continued to be the recipient of God's extravagant grace. There have been several seasons of visitation by God's Spirit in the last 15 years. We've had seasons of physical healings, and seasons in which there has been heightened sense of the presence of God. What we count most valuable in the Vineyard is the sense of God's presence, God being with us. And as a church we never want to lose that. We want our small groups to be expectant, to be available to the Lord.

In addition, we have literally seen several thousand people come to know Christ in the last decade. Talk about extravagant grace! In the last three years we've done about 1000 water baptisms. There are easily several times that number who have responded to the gospel.

From 1992-2002, we grew from about 900 people to the 6000 people in attendance at our weekly services. In the last 7 years Vineyard Columbus has been blessed to plant 14 churches around the United States and we are in the early stages of planting two churches in Central Asia. Our church continues to grow despite the fact that we have given away nearly 700 people in the last 2 years to church plants.

Yet, it is imperative that at least once a year we, as a community, make deliberate efforts to focus our hearts outward. We need to give God's grace away! As I mentioned in my message a few weeks ago, on the Day of Pentecost (when the Christian church was born) the apostle Peter told us who the gospel was designed for. Peter said, The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord will call. As I understand Peter's words, the reason we do church (at least as far as it concerns people) is for us-to meet our needs, to heal our hearts, to minister to our pains, to encourage our discipleship. We also do church for our children-to minister to our children's needs, our children's hurts, to care for our children who are in pain, and to encourage our children's discipleship.

But the church and the gospel are also for those who are far off-for people who are not yet attached to the church, for people who don't yet belong to the Christian community. Peter said that the gospel and the church are not only for us and our children, but for those who are far off-far off from Christ and far off from us.

Will you join me in taking a risk by inviting someone who may be "far off" to one of our Fall Festival events? Let's continue to respond to God's extravagant grace by intentionally focusing outward these next few weeks.

1. If you are a woman, please invite your friends and join the other women in our church at the Coffee House on Thursday, September 26 at 7:00 p.m.

2. If you are a man, please invite your friends and join with other men in our church for dinner at the 3-Way Chili Dinner on Friday, September 27 at 7:00 p.m.

3. If you are in a small group, encourage your group to work together on the servant evangelism project to clean up one of our city's parks on Saturday morning, September 28 at 10:00 a.m.

4. Encourage your teens and middleschoolers to invite their friends to attend the Kids' Night on Monday, September 23 at 7:00 p.m.

5. And join the entire church for MusicFest on Sunday afternoon, September 29 at 2:00 p.m. in our church parking lot.

With much affection,
Rich Nathan