Thirteen years ago, after almost six years of serving as a pastor in a traditional church setting, my wife, Mary Ellen, and I sensed that God was leading us to plant a new-style church. With the help of some friends we followed through. Today St. Croix Vineyard is an interesting example of what church can look like in a small town. It is neither a mega-church nor a famous church, but it is an authentic Christian worship community that works hard at caring for the poor and at being an influence for good in many different ways.

Last fall I had an opportunity to spend some time at the Cambridge Vineyard’s new home, a Slovakian Jesuit monastery that lies hidden behind a park in the heart of the city. The grounds are beautiful and when I was there the buildings were in the process of being hastened back to life by an army of volunteers. I spent a quiet hour or two on the property one day and found myself reflecting about the irony of a new-styled church in an older-styled home. It fit so well with the cry for an “ancient-future” church that Robert Webber, Thomas Oden, and others have been raising in their books and articles.

Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens, the famed singer of the 60s and 70s, wrote one of my favourite songs. It is called “Father and Son”. In it a son reveals his distress in the light of some inconsistency he has discovered about life, and his father gently cautions him to “sit down, take it slowly,  . . . there’s so much you have to go through.” 

I spent most of the 70’s going to universities, colleges and seminaries, several of which were in the United States. One fall, after working for a summer in Toronto, I had decided not to continue before I could make some more money. Then, at the last moment, I sensed a stirring from the Lord and decided to return to school in Colorado if all of my “fleeces” fell into place.