When God calls, God also provides. Here’s how you can join us in this adventure.
UPDATE: We have already raised 94% of our total goal. Can you help us finish?
Wherever God has called us, we have been provided for. And God has used many of you to do it! And we have been so blessed all throughout.
Give through Vineyard North
(secure, anonymous, and tax deductible).
When I (Geoff) came on staff at Life on the Vine, God provided a great house for our small family – the church parsonage. This house has been a steady place of blessing for us these last 15 years. And God has provided in many other ways: checks in the mail to cover dental bills, receiving extra money for a much need vacation, cars when we needed new ones, and so much more.
And now God is calling us to another church — a church in Grand Rapids, Michigan (the full story is below). And we know God is going to provide for us there too.
The provision we are seeking now is the gift of a house. We need a house big enough to host families and a bunch of youth as an essential part of our new ministry position – a house bigger than we could afford on our own.
Because we’ve been living in a parsonage for the last 15 years, we have never owned a house. Although this has been a huge blessing, it also means we never built up equity to put toward a house in Grand Rapids.
But God is already providing! We’ve already raised more than two-thirds of the money needed for a down payment large enough to keep our mortgage payments affordable. And we’re inviting you to partner with us to finish by AUGUST 26th.
Give through Vineyard North
(secure, anonymous, and tax deductible).
PARTNERING WITH GOD’S PROVISION
Praise God that $33,500 of $47,000 for a house is ALREADY RAISED!
Part of the money is coming from the savings God has provided to us. Part is coming directly from the church that called us, Vineyard North in Grand Rapids. And part is coming from extended friends and members from Vineyard North.
THAT LEAVES ONLY $13,500 LEFT TO RAISE!
For this last part we are turning to our friends and family in Chicago and beyond. We know and love you, and have received your friendship as gifts — through Life on the Vine Church, Classical Conversations, Christian Youth Theater, and beyond.
WOULD YOU CONSIDER PARTNERING WITH GOD TO PROVIDE THIS DOWN PAYMENT?
We would love any size donation!
To get to $13,500, we roughly need:
• 2 donations of $1000 or more ?
• 5 donations of $500 or more ?
• 20 donations of $200 or more ?
• 50 donations of $100 or more ?
If we raise more than $13,500, we will use the additional funds for furnishings, small repairs, and other expenses related to setting up a new home.
We need to raise this money by August 26. Please don’t wait if you can help.
Giving Options
If you want to give through Vineyard North then us this form, it is secure, anonymous, and tax deductible.
If you want to hear the entire story, here is Cyd with all the details (in the video and text below).
Give through Vineyard North
(secure, anonymous, and tax deductible).
(From the announcement given at Life on the Vine)
Here at Life on the Vine, we have always been a sending church as well as a staying church. We have sent out many, many people through church plants and beyond. And many of us have stayed. We have stayed here at Life on the Vine and continued life together here in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago even while we sent others out as gifts to continue ministry in other places.
This Sunday, Cyd and I announced that we are shifting from staying to sent. A congregation in Grand Rapids called “Vineyard North” reached out to us at the beginning of June and we have recently accepted their offer to be co-pastors of Youth and Family Ministry.
Here is a little bit more of the story.
Two years ago a church in Boston contacted Cyd and I about taking over for their retiring pastor. Nothing much came of it. But I didn’t realize that after 15 years of being bi-vocational (or really, multi-vocational) that it would be really great to just focus on one thing rather than being spread around a bunch of things. And Cyd and I realized just how much we would love to minister together again.
Then last summer Cyd and I started writing a book together during a sabbatical from Life on the Vine. It was a great time of working and being creative together. Again, the longing to minister together returned along with my longing to consolidate my ministry into one place.
Out of the blue, last December I received a surprising word from God. During a morning devotion, a thought leaped into my mind: “This time next year you won’t be at Life on the Vine.” My first reaction was to rebuke the thought as some sort of spiritual attack. I loved being at Life on the Vine and I hadn’t had any thoughts to make a change. But looking back, God was beginning to prepare us for this.
While God has slowly been drawing Cyd and I more fully into a Spirit-empowered ministry, this took a strong turn when Cyd attended a Vineyard training in giving and receiving words from God. This, in turn, led to the entire Holsclaw family attending a 3-day conference on healing and words from God as a part of evangelism—or rather, as a way of showing God’s love and power to a desperate world.
It was in this context of our family really leaning into a fuller life in the Spirit that I had a chance conversation with a student I had become friends with from Northern Seminary. We talked at length about how each of us were growing into a deep ministry in the Spirit when he dropped on me that they were looking to fill a pastoral position—but they weren’t having any luck finding anyone—and that maybe Cyd and I should consider it.
Well, that started a two-month process of testing and discerning God’s will for us. There were a string of amazing “only God could do that” moments as we connected with the leaders of Vineyard North, learned about the church culture there, and discerned with our boys about a possible move. All this big and little things, when threaded together, became an obvious leading to begin a new chapter in our lives.
Our whole family is very excited about where God is leading us. AND we are very sad to be leaving Life on the Vine. Both of our kids were born into this church. Our entire ministry experience has happened within the context of this church. For 15 years, we have raised our family in the church parsonage. We love all the people here and have always been amazed and honored by all that God had done in and through you all. We are going to miss you all greatly and will always cherish you all as a great to gift to us.
We’ll still be around until the end of August, moving on Labor Day weekend. There will be a party on Aug. 25 to send us out, and our last Sunday will be Aug. 26h (we hope you all can be there). We would also love some help loading up our stuff that next weekend (details will be on the way).
So if you missed us today, don’t worry! We’re still around for the rest of the month.
We love you all so much.
Geoff and Cyd (and Soren and Tennyson)