A few weeks ago, I talked about what it would take to become a Mark 2 church, a church that will stop at nothing to bring the people to Jesus and Jesus to the people. This past weekend, I announced a new initiative that represents a dramatic step in that direction. We're calling it The Hub. Our heart is to use the assets the Lord has blessed us with to offer a community-center-style program aimed at inviting and including the folks in our community to build relationships as they learn together side-by-side.

To let us know you are interested in being an instructor, please click here and fill out the Interest Form. 

The Birth of an Idea

Over the last several months, the leadership team at Vineyard OP has been praying about how God would have us use the assets he's given us to make a real difference in our community. One huge asset is the building he's blessed us with here at 8301 Lamar. We thought, how can we use this building to bring the people to Jesus and Jesus to the people? A second asset is clearly all the folks who call Vineyard OP their church home. How can we leverage the gifts, talents and passions of our folks at Vineyard to bring the people to Jesus and Jesus to the people?

The idea of launching a low-cost Community Center came to us early on, the question we struggled with was how to get it off the ground. That discussion changed dramatically in late April when several members of the Board went to meet with the leadership team of a fully developed Community Center at a Vineyard Church in Columbus, Ohio. The folks there were incredibly kind to us, answering our questions and showing us around. We learned a lot but the single, biggest thing we came away was a bottom-up, more organic approach vs. a top-down, more institutional approach. In other words, we saw the many advantages of starting small, allowing the classes and other offerings to be generated by individuals at Vineyard instead of relying on the leadership to "make it happen." This revelation helped us understand that we didn't have to do this someday, we could get started right now.

Spokes on a Wheel

Here's how it works. The Hub will launch this fall. It will be the first of three main sessions or semesters we'll offer each year. Folks at Vineyard can participate in three ways. You can...

1. Serve as an instructor
2. Serve as an assistant instructor
3. Take a class and bring a friend

Allow me to clarify that last one a bit. Anyone at Vineyard can and is encouraged to take a class they're interested in so long as they're willingly to bring someone, outside the church, with them. Remember, this isn't a program the staff or the Board is running FOR the church. It's something we're all doing for the community! Our goal is to literally become the best friend our community ever had.

So what do you love to do? Is it sports, music, arts and crafts, horticulture, automotive repair, interior design? There are hundreds of subjects that could be offered as classes or workshops this fall to the whole community. Class offerings can vary in length (4 weeks, 6 weeks etc.) and they'll meet at various times and days of the week. The full list of offerings will be published three times a year in our Activities Guide and distributed widely.

Getting Started

We are currently looking for instructors for the fall semester. If you feel led to offer yourself as an instructor, please fill out the Interest Form. A member of the staff will call you to discuss what you have in mind and answer any questions you may have. As I mentioned above, we don't have a problem starting small but we need your help to make it happen. Let's ask God for the will to follow his lead. It's certainly the road less traveled but we honestly believe this is something God wants us to do.

All for his glory,

Mark