Vineyard Experience

Today church was very worshipful, God was glorified! Overall we had a good experience at Milan Vineyard church today, we only had a slight disappointment.

We weren't welcomed as warmly as we had hoped. That is one think my church is big on, meeting new people, introducing ourselves and making people feel welcome. I was disappointed in that aspect of the visit, but it was the only disappointment. One man did introduce himself and then after the service one woman came over who had remembered seeing us at Northbrook when she visited there a few months ago. We had some conversation with these people and that helped take off some of the edge of the disappointment when we were not being warmly greeted when we arrived.

The service focused on worship. Katie LOVES THAT! There was much freedom in worship and hands were raised, waving and the youth enjoyed dancing to some choreographed steps in a couple of the tunes. The music was mostly Hillsong type stuff and I was introduced to a new song I hadn't heard before, liked it so much, that I came home, looked it up and purchased a CD. The song is The Revelation Song. I found the song online and downloaded it to listen to while I await my CD in the mail! Woohooo! I can't wait!

The message today was very good. The pastor talked about how "back in the day" the people would erect monuments and memorials to God and His mighty works. They would build holy temples. Today, however, our bodies are temples and we should "etch on our hearts" those God-moments we have. We should learn to remember those moments that God revealed Himself to us in new and personal ways. I really liked how he compared the old way of building monuments to how we should "etch our hearts".

He also spoke of Joshua being told numerous times to "be strong and courageous". The pastor encouraged us to "be strong and courageous" in our worship of the Lord. I really enjoyed the message and how it all tied into the worship of God today. The pastor also explained that in worship, it is important to be sincere, and that one should worship publicly just as they do in private. That is an important suggestion to heed! Sometimes people can get caught up "worshiping" for show, or to bring attention to themselves, yet at home their worship would be different because no one is around to watch. Also, sometimes people can really get fired up at home, yet stifle the Spirit when in public. It is a good guideline to remember that we should worship the same in public as we do in private.

At the end of the service, we sang The Revelation Song again, and people were encouraged to "be strong and courageous" in their worship of God in whatever way they felt led. It was powerful and moving. Many bowed to pray, some laid prostrate before the Lord, others sat quietly in prayer, many hands were raised and eyes were closed focusing on Him. It was a neat experience, to see the Spirit alive and active at Vineyard today.

I did enjoy the visit to Vineyard today, but I must say I'm a bit reluctant about the church because of the tie ins I know Vineyard has with the word of faith movement and other questionable "practices". I didn't witness anything non-biblical at church today, but I was just visiting, and worshiping the Lord under a different roof! He was pleased I'm sure!