Christmas Gift Give-Away!

We've been talking a lot about God's heart for social justice lately and how directly our worship is tied to the attitude and generosity of our hearts. So, this year, instead of giving each other gifts at our Christmas party, we decided to put together gifts for those who really need them (shirts, pants, jackets, sweaters and toys). We teamed up with our friends Keith, Lacy and Tiffany to bless the kids of their neighborhood in urban Fresno, Santa Claus even showed up for the big gift give-away! Thank you to all who gave of themselves to bless others. Enjoy the pics!

Even Santa knows who the real Giver is!

Fall 2009 - A Glimmer of Hope o9pppppppppppp90i

Wow, is it Fall of 2009 already??

Well I wonder what this year will be like...maybe this is the year where I'll finally stop trying to be something and start learning how to just be someone. Maybe I'll start looking more at the wisdom children can understand and less of the wisdom only adults can grasp. Will this year be different? Who knows? Time will tell, you will look back and be able to see just perfectly how things went. The problem is not looking back though right? It's looking ahead that's the blurry and confusing part. But what if you saw the future as a new season, not an instant in time or a hurdle to be jumped, but a new season, a gradual start, the way the sun slowly rises in the morning to usher in a new day. Things don't have to be blurry and confusing, they can be filled with expectation and a new hope, maybe that's what faith is all about anyways... the hope that something beautiful is going to happen.

Well, I do hope you see things with a glimmer of hope this year and I hope that you can see and believe a little more like a child sees this year. Happy Fall of 2009!

Here's some recent pictures of us helping new freshman move into the dorms and meeting new friends at the annual FSU International Dinner. Enjoy!

One Day Retreat!!

So the UV Sunday Night group decided it would be a good thing to spend the day together, eat meals, flame blast 4 tri tips and almost burn the Siemen ranch down, worship, pray, talk, share stories, play cornhole, listen to some banjo, have a sand volleyball championship won by the DEMOLISHERS! and sit by a big bonfire under the stars at the end of the night.

Here's the proof it all really happened... join us next year for the One Day Retreat 09'

Vineyard Movement Video!!

This is really cool, it was created by the Vineyard Movement and has clips of all the original people who started Vineyard back in the 70's and 80's. Also has up to date stuff on what's currently happening in our movement worldwide. CHECK IT OUT!!!

http://vimeo.com/831650

A Bit About Who We Are

I can’t tell you how many times I have asked myself ‘what is church?’, how many times I have struggled with this thing that has been done for centuries. What is it really supposed to look like? What is it for? Why do we do it this way? Sound familiar???

Here at University Vineyard Sunday Nights we believe the church is primarily the family of God, not an organization or a business, but a living, breathing, hoping, growing, forgiving family in love with God. We aren’t trying to put on church for you here, we are simply being the church. We recognize that each one of us is on a journey to know God more deeply, so when we come together and each listen for what God is doing in our midst, some share songs, some share words, some share teachings, and as a community we interact, pray and come together in love around the presence of God. This is something spiritual and mysterious that I don’t think I am very good at explaining yet, but I know of it’s goodness and I feel it’s warmth. The body of Christ is a warm place to be, it is the family of God.

What to roughly expect if you come at 6:15 on a Sunday Night: fresh brewed coffee, some snacks, very nice people, 30-40 minutes of guitar led worship, a time of sharing or teaching from someone on the teaching team and a time of ministry where anyone can recieve prayer.

Tuesday Night Outreach

On Tuesday September 16, we did a little outreach to the inner city children where Keith, Lacy, and Tiffany live. We provided rootbeer floats to the kids in the neighborhood, and enjoyed getting to know them. We were entertained by the kids (and the adults) who decided to do some break dancing on the kitchen floor. We really look forward to doing more things with this group of children who so desperately need as much TLC that we can pour out to them.