Vineyard Columbus is Launching a Campus

By Eric Pickerill

Friends, it was a year ago that Vineyard Columbus finished The Story Continues campaign. Throughout the campaign we talked about our desire for God to write the next chapter of his story for our church, our city, and our world. The Lord has done so many good things in and through the church, but the story isn’t over. There is more that God wants to do!

We shared a vision of launching five new campuses over the next several years. I’d like to give you an update about what’s happening with our campuses at Vineyard Columbus.

I have an announcement to make: Vineyard Columbus has launched an online campus! Actually, our whole church is now online because of this global pandemic. So, let me clarify—once we start meeting together in person again, we will continue to engage people online and do so as a new campus community. Over the past year, our leadership team has been considering what an Online Campus launch could look like. What we didn’t imagine is that the launch countdown – "100-99-98" – would skip to "2-1-liftoff!" But that is what happened. Because of this crisis, we decided on a Thursday that we would move to online worship services the following Saturday. Our team did an amazing job pulling off the feat! And now we not only have online services streaming on three different platforms , but we have online small groups, online events, an online podcast, online morning prayer, online classes, etc.

The move online has been an incredible blessing to so many people. One person wrote, “As a public school teacher scrambling to move everything online with not much notice, I just wanted to say THANK YOU for all of the hard work and long hours so many people put into putting this together so quickly! It was great, and we loved being able to tune in to the

message this morning from home. Your hard work is appreciated!” Another said, “Being able to chat and joke with pastors has completely changed my church experience. I see them as real people now and I feel like I can really begin to engage in church.” There are people from more than a dozen countries streaming. One of my favorite things to see is one of our Vineyard members from Thailand chatting back and forth in her native tongue with a friend tuning in from across the world! And there have been wonderful opportunities to pray and care for our congregation. On Easter morning, one person who requested prayer had just lost her mother that morning and one of our pastors was able to grieve and pray with her.

As Vineyard Columbus slowly moves back to inperson gatherings, we will continue our Online Campus, albeit in a different form. We’ve asked a lot of fundamental questions: What is the purpose of an online campus? What do we believe about meeting online vs meeting in person? Who could an online campus reach and serve? What would be the goals of starting an online campus?

As we’ve asked and answered these questions, a few things became very clear: First, it is clear that an online campus isn’t a replacement or another equal option to meeting together in a physical location! We believe that community is best lived in proximity to one another. At the same time, it’s also clear that there are many who are unable to come to a campus: folks who live over an hour away from a physical campus; members of our church who are sick or traveling; people with life situations that make going to church very difficult (folks living in nursing homes, those without transportation, etc.).

Second, it is clear that more and more people are most comfortable first ‘visiting’ a church online. In a world where online engagement is the norm (and even more so as we feel the impact of the coronavirus), not being online means that we miss a big opportunity to be missional! It’s also clear that while not all aspects of church can be replicated online, many of them can be: people can meet Jesus, relationships can be built, discipleship can happen, and mission can flourish!

Third, it’s clear that there is a hunger for an online campus. Totally apart from our prayerful investigations over the past year, we’ve heard from many individuals who are asking for an Online Campus. People who have moved to different states have asked. People who want to "invite" their friends to church have asked. People who are immunocompromised have asked. People who are highly introverted have asked! People who are caregivers have asked. The list goes on and on!

Over the next few months, we will be answering important questions about how our longer-term strategy will look for developing online environments for worship, discipleship, community, and mission. Please pray for wisdom as we make decisions about who should lead our Online Campus and how our Online Campus should be similar to and different from other campus communities. In order to facilitate this, Pastor Andrew Oswalt is now moving to the role of Interim Online Campus Pastor. Andrew and his family have served at Vineyard Columbus for years, and he has recently transitioned out of his role as Lane Avenue Campus Pastor (read more about the update from Lane Ave here).

As Christians, our call is always to pray for eyes to see what God is up to in our midst. A year ago, none of us could have predicted that our global story would be interrupted by a pandemic. None of us can ever predict the interruptions that come our way! But God knows, and God is the one who straightens pathways, who delivers us, and who satisfies us – even as we walk through uncertain times. At Vineyard Columbus, we’re committed to following the Holy Spirit forward in the story that God has set before us. Thank you for your partnership, for your prayer, and for your continued encouragement as Vineyard Columbus seeks to build up communities of disciples who love one another and partner with Christ to heal the world. 

Over the last several months, Julia and I spent a lot of time with Andrew Oswalt, pastor of our Lane Avenue Campus, along with the Lane Avenue Core Team and our Vineyard Columbus leadership team, all in an effort to ask the Lord to speak to us about the future of our Lane Avenue Campus. Our conclusion is that our Lane Avenue Campus is a wonderful community with a bright future! And we are prayerfully investing in their future in a few ways. Would you pray along with us?

First, we are praying for the Lord to call the next pastor for our Lane Avenue Campus community. At a Lane Avenue Family Meeting on March 1, before we were aware of the impact of the coronavirus, Andrew Oswalt and I shared some significant news about the campus – after almost ten years of faithful service, Andrew has transitioned out of his role as Lane Avenue Campus Pastor and into a role as Interim Online Campus Pastor.

Before anything else, I want to sincerely thank Andrew and Ginny for their deep investment and faithful leadership at our Lane Avenue Campus over the years. From the beginning, Andrew has shown a deep commitment to serving the Lord and the community in his role as campus pastor. He and Ginny have helped to set up church, organized events, discipled kids and families, rallied an amazing team of core volunteers, managed the complexity of being a pop-up campus and, most importantly, led with great integrity. We are truly grateful for them!

Also, I have asked Pastor Andy Saperstein to take on the role of Interim Pastor at Lane Avenue alongside his current role as Pastor of Leader Formation. Andy has already stepped into this role, and has a deep sense of calling and commitment to help the Lane Avenue community navigate and even flourish during this season of transition. He will be helping the congregation with their “hellos and goodbyes” during the transition, will be available to help people process the inevitable ups and downs that arise in the midst of change, and is committed to providing a safe and stable bridge to the next chapter at Lane Avenue. I will continue to be engaged with the leadership team of the church and the Lane Avenue Core Team, helping to discern strategy, identify potential locations, and start a process for a campus pastor search which begins this month.

We are also praying for a new building for the Lane Avenue Campus. After almost ten years of doing church out of a box on Sundays, it is clear that a more permanent building should be procured for our Lane Avenue community. This will be a place from which to worship, build community, and do mission.

Finally, along with a new pastor and a new building, we are praying for a new missional strategy for the Lane Avenue Campus community. Who is this community to minister to in the next season? And how do they continue to be an integral part of our mission to our city?

So, I invite you: pray as we seek to hear from the Lord about the mission that He’s calling this campus to! Pray for a building to meet in! And pray that God calls a new campus pastor to lead this remarkable community ! And join me in thanking God for pastors and leaders like Andrew and Ginny Oswalt! 