Vintage Faith Church, a new church plant which has been actively preparing behind the scenes for its first worship gathering, held that first gathering on Sunday, February 8.  Read Pastor Dan Kimball’s report of the gathering by clicking on the “MORE” link below.

What Happened On Sunday Night.
A quick recap of the gathering is that we started off with a dinner for those in leadership helping out in the gathering. We had a great time of homemade soup and bread by the Hales who provided it for everyone. After a time of prayer with all the leaders we then finished setting up for the gathering.

We had the room set up with the band and choir way over in the corner of the room to be in view, but not spotlighted. Same for the speaking area. That was a little more central, but wanted to keep the cross front and center. Julie Grange made this beautiful 9’ high cross that was put on the stage to be the focal point of the gathering, representing the risen Jesus. Behind the cross Hannah Mello and her team made these beautiful collages with the Vintage Faith Church key values of what we hope to see God transform us into .... Worshipping - Community - Missional - Theologians.

Our VFC Children’s Ministry started and had over 50 in the children’s ministry the first night. We had the children over 5 years old stay in the worship gathering for the first 20 minutes with their parent(s) so they could be worshipping as a family. We will be trying to see parents with children in worship as best we can set up for in addition to the children’s ministry.

Prayer Stations
We divided the room up to where we could have a lot of space for prayer. There was a “Prayer Cove” created, where Shelly Harr led the prayer team and they were there to pray with people during the night. We set up a “Prayer Path” which was a corridor divided up by curtains, where people could walk through 4 prayer stations which were thematically created to focus on asking God to form us into Worshipping - Community - Missional - Theologians. There was a communion station in the Prayer Path also.

We had a Creative Angle section so that anyone desiring to worship through art could create drawings of worship expression. We also had 8 painters around the room who were painting 8 Beatitudes which will be the teaching for the next 3 weeks. They will continue the painting over the next 2 weeks.

The Choir Was Incredible
The choir literally had people crying (I have talked to 2 people who said they wept during the choir songs, as the worship was so beautful). The worship band led us in a mix of pop and older songs of worship to God.

Goldfish In A Bowl
The message was based out of Matthew chapter 4 talking about the Kingdom of God and tying that into the vision for VFC being a worshipping community of missional theologians and I explained those four things. I also used the metaphor of a goldfish in a little bowl, as what so many Christians experience -either creating a little Christian sub-culture and removing ourselves from the world, or creating a little bubble of restrictions of rule and guilt which keep us trapped. I then put that little fish in a big fishtank, that had another large goldfish and explained how whatever the size of the tank is will determine the size of the fish. And told how the little goldfish remained small because of the container, and the big fish is bigger because it has more freedom. I then tried to explain that for VFC we want to challenge people to break out of the little bowls if they are in them and out of Christian sub-culture, and be missional etc.

Our First Baptism
The message ended with Faye giving her story of being born in China, moving to the USA when in college, putting faith in Jesus, moving to Santa Cruz and now being involved in VFC and wanting to be baptized. She shared how her husband just 2 weeks ago put his faith in Jesus after a VFC prayer meeting where Faye specifically prayed for him during a time we were saying names out loud of people who we are asking God to draw to Himself. We then had our first VFC baptism!

Over 700 People Made It A Bit Crazy
It was a crazy night in terms of being overwhelmed with people there. We had no idea what to expect, and there were over 700 people who came for the first night. I met so many people who came to show support and be there for the first night, so we know next week won’t be as hectic and probably a bit more normal. But, I personally want to thank all those who drove from as far away as Sacramento to be there to worship with us for our first gathering. I met someone who leads a prayer team at another church in the Bay Area who was there with her team to support us for the first night and let me know they have been praying for us all week. If you were there last week, and had to sit in awkward places this week, I am sure it will be easier to find a seat and not get stuck in a corner somwwhere.

Anyway - it was really a joy to worship God with everyone, and that is a quick report on the kick-off night.

For those that are interested, there are photos of the night on www.vintagechurch.org.  You can get a glimpse of what it was like if you weren’t there. We will be posting regular photos of the worship gatherings as well as other events, home community groups and as much of a photo journal of the birth of the church as possible. So, you can go to the website and see the photos from last weekend.