Vineyard Movement

Introduction by the Newly Proposed Vineyard National Director

In case you haven’t heard, Vineyard USA is in the middle of choosing a new National Director as Bert Waggoner announced that he was retiring near the beginning of the year. The process that the National Board decided to follow is an amazing one that bridges the gap between organizational oversight and Spirit lead.

The process started off in the month of May with each senior pastor nominating someone (besides themselves) that they thought would be a good National Director. The top 13 candidates (men and women) were then asked if they felt God calling them to the position. Of those 13, four of them felt compelled to walk forward – leading to a three month application and review process with the National Board, who would then choose a final candidate.The last phase of the nomination process is a movement wide confirmation of the nominated National Director by each of the local churches.

It is too this last phase of the process that I would like to draw your attention as the National Board has proposed Phil Strout as the next Vineyard USA National Director.

As he awaits the final confirmation for the local churches within the movement, Phil has posted a video introducing himself and sharing his heart for the Vineyard. I would highly recommend everyone (inside or outside the Vineyard) to watch this video as I believe it caries a message for the church in general.

Namely, Phil outlines his three main focuses:

  • Presence of God – We are a people of the presence of God. It is not about sound doctrine, gifts of the Spirit or good works (even though those are good and necessary things); it is about being in His presence and walking with Jesus daily.

“Dont seek power. Seek His presence. The power is found in His presence…”-John Wimber

  • Proclamation – We are to join with God in His mission by proclaiming the words of Jesus while doing the works of Jesus. The two go hand-in-hand – if you do one without the other, you become imbalanced and reduce the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.
  • Practical – It takes everyone following Jesus and working together to live out this life. Or, to borrow the words of Alexander Venter, to “do church.”

oh…and as a side note, it was pretty cool to hear Phil reference both George Ladd and Derek Morphew, two of my top favorite theologians. 😀