Greatest Love Story Ever Told

Can I tell you about the greatest love story ever told. We all love a good love story! This story is not about me. Instead, this story is about God and his endless pursuit of you and of me.

I am thankful for a billboard at the corner of Route 161 and Cleveland Ave in northeast Columbus, Ohio, that in 1998 pointed me to Vineyard Columbus! Let me explain.

I had just moved to Columbus to be CFO at one of the country’s largest egg farms. I was staying at an extended stay hotel near the aforementioned intersection until my family could move there later in the year. Every day I drove by that billboard on the way to and from work. For some reason it intrigued me. In my first month in Columbus, I visited a number of churches, but none really connected with me. I had never heard of the Vineyard Church, at least I didn’t think I had.

Just a few months earlier, back in Millersville, one Sunday morning at church, the worship leader that day sat at his keyboard and sang “Refiner’s Fire.” In his words: “this is a song by a new group in California called Vineyard.” I thought, appropriate name for a band from Cali. Little did I know then that I would soon find out Vineyard was a church movement and not just a band. The song really resonated with me. In fact, for some strange reason, tears began to stream down my cheek. Oh my, I thought, hopefully nobody noticed. Even though I did not know it that day, our lives were about to change. That song would play a big part in changing our path.

Now back to Columbus. One day God prompted me to call the phone number on the billboard. I had all my excuses ready as to why I couldn’t visit that church. It is probably all the way across town and I would not know how to get there, being so unfamiliar with Columbus. And besides, what kind of church advertises on a billboard anyway? None I ever encountered. You can imagine my surprise when the person on the other end of the phone told me the Vineyard church was less than one mile away.

Reluctantly (very reluctantly) I attended that Sunday and the minute I walked into the building on Cooper Road I knew this wasn’t like any church I had ever been in. The person who greeted me at the door was wearing shorts and flip flops. Seats not pews. A worship band. I thought to myself, where is the organ and choir loft? The associate pastor who welcomed me at beginning of service had a ponytail. The senior pastor did not look like the “reverend-kind” I was accustomed to. And his style, nothing I had experienced before.

The first song in the worship set was “Arms of Love,” during which God spoke to me. I can honestly say I believe this was the first encounter of that kind I can remember ever having. This song holds a very special place in my heart to this day! And the second song, much to my surprise, you guessed it, that same “Refiner’s Fire” I had heard a few months earlier. Imagine my revelation when I suddenly realized this Vineyard is that Vineyard! Oh my! All of a sudden, I felt my heart, in the words of John Wesley, strangely warmed! And just like the first time I heard this song, I again found myself with tears streaming down my face, still not having any clue as to why.

While then I did not have the vocabulary to know what was happening and despite my best defenses, that day God grabbed hold of me and did something in me that I had never experienced. He was putting a new song in my heart, both literally and figuratively.

After the service, and after filling my belly with a few too many Skyline Chili cheese coneys, I rushed back to my room to call my wife, excited to hear her voice and tell her, “Let me tell you about this crazy church I visited today!”

Well, here we are more than twenty-five years later and this Vineyard thing, we have come to call it home. And never in my wildest dreams, and I do have an active imagination, would I have on that day ever imagined moving to New Bern, North Carolina, in 2011, to plant a church. One we have since closed. The sadness is still in my soul, but I know it is all part of the beautiful tapestry God is weaving in, with, and through my life.

One last thing, on my second or third visit to that Vineyard Church in Columbus, I was introduced to their two-year ministry program. Hmm? Nine months later, I stepped into a classroom with knees shaking. We did worship before each class, and on that first night, the first song, you guessed it, “Refiner’s Fire.” I just cannot make this stuff up.

As a kid, I dreamed of being many things when I grew up, but I can honestly say, pastor never made any of those lists.

How we eventually got to New Bern is a story all unto itself, for another day. I will just say now it was part of the same dream in 1998 in which God prompted us to move to Columbus. It involved a simple park bench overlooking a river. A park bench that did not even exist in 1998.

God’s story of pursuing each of us is the greatest love story ever told. Motivated by unexplainable love, God was pursuing me even when I wasn’t too interested in being pursued. He is still pursuing me. He is pursuing you as well! Are you responding?

If you are encouraged by this or any of my writings, you can subscribe to be notified by email when I post something new. To subscribe, click here. Once you put in your email address you will then get an email confirming that you wish to subscribe. Thank you.