Indy Vineyard 40th Anniversary

All right, good morning.

Thank you, worship team.

Well, my name is Adam Caseel.

I'm the lead pastor here on staff.

Before I go any further, I have been asked to let um owners of a couple of vehicles know they are parked in a restricted area, and we need you to move these vehicles.

We'll all close our eyes when you stand up and get out so that there's no shame.

But uh black Jeep uh license plate 883CYI.

And nobody look, nobody look, just look down, look at your look at your shoes, examine your shoes while they get up.

Uh and a gray GMC Denali TK4160TP.

All right.

You're still loved, you're still loved.

But uh at least the Jeep is where our bouncy house is gonna be.

It's a boombox bouncy house, so we need to have that set up for afterwards.

All right.

Well, uh each week when we gather, we know that we are gathering in God's presence and God loves to speak to his children.

And so if you feel like God has spoken to you for us uh as a church, as we're gathered, we have discerners uh who sit in the back every week, and so go share that with them and they'll discern if that's uh for now or for later for you or for the whole church.

Our mission is to encounter the love and power of God and give it away to the world.

Um, if you are new or looking to get more connected, the best thing that you could do is to fill out a connect card.

Um you can do that digitally by scanning the QR code or there are uh connect cards in the seat pocket in front of you.

Fill that out, drop that in the offering, or take that out to the welcome desk.

Um, those are uh we'll also add you to our weekly email list, which is a great way to know different uh events that are upcoming, like today's picnic.

You would have known about that for weeks, um, and different events.

Another one uh that we've been doing is showing videos, MC510, uh, miracles, signs, and wonders.

We are not doing that today because of our celebration.

So next week, um, 4 to 6 p.m.

here, uh, be sure to come on out to that.

If you are a first-time guest, like this is the first time you've ever been to Indy Vineyard Church, no matter where it's met or its iteration, we have a gift for you.

We just a way to say welcome, we're glad you're here.

If you're brave enough to raise your hand, um, one of our greeters will come around and give you a little welcome gift.

Like I said, we're not gonna ask anything of you, just want to say we are glad uh that you are here.

All right.

Well, let's stand back up and find somebody you've never met before, which will be really easy.

Look them in the eye, smile, say, I'm glad you're here.

All right, head on back to your seats.

We'll have two hours afterwards to find people.

All right, I uh just need to give a shout out to two people, Joy Walston and Carol Fred.

Are they in here right now?

Are they here?

Stand up, Carol and Joy, if you're in here right now.

They're they're probably working, they're amazing.

They made everything happen, they organized people, set stuff up.

So super thankful.

Um, thanks to all of you who have volunteered uh to help at some point, um, or and those of you who are gonna be staying after to clean up, really appreciate that.

And thanks to all of you who have brought food for this morning or this afternoon.

Today is a day of celebration.

Yes, it's a day of remembering what the Lord has done, and we're gonna celebrate individuals.

As I was thinking about this, just God's faithfulness uh come to mind.

So I'm gonna read some some verses, Deuteronomy 7 9.

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations, to those who love him and keep his commandments.

And then Psalm 36, verses 5 to 9, your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies, your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep.

Psalms 36:5–9

You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.

How priceless is your unfailing love, O God.

People take refuge in the shadow of your wings, they feast on the abundance of your house.

You give them drink from your river of light of delights, for with you is the fountain of life, in your light we see light.

The number forty is significant in the Bible.

I'm not going to talk about that this morning, but I'm acknowledging it as that's why we're celebrating.

That's why we're celebrating this anniversary this morning.

We would not be here without some key moments that have happened over the last 40 years.

For those of you who don't know about the history of our church, the Lord gave Bill, affectionately known as Jax.

Jackson, uh, a couple of visions that moved him and his wife Betsy and their oldest son Lucas from Southern California to Indianapolis.

There were a there was a word of knowledge that came in the form of two words carpal tunnel.

At that time, Jax was working in a factory, and he walked by a man named Dan Michaels, one of his co-workers, and he heard that word from the Lord, carpal tunnel.

He had no idea what it meant, so he asked Dan if it meant anything to him.

And Dan had recently been diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome, and he was going to need surgery.

So Jax prayed for him right there.

He got healed and gave his life to Jesus.

Then in September 1986, after a couple of kinship groups, if that is unfamiliar, that small groups or life groups, after a couple of these kinship groups formed, they started showing MC 510, Miracle Signs, and Church Growth.

That's why we've been showing those videos.

Uh they started showing them at the signature inn on East Washington Street.

We're celebrating this morning something that God has done through normal people.

We're gonna celebrate the faithfulness of God and the yes of men and women who've played a vital role in this church lasting 40 years.

I want to say I I realize I'm not gonna be able to acknowledge everybody that that deserves to be and to the extent um that they should be, but I wanted to make sure that we celebrated this milestone anniversary as a church.

But what I want to highlight this morning is that when I first visited this church in November 2018 as a pastoral candidate, the thing that stood out to me was worship.

Then when we came back the following month, when I when my family and I was introduced to this church, December 2018, what stood out was the worship.

Ever since I've been on staff, January 2019, every week since, what stands out is the worship.

When people visit this church, the thing they regularly comment on is worship.

According to you all who who call Indie Vineyard Church your home and took us filled out a survey this at the beginning of this year, the number two thing that you love about this church is worship.

Now, I was recently rereading the quest for the radical middle.

Betsy, you ever read this book?

Did you live this book, Betsy?

I was rereading it and uh I just I want to pause.

That last song that we did, probably to a number of you, you're not familiar with that, because that was written by by Nancy Hendrickson.

A song that she developed six years ago, right, Nancy?

Yeah.

So it's a regular worship song in this church.

But so I was rereading this book, The Quest for the Radical Middle, and I came across this sentence.

Jax is he's just talking about how churches uh develop different values.

When I was planting our church, this church, the first thing I hoped to birth was worship.

I taught on it for quite a while, and then one night they got it.

It only needed vitamins after that.

To borrow the title of Jax's book about the history of this church, as the seed is, so the tree will become.

Which, by the way, there's copies of that out in the lobby.

What was planted 40 years ago, we continue to eat the fruit of today.

The Lord has honored this commitment to worship.

It's not connected to any one person.

For the church of our size, we have an embarrassment of riches, of worship leaders, uh singers, musicians.

In fact, if you are or ever have been a worship leader in this church, stand up.

If you're a worship R ever have been a worship leader in this church, stand up.

Yeah.

If you've ever been on the worship team, stand up.

R ever have been on the worship team, stand up.

If you've ever done sound for this church, stand up.

Stand up.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Now we uh have a video from one of uh the first people part of our worship team, Byron Easterling.

So we got a two-minute video.

Let's go ahead and show that.

I'm Byron Easterling and my wife is Crystal.

And I just want to talk a little bit about the worship that we experienced at the Vineyard.

In 1986, we moved from Atlanta, Georgia to Indianapolis.

We were a part of crew and the music ministry there.

But we fell in love with it right away and we needed it.

We were so hungry at that point for some authentic understanding of the kingdom of God and God moving.

As a musician and having led worship, they opened the door for me to be a part to play and to sing.

And it was really cool because I had experienced worship in a very controlled environment.

And they opened the door to really say, this isn't about bringing the song, it's about bringing the presence.

It's about being in God's presence, it's about opening the door to enter into his presence.

And that was kind of new language for me.

In 1994, we moved to Fort Worth to be with a man named John Paul Jackson.

During that time frame, I was also with integrity music back in the mid-90s.

And then into the 2000s, we were in California, and I was a part of I played worship for Bob Book, who was Graham Cook's worship leader without the experiences that I had at the vineyard worship of understanding and walking into the presence of God and being a part of it, not just a player, but a part of it.

I don't think I would have ever been able to step further into the depth of that revolution in my heart and the revelation in my heart.

Thanks, Vineyard, for letting me be a part, letting us grow.

Bill and Betsy were part of changing our lives.

And that vineyard made a way.

So happy anniversary, many blessings to you guys.

Yeah.

All right, so I want uh Betsy and Scott McElroy want you come on up.

So Betsy Jackson is here, uh flew in from California.

Uh Luke, yes, yes, come on.

And Scott McElroy uh has the distinction of being the only per person at our church who's been here with every pastor, every every senior pastor.

And so, yeah.

Scott also founded and leads our um Indie Vineyard art community.

Notice the values that are up on the on the wall.

We uh Scott put those up yesterday.

So redesign those.

Thanks to him for organizing that and the artists um who are contributing um to the visual depictions.

And so it just felt appropriate for the two of them um to have a little conversation this morning and let us uh Eve drop in.

And um we're gonna be recognizing some different people, but I just want to ask Lucas, Megan, and John, will you three stand up, Bill and and Betsy's uh sons and daughter, also here from California.

So we are so grateful for you all being here.

Uh it feels like such a gift.

And um, you know, as as somebody who's tried to plant a church, I know it's super difficult.

And so, Betsy, thank you for your sacrifice.

Thanks for saying yes.

Yeah.

So it wasn't always a yes.

It wasn't always a yes.

Well, with that, hand it off to you too.

How about this, huh?

All this love and all these memories.

I can't see a lot of you because the lights are so bright.

Microphone.

Oh my gosh.

It's been a while since you've been in the spot.

It's been a while.

It has been a while.

Um, thank you for having us.

Um I will try to get through this without just a heart of gratitude to the Lord, to my family.

Um just it's just amazing to me how faithful and sovereign and in complete control God is of all things.

And um, I just couldn't be my heart is just full.

So are my eyes.

They are full.

Um so I'm I'm grateful to be here and thank you for allowing us to come and be a part of this celebration with you.

We might need the tissues.

I've got them.

Oh here.

Well, I came in 1991 and the vineyard was at the Randsburg uh Y at that time.

Um I had been in uh I grew up fundamentalist uh Baptist and was transitioning from the prosperity gospel at that point.

And and when I walked in, had a young child, and uh this was full of the worship is the first thing that hit me.

And um there were there were couples and families on the uh against the wall on the back with their babies on blankets, and we had come from a place where you know you had to put your child in the away from you and all that.

And uh and the s the service at the place that we were was like was an hour of speaking.

So coming to the vineyard was a complete breath of fresh air.

And um, I remember that the the first time that I heard the worship, it just um blew me away.

I'm I'm a music person and and love that.

And I think there were maybe four worship leaders leading that particular service.

I know I think you were one of them.

Maybe Rufus Campbell, maybe um Byron was there for sure.

I'm not sure who else.

Okay, Bruce.

All right, and um and I had never seen anything like it.

And this was um this was when a lot of churches were s were still doing uh hymns and traditional worship, and the vineyard was really the leader, and uh in that movement where it changed over to where now it's just common today that you go into any church and you hear contemporary worship.

But uh I think um if you if if you were going to church at that point and you remember this transition, any church you went to, you were singing vineyard worship songs in in the early 90s and and uh man we were singing them.

It was uh it was a bad thing.

Sing them all the time.

Do you remember uh that time in there was a there were a lot of people going to to the church at that time.

Um do you remember anything about that?

I mean that was like that was in the era when you had to you had to set everything up, break everything down.

Yeah.

It was a it was a whole army of people.

It was a whole lot of work.

Yeah.

A whole lot of work.

But um I I remember we were meeting at we first met at best luck, and then we moved to the Y and we bought the biggest U-Haul you could get, decked it all out with like racks for chairs and Sunday school stuff, and um at one point we were having two services.

Well, we had to be out of the Y at noon.

So we'd set up, we'd tear down, we'd set up, we'd tear down.

We had the most faithful and amazing people that never had to ask them twice.

They were always there, committed to the hilt.

Yeah.

So yeah, I I remember that quite fondly, you know.

Um, it was and Don Wilson, bless his heart, and middle wheel.

He'd be there without his shoes on.

Yeah, and um oh, it was wonderful.

Alan, Deb, all these folks here, they uh God was just uh He just supplied everything we needed.

Yeah.

So it was great.

What a beautiful time.

You just didn't know what was gonna happen.

No things.

Uh uh and we were at the Y, so we had Sunday school in the locker rooms.

We had the we had our prayer meeting before church up in the weight room.

We'd have uh we'd have prayer in the racquetball rooms, and when the demons came out, you could hear it all the way to Chicago.

Because it just echoed, everything echoed.

And um, those are some of my early memories of meeting at the Y.

Yeah.

Uh it was just glorious.

Yeah.

It was great.

And um we had uh, you know, I I think uh, you know, you're talking about the just being blessed with all the worship leaders here.

It started that way.

We had we had so many worship leaders that uh, you know, there it was just wonderful, and everybody brought their own gifting, uh their own mix to the to the team, and it it was wonderful.

It was wonderful.

Yeah.

I've been working with the arts here for 25 years or so.

And uh I trace that back to the beginning when it was artists who founded musicians who founded the vineyard.

In fact, um the the house that you guys lived in on Evanston Avenue, I'm I'm half a block away from there.

I live half a block away from there on Broadburb Park.

Yeah um but uh one of the first people that the actually the first person probably that I officially met and who spoke a word and prayed over me was Jeff Stoner at that.

I don't know if you remember that.

He was always doing that kind of stuff.

Yeah.

Still doing that kind of stuff.

Went up.

I think it may have been like the first uh prophetic word that I maybe that I'd ever gotten.

And I went up and there's Jeff Stoner just like boom.

It was uh the whole experience was just um was just amazing.

Yeah, yeah.

But um good stuff.

Yeah, it was it was really yeah.

And then um, and and as far as the as the music part is can of the is concerned, um how that's carried through and really been a part of the stream of the vineyard.

I mean, the vineyard was was planted in music and with with music, and it comes out the song is at the heart of the vineyard, I heard Caleb Maskell say recently.

And um we've carried that.

I mean we have we've had a number of songwriters in this congregation too.

Um David Rays, we used to sing, he was one of our worship leaders for a long time.

Dave, will you stand up for just a second?

He wrote this sweet song, I think it was called In the Kingdom, is that right?

We used to sing that all the time, and uh I should have brought that up and tried to bring that out.

Maybe we'll do that here in the future.

Um and uh in Nancy's song, which is such a beautiful, such a beautiful song.

Um Nate is a songwriter, Kara's a songwriter, and over the years we've had Stephen Petasik, you know, who's written so many songs.

Um and it just it just keeps going.

Yeah, and I think for me, I think uh One of the reasons God has worship for us is there's healing in it.

I mean you can just sit and worship and you're being healed and you don't even know what from.

All you know is when when it's over, you're different.

You know, you're healed, and uh that to me is priceless.

You you can't get that anywhere else.

You know, and um uh I just remember uh and I still do, we still do worship uh and uh just uh how God moves and gives words and heals and brings you know heals from trauma, all kinds of things.

And uh it just it can't come any other way.

Can't come any other way through worship.

Do you do you remember any particular stories?

That the carpal tunnel story is is classic.

Yeah, it is classic.

And uh I always loved to hear that, you know.

It was before we were actually a church.

Oh yeah, we and we met at Dan's house.

He was uh living with his girlfriend, had a baby, they got married, but we had four smoking breaks because everybody smoked.

There was all his friends from the factory.

It was wonderful, it was great, you know?

We loved it.

Um, but I I do remember um stories.

I remember um one of the uh some of you will probably remember Freddie Cruy.

Um anyway, Freddie had a uh a word from God or a vision.

Jax had one.

Freddie got a street name, O L N Y.

Weird name, right?

Jax got a picture of a house detail, color, door, porch, everything.

Didn't know where it was.

So they just started going up and down.

It was down at Woodruff Place or somewhere around that area.

And we we went to uh what was the name of that store?

Cub Foods, Cub Foods.

We got like four or five bags of groceries, stuck them in our vac our um station wagon, and Freddie and Jax just drove up and down the streets looking for the street, looking for the house, and they found it.

And they they went up to the door and they said they knocked on the door and uh said, Hey, is anybody in here any groceries?

Blah blah blah.

And um this guy said, We were just sitting at our table wondering where our next meal was gonna come from.

So God was doing that all the time.

All the time, all the time, and uh you just you couldn't help but worship, you couldn't help but give thanks, you know.

Um, and Jackson would always say, you know, worship is the only thing God gets out of this.

Um, and uh it's true, you know.

Um so I remember one time we had um a New Year's Eve service, and we had um Bruce Wirts was the of I'm almost 75 and I've met a lot of worship leaders.

I've met a lot of people who write songs.

I have never met someone who was a modern-day psalmist like him.

That guy was just oh, he he was just a gift, and um we would worship literally every time we met.

I don't care if it was passing out groceries, if it was just a meeting where we were trying to figure out, you know, where to put people or how to change the volleyball, whatever, didn't matter.

We always worshiped, and um it was the heartbeat of the church.

And uh one New Year's Eve we had um some of you will remember this.

Um remember the movie Family Ties?

Okay, well, Michael Gross was in town doing a Shakespeare.

How many of you remember that?

Okay, um, and he was doing some Shakespeare play, you know, somewhere here in Indianapolis.

And he came to our church.

So he he would come and um it was great, and then we had a New Year's Eve service, and he was there, and the worship team was playing and people were dancing, then all of a sudden I remember it this way.

I don't know if some of you do, but I do.

They it got kind of quiet and we could hear the angels.

We heard angels, and it was just unbelievable, unbelievable.

Eddie Prathers back there.

Hey buddy, love that man.

Um Eddie's another uh musician who was with us.

So we just we had music coming out of our ears, and it was great.

It was great.

Um so anyway, those are I think our ministry to the poor was the thing that uh God blessed uh and birthed this, you know, you're the I don't know how many iterations of it, but it was the ministry to the poor.

We did it every week, uh, took our kids with us.

Uh I remember one time we went to this Jax had developed a relationship with a a guy named Bobby.

Bobby had cigarette holes in his arms from that's how he made money.

He'd bet people that he could put a cigarette out on his arm, and um, but nobody knew he couldn't feel anything.

He was like it was paralyzed, he couldn't really feel it.

Didn't matter.

And one day they were uh going uh up to his porch and he had had some heart problems and uh the Lord told Jax to hit him in his chest.

Yeah, exactly, exactly.

I'm thinking, don't you dare hit him in the chest.

And um, so Jax didn't right away, and the Lord said, Hit him in his chest.

So he hit him in his chest, and Bobby fell over, flopping on the ground, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum.

And Jack's, I'm thinking, oh God, you killed him, and Jack said, I think I killed him, I think I killed him.

And he was healed.

He was healed.

So God does all kinds of crazy things that you know, we just have to take the risk, step into it, and watch God move.

You know, without the risk, not much happens.

It'll happen, but it'll be on us and not God.

So that and that um ministry to uh the feeding ministry went on for years.

Oh yeah.

And um we st we still do a uh food pantry.

And um Gregory Whitaker was one of the guys who did the the food ministry years later in the 90s.

Um and then uh Merlin got involved in that too, and that had something to do with Faith, Hope, and Love, which is now a citywide and regional movement.

Um for Merlin Gonzalez is involved in too.

Um but you I've heard that the vineyard was this vineyard was possibly the second one planted east of the Mississippi.

It was the third.

The third.

You're close.

Randy Clark's church was before or um Steve and Janie were in Cincinnati, okay.

Uh Shogun's.

Okay.

And Todd and Debbie Wheeler.

Okay.

Todd and Debbie Hunter were in Wheeling, West Virginia.

Yeah.

And then us.

We were the third one.

Yeah.

Can you can you can you tell us a little bit about um how what it was like for you as a young couple to come out here and make this decision coming from where you came and and do this?

Just we don't have a whole lot of time, but briefly.

Oh gosh, how do I start?

Um well, first when Jack said, uh I believe God's calling us to Indianapolis, I said, Well, you'll miss me.

Um so I wasn't on board right away.

Um uh and so uh we did come.

We were faithful, ever so begrudgingly.

Um it was difficult.

Uh I had never, I mean, we went to uh school, he went to school in Massachusetts, but other than that, I was from California.

Sure.

And I couldn't imagine having snow.

It's not Indiana, it's not Indiana.

Um so it was rough.

We had Luke was two years old when I we moved here.

I was eight months pregnant with Megan.

I remember it was uh in January, and we moved to these little apartments up in Zionsville, and uh I remember meeting.

We had come back because uh some folks had from a Christian church had gone to a Wimber conference, and they just got all excited.

They just wanted to become a vineyard, didn't have a clue what we were, but they loved the worship, they loved the healing.

Yeah, so we came back and they had already split twice.

Second time was over whether you could raise your hands in church or not.

We should have known right there that this was probably not a good match, but um anyway, I won't go into the story, but that didn't pan out, and then um, you know, we we decided to uh be obedient to what God wanted.

They wanted me to uh do hymns, and uh the only hymn I knew was Amazing Grace.

I said, Yeah, I don't do hymns, yeah, not what God's called me to do.

And that's all it wrote.

They had third church split and we were out the door.

So we started all over and we were we tried to be faithful with what God had called us to do and to be, and uh so it was tough.

Now Jax is from Chicago, yeah, so it was no big jump for him, sure, you know.

Um but it was God brought you know, people like Al and Deb Kinsey and the Stoners and the Regers and just a bunch of just the finest.

Yeah.

And I remember we met at best luck, and uh Al came on as Harley, and Deb Deb was on the back, they came in the door, and Al had this huge Foo Man shoe, yeah, muscle shirt, Debbie came with a patch on her eye.

Jenny Carpenter or Hanley was there, and I I remember thinking I was leading worship and I'm thinking, oh God, they're gonna pull a knife out and chop us all to bed.

And um then Al becomes our children's pastor, you know.

So what are you gonna do?

God uses all of us, you know, the broken of the world.

Yeah, and uh so eventually, you know, it grew on me, and and I've come to love this place and uh the people that God's brought in our lives.

So yeah, yeah.

I'm gonna ask you one more question before um, but we're also there's uh we're doing a conference coming up um that fits in with the worship and the um the beautiful worship and the history that we have here.

We've invited Vineyard Worship to come.

It's a it's called the Creative Compassion Conference, okay, and we're exploring um how you can respond compassionately using worship and the arts and all that all that kind of stuff.

But Vineyard Worship National is gonna come and do a whole workshop track.

And it's we're really talking about the the future of Vineyard Worship um to for them because they've decided that they want to get back to the basics of hosting God's presence.

Amen.

Amen.

And and they're not gonna try to be um Bethel or Hill Song any anymore.

They still have a label, but um there and we've been experimenting with live lament here at our at our church, and we're gonna be doing that during the conference, and Vineyard Worship Worship is very excited about doing that.

So we get to be a part of what you planted here, gets to be a part of the future of what's gonna be happening with vineyard worship.

We'll be inviting um worship leaders from all over the area.

But the question I want to ask you, do you have any, speaking of the future, do you have any any thoughts or words for our particular church that you feel like God's been um you know, you it's so the heart that you that you guys had that you brought here to serve and to lead people into worship in God's presence, um, and just be open.

You were just open to anything, you know, whatever whether you're gonna kill guys or not.

You're just gonna do it.

Yeah, yeah.

Do you do you have as we I mean, as we're at this key 40th anniversary, and we're go we're not we're not quitting, you know, we're we're growing, and there are new things happening here.

We have a new senior pastor, we have uh a younger generation that's coming in, um, all kinds of new things, and you can feel it happening here.

What would you say to us?

Well, I have I have been praying because I got a text from uh Adam and he asked me that if I had a word for as you go forward.

And um it doesn't sound like much, but it's pretty power-packed.

I'm gonna unpack it a little bit.

Um he said hold on to your plans loosely, hold on to God's word tightly, seek God for discerning the difference.

I don't know how that hits you, but that's what he gave me.

And um I think uh if I know anything about God at all, he nothing will stop what he's doing here.

Nothing.

I don't care what if you're seeking God with all your heart and worship and the word and doing the stuff, God is gonna have his way.

You may not like it.

One thing I I will share is when we were planting uh the church, we were into it, I don't know, what a couple years or so, and it was time to start splitting up our kinships.

And nobody wants to split a kinship because you like all those people.

You know, they bring good food and you're you're comfortable, and you know, it's hard to split a kinship.

It is.

And uh uh Jeff, I think, said, Well, where are we gonna be in five years?

And Deb Kinsey had a word from the Lord.

I'm gonna read it because I didn't believe it, but it was true.

Um it said, uh the Lord said to her, and she told us, You're not gonna like it.

You're not gonna like it at all.

And I almost said, Well, then don't share it if I'm not gonna like it.

And um, but she said, Um, that God said we would be scattered and we would not like what it looked like.

And that's exactly what happened.

And and uh, you know, the vision that Jax had, you can read it in the bulletin thing or that little book, uh, was he had he saw a vision of shafts of light, four shafts of light, just before we came here.

And out of those shafts of light came sparklers that hit all over the city.

And um, I was told when I got here that Indianapolis has more vineyards per capita than any place in the United States.

And then there are other churches that are non-vineyard that have taken our DNA and can trace it back to uh the DNA of the vineyard when we came.

So nothing, absolutely nothing is gonna stop what God's doing if you're seeking Him.

And that was the emphasis of the word I got was the to hold your plans.

You have to have plans.

God God gave us a brain, some more than others, but we're to we are to plan, but we're to hold it loosely and then to hold on to God's word tightly and seek Him for the discerning the difference.

And um so that's my word, and to uh uh I think uh what happens out in the street is what enables you to have it happen in here.

It's not the other way around.

It doesn't happen in here and then go to the street.

I mean it can, but the power is in the streets.

And whimberg used to always say the meat is in the street.

And um we really tried to live that out, and I think that's one of the reasons um or the avenues that God blessed us with worship the way it was, because we did it everywhere we went, every time we met, we worshiped.

And um it was it was glorious.

It was a great time, great time.

I've I've been told a number of times over the times over the years that the things that we've been through as this congregation, that this shirk church probably should have ended, you know, it would have been killed, you know, had God not been with it a number of times.

And so God's faithfulness that we're just sitting here and that we're thriving, and that you're here with us today.

And I'm still alive.

You're still alive?

There there's a miracle right there.

Yeah, yeah.

Do we uh Adam, are we gonna pray a blessing over here?

And do we have a time that we're gonna do that?

Can we do that now?

Okay.

Can I um ask some of the oldie moldies to come up that were part of some of the old E Moldys?

Old E Moldis.

Do they need help?

My kids.

Any of the oldie moldies need help getting up.

Anyone that's that was with us, uh Patty King, oh my god.

Regers, come on.

I gotta get down.

You know, knowing this group, everybody's gonna want to pray something.

Something so yeah.

Yeah.

Here, I'll hold that.

So uh oh, Jeff Stoner has a microphone.

Yeah, I know.

My phone's also Okay, so so since we we have all these people up here who are prophetic and wonderful and beautiful, and it's been so we're we're gonna as at r at request of our leadership, we're just gonna do one prayer.

I'm gonna leave the prayer.

Um and anybody who wants to pray afterwards, um there's gonna be tears here.

Okay.

I'm sorry, this was kind of unannounced.

I I know, I'm sorry.

But I never was really traditional, so yeah, it's happening, it's coming back on you.

Okay.

Holy Spirit, come.

We just we just thank you for your grace on this place.

We thank you for this this woman and her family and her husband who heard your voice and obeyed and came.

Thank you, Lord.

We just bless her right now in the name of Jesus.

We thank you for uh all her years of productivity here, just just uh working so hard to uh for the vision of this place and the vision that you had for Indianapolis.

We just thank you that you bless her with health and healing.

We just pray peace on her body and every part of all of her relationships right now, peace in her family.

Lord, we thank you that she just that she just feels a sense of the blessing that you've given to this place of unity and of persistence and of truth right now, Lord.

We just bless her in the name of Jesus.

All of the faith that's up here and all of the the wise words that would want to come out.

We just thank you that your Holy Spirit just uh just hits her with that right now, the the truth of all that that's unspoken, that's just rising up right now.

We just bless her and we are so thankful for her.

And we thank you for your grace in bringing her and her family here.

Encourage her right now, Lord.

I'd like to pray for Adam.

Okay, you want to pray for Adam?

I do.

Oh, thank you.

I can't do that anymore.

Uh Father.

We are so grateful.

Lord, there is nothing better than to sit at your feet, to look into your face and have your eyes looking back at us.

Lord, I say well done to this man and all the team that he's put around himself, that you've brought to him, to everyone sitting in the chairs.

Lord, I ask right now that the Holy Spirit would come and just fill this place with power and might.

Father, give Adam everything he will need to lead your people in wisdom and in grace and in compassion.

Father, let let it go out into the streets of Indianapolis, Father.

Lord, we ask that your spirit would cover this place, Father, with salvation and healing and hope.

Let hope arise.

Even in here, I just sense that there's a uh people here that are right on the verge of hopelessness.

And Lord, we just say no to that.

That is not our God, that is not our Savior.

Lord, breathe hope, vision, commitment, worship.

Father, I thank you for this man who stepped up and said yes, said yes to you.

Would you honor him and bless him, Lord, and all those that he has around him?

Let this body be one of harmony.

Let it be one of grace.

Love.

Let it be the light on a hill.

Thank you, Father.

Thank you, Lord.

Bless you, Adam.

Your family.

And Father, whatever we have, uh, Lord, we ask that you would multiply that.

Multiply it, Lord.

Oh, Lord, I can't think of anything more glorious.

But Lord, you have more.

You have more for this church.

So I ask that you would let it go.

Just let it come.

Let it flow, Lord.

Father.

Thank you.

I feel like the Lord just gave me a uh just gave me a word for you specifically and just said, remind Adam that nothing matters more than abiding with me.

In the world of pastors have to be CEOs and influencers, all the things that have nothing to do with the kingdom of God.

The Spirit wants to just remind you that to abide with Him is your call.

He will take care of the church, He will lead His church.

But your call as a son of Him.

Take off the role of the pastor for a minute.

But your role is to abide with Him.

So, Father, we bless that abiding.

We offer a blessing for His family, as just for the key leaders that you have brought along.

Lord, everybody on this stage gave their life, not for a person, but for you.

And some things went well and some things didn't, and you were sovereign in all of it.

So Father, we just pray over this team that you would teach them to abide in you, to be on their faces before you, to be centered on Jesus.

So Father, we bless what you've started and are doing and will still be doing long before anybody in this room is gone.

So we bless you, Adam, to just abide with Jesus.

Amen.

I've got a word of knowledge for the children's ministry.

We're gonna go long.

I just sensed it, it just came to me like that.

All right, after the dance party up here.

Only take me three hours and thirty minutes.

Um twenty-five years ago, uh Sean Tianhara, which who is there.

Okay, I'll say more things about you, so don't so watch out.

Handed the leadership of this church to me 25 years ago on this stage.

And um the first message that I gave here as the senior pastor was from Exodus 15, 13, where it says, Um, in your unfailing love, you will lead the people you've redeemed, in your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.

I said that we would have to trust in the loving leadership of God and the strength and guidance of God so that we could remain in the presence of God.

And the message hasn't changed.

And I really feel like everyone through, from uh Jax to some guy named Randy Emilo, who I've never met, uh, and Sean, and to this ministry and to Adam, that that is our abiding principle, that it's the loving leadership of God, it's the strength and power of his guidance, and it's the presence of God that marks us as a church, and I believe always has marked us as a church.

Through Bill and Betsy and lots of servant leaders, this leadership and this guidance has been shown.

And so, having heard those stories and heard probably a lot of stories about you guys, mostly good, I just I just want to bless you.

I just want to say thank you, and I want to say today we honor you.

We honor you for what you've done and how you've followed the Lord and how you've allowed the Lord to bless you and bless people through you.

Some years ago I was leading a small group, by small I mean two people, uh Robbie Hunt, now Radicella, and Jeff Stoner, and I was trying to disciple them, I think, or something.

I was trying to teach them, but I couldn't get like more than five words out in any meeting before one of them would say, Well, Jax used to say, Well, when Jax was here, and so finally one week I said to them, Okay, just for a minute here, we're going to ban the name Jax.

Just not gonna say it, okay?

It didn't work.

Why didn't it work?

Because they were formed under the ministry of Bill and Betsy Jackson.

They were formed here, and you don't get her, you don't get rid of formation quickly, right?

It's deep within, and so it would come out over and over and over again.

So praise God for the faithfulness of the early vineyard.

Forty years ago, 1986, when some of you were boldly trusting God to do this, Jane and I had been married for about three seconds.

And a friend of ours named Rusty, people here have heard a lot about Rusty, he's my uh magical friend.

A friend named Rusty said, Hey, you ought to come to this seminar.

Uh, it's by a guy named Steve Shogren, and he's gonna talk about healing.

And I was Presbyterian at the time.

I'm like, okay, we walked in.

I don't remember anything at all about the message.

Nothing, zero.

I remember the music.

I remember two songs.

The first song was More Love, More Power.

The second song was I Believe in Jesus.

And uh all I remember is that first song I thought was heretical.

I mean, more love, more power.

I'm a Presbyterian.

You've been given all you're gonna get.

Decently and in order, that's it.

It's presumptuous to ask for more, you know.

I really felt that way.

But the second one, you know, I believe he is here now, standing in our midst, just scared me.

It just literally scared me.

Because in my Presbyterian uh narrative of the holiness of God, I thought, if Jesus shows up, we're just in trouble.

This is gonna be bad.

And I was scared into 40 years of being in the vineyard.

We saw a lot of God's love and power in our own ministry for me and Jane in the next couple of years, and we were overseas for a while.

We came back to the U.S.

to go to seminary in uh Chicago, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

And that same friend, the famous Rusty, says, you know what, when you go there, you gotta go to the Evanston Vineyard.

You gotta go to the Evanston Vineyard.

And so um we got to school.

Jane was pregnant with our first child.

We got to seminary 1990, and the first Sunday, we dutifully, whatever Rusty says we do, so we dutifully went to the Evanston Vineyard.

And I just I'll never forget I'm standing somewhere in the high school uh or in the national college, and this guy takes the first strum of his guitar in worship.

I just started to cry.

And as in true typical vineyard fashion, I cried for six months.

Every time I walked in, I just cry because God was healing, right?

Betsy, God was just healing some of the stuff that had gone on in me.

Our time at the Evanston Vineyard and in our relationship with Jan and Sean, I gotta say this.

We were we'd gone to the vineyard that first Sunday.

We didn't know anybody at all.

Um, the very next week, um, Sean and Jan Tianhara knock on our apartment door, seminary housing, with a loaf of bread.

They're like, here's a loaf of bread, and we're like, whoop de-doo.

They said, No, we're from the vineyard.

We're from the vineyard.

We just wanted to welcome you to the seminary.

And that relationship for the next four years, we cared for each other in seminary.

And that time in Evanston, those four years were formative.

Bill and Cheryl Hanowalt, right here, raise your hands, be seen, led the very first small group, vineyard small group that Jane and I had ever been in in Jan and Sean's apartment.

And I just want to, I just want to honor you guys, Bill and Cheryl, because your 50 years of ministry.

50 years of ministry in Evanston has had such an impact on this church.

Formative for me and Jane.

By the way, Bill and Cheryl are now in our small group.

Full circle.

There have been four senior pastors of this church.

The last three came through the Evanston Vineyard.

It has had such an impact, and I just want to thank you guys for what you've done there.

In 1994, God called the T and Harris to Indianapolis, and Jane and I went off to uh Istanbul to convert the entire Middle East.

I just want to say that their next seven years was more productive than our next seven years.

So while we were slogging through the spiritual wasteland in western Pennsylvania after eight tortuous months in Istanbul, Jan and Sean were here, faithfully leading the church.

And we'd hear these stories.

We'd hear about prophetic encounters, we would hear about healings, external healings, inner healings.

We heard about ministry to the poor.

We heard about fellowship.

We heard about small groups.

We heard about energy that was happening here and knew that God was doing the same thing.

In his love, he was leading the people he'd redeemed.

And in his strength, he was guiding the people to his holy dwelling, his very presence.

And I want to just say, Jan and Sean, thank you.

We thank you and we honor you today.

The impact you've had on our lives, I don't think you have any idea.

And I just want to say thank you.

After six years in the desert, um, Sean asked me to become the come here as the associate pastor.

Um the first time I said no, and then the second time I said no.

And then the Lord spoke to me, and God called us because of his loving leadership and his strong guidance to be here in Indianapolis.

And after five years on staff, Sean handed the leadership of the church to me.

And I read that verse: God, your loving leadership and you're strong in your strength.

You'll uh guide us to your holy dwelling.

And so the love of God and the power of God and the presence of God became the mission statement of this church to encounter in his presence the love and the power of God and then give it away to the world.

It started at the beginning and we're still carrying it.

And Adam and Carrie will do the same thing.

For 10 years, with lots of great staff people, elders, and leaders in this church, God continued to lead with his love and guide with his strength.

And it's very risky to mention a name because I'll miss many names, but I wanted to say to Steve and Lori Orender.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We honor you today because you served me and Jane and this church and this body and therefore the city very, very faithfully.

And you do it, you do it now.

And I could tell story after story about our loving talks and Steve's some of our other ones.

And I want to thank you.

Seven years ago, God did me in this church a singular favor.

I called, guess who?

My friend Rusty.

I'm right there back of the sanctuary, and I said, This is exact quote.

Rusty, you don't happen to have a spare executive pastor floating around, do you?

He says, as a matter of fact, I think I do.

The next week I talked to Adam, and within months, Adam was here on staff.

And I just want to say, Adam, I don't the faithfulness and the friendship and the honor that you've shown to me in these last seven years.

You can't imagine the sigh of relief, literal sigh of relief, joy of the Holy Spirit, strengthening in my spirit when you guys walked in.

It's just such a blessing.

And so Adam and wherever Carrie is probably taking care of squirrely kids after two hours.

I just want to say thank you and honor you.

And I I am so happy that five months or so ago on this stage, I was able to give leadership to you.

And I cannot wait to see the kingdom growth and the honor and the love and the power of God and the presence of God that's going to be that's going to happen in and through this place.

The major constant in this vineyard church, in my experience, has been the presence of God.

And the presence of God and worship go together, right?

When the tangible presence of God is here, what you what can you do but worship?

And the more you worship, the Lord just comes and honors us with his presence in tangible ways.

I mean, it's a pretty good symbiotic relationship, and we long for it, and God's given it, and I think we're following him.

So, God, I just want to thank you, and I want to honor you, and we do so, God, with our lives.

There may be some here this morning that you sense that you're in a greater need today of the loving leadership of God in your life, of the strong guidance of God in your life, or a deeper awareness of God's presence in your life.

I just want to say it's it's all here.

It's all here.

You are now the ministry team, all of you.

So as we celebrate, and Adam comes to share, and we celebrate over these next uh hour or two or three, I just want you to bless one another, to pray for one another, and to release the love and the power of God so that the presence of God can continue to remain the healing force of this place.

So I bless you all and I thank you.

Amen.

All right, I'm gonna do one thing and then we're going into ministry time because we're the vineyard and it's what we do, and because God is present and he's gonna move.

All right.

Uh you know, we've talked about different key times um throughout this church.

And whenever there's a church plant, the first two years are vital.

Whether or not a church is gonna last is really those first two years.

So if you join the vineyard, this vineyard from September of 86 through 88, September of 88, please stand up and be be celebrated, be honored.

So thank you.

Thank you so much.

You can be you can be seated because now if you came, if you started coming to the vineyard when Jax was pastor, stand up.

I know you you just sat down.

It's church calisthenics.

Yeah.

Thank you.

You can you can be seated.

Randy mentioned Randy Emelo.

Did anybody start attending during well Randy, it was brief, but just curious if anybody.

Randy Emilo.

All right, Lana, all right, awesome.

All right.

If you started attending the vineyard when Sean and Jan were leading, please stand up.

Sean and Jan, stand up.

Amazing, awesome.

You can be seated.

And then if you started attending when Randy and Jane were leading, please stand up.

Amazing.

God's faithfulness throughout the whole time.

Um, has anybody started attending since May?

May of this year.

All right.

I want to cast vision for the next 40 years.

No, I'm not really gonna do that.

All right, that's low, it's low-hanging fruit.

No, what I want to do is I do really want to look to the future.

Because that's one of the things about the vineyard.

When we go back to Mother's Day 1980, and Lonnie Frisbee at the vineyard speaking, and he blessed those 25 and younger.

And it and and the power of God broke out, the spirit was touching people.

Because, you know, we we have amazing stories, and those really do encourage us and they fuel faith for the future.

But for me, one of the saddest verses in the Bible is Judges 2.10, talking about after you know the Exodus generation, and then they plant or they they inhabit the promised land.

It says, moreover, that whole generation, Joshua and all those with him, was gathered to their ancestors, and another generation grew up after them who did not know the Lord or the work that the Lord had done for Israel.

And so here's what we're gonna do.

If you are 40 or younger, we're gonna bless your socks off this morning.

Okay.

So, parents, right now, go get your kids.

Okay?

Seriously, go get your kids, and you're gonna bring them back in and we're gonna bless them.

And if you were here when Jax was pastor, I want you to come up.

You're you're the first ministry team.

Come on up, Hanwaltz, Jacqueline, Randy and Jane, come on up.

You all are gonna be the ministry team down here as as uh people 40 and younger come in, and we're gonna just worship during this time.

All right, and if so, again, if you are 40 years old or younger, everybody who's up here is gonna is gonna bless you.

We we bless you all.

We bless you, we thank you for your faithfulness, thank you for what you've done.

And we're gonna just start blessing the the next generation.

So if you are 40 years or younger, stand up.

Stand up, 40 years or younger, stand up, come on up, start, start getting blessed.

And the kids will come in, and so you all are on the ministry team.

So why don't we have you all stand down here?

So just come on down, come on down, and and if there's a younger person in front of you, just bless them.