A few months ago, someone posed a question on a large facebook group that I’m part of around what podcasts would be good to listen to from a Vineyard perspective. Various suggestions were made – but they all seem to be essentially the sermon downloads from well-known pastors or churches. Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing, but it made some friends of mine wonder if they could start something.
The result?
Key quotes from the first episode that should give you a sense of what it’s about:
“We find the Vineyard to be home, but it is sometimes frustrating”
“We hope this will be an unofficial spiritual successor to magazines like ‘equipping the saints’. We hope this will be a way to include voices from all over the movement, not just the USA”
“The movement is about equipping, it has been since the beginning. The Vineyardists podcast is just one more way of doing that. Giving away what God has for us to the wider church“
Having been a little bit involved – usually in conversations late at night – in the genesis of this, it is a delight to see a new podcast, for specifically Vineyard reflection, come about. The three hosts are good friends, and represent a range of different perspectives on things from within the Vineyard movement:
- Thomas Lyons – part of the Lexington Vineyard in Kentucky with his wife and kids, a PhD candidate at Asbury Theological Seminary (looking at Spirit-Baptism in Acts under Craig Keener), Thomas brings some technical nous, biblical depth, and deep wisdom to the table.
- Luke Geraty – Co-Senior-Pastor (With his wife Dawn) of the Red Bluff Vineyard in Northern California, over-educated and addicted to fly-fishing, Luke is passionate about good theology connecting with churches, to drive good practice and build healthy communities of the Kingdom.
- Douglas Erickson – working in IT, holding a PhD in Systematics (which he’s published as the excellent ‘Living the Future’ [which I still need to review, sorry Doug!) and part of the Duluth Vineyard in Minnesota, Doug is a little older, wiser and more cynical than I, and brings a careful concern for history and helpful thinking to the conversation.
The Vineyardists has just released their first episode (which you can and should find here) and will be dropping the next one soon. In the first episode, they discuss why they are doing what they are doing, and what they hope it will be all about. I’m excited to see this digital (and totally unofficial) successor to early publications like ‘Fruit of the Vine’ or ‘Equipping the Saints’, and encouraged that they are going to be bringing people from all across the international movement to share their stories and reflections. For the really keen, there is also a discussion group on Facebook, which we hope will be a place for robust but gracious dialogue.
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