Being part of a church is all about connecting…connecting with God, connecting with others, even connecting to ourselves! We connect by sharing the mundane things of our lives; we read the Bible and look for ways to apply it; we sing songs to God and sense – at least sometimes – that he hears us; we pray for one another and know that we are not alone…that people care about us…that Jesus cares about us. These connections give us strength to face the challenges we encounter each day.

We meet on Sunday mornings from 10 to 11:15am. Sometimes we meet virtually; other times we meet in person. We find that this flexibility helps many of us to stay connected.

In addition to Sunday mornings, we also have a Run Club that meets throughout the week and a book club that meets periodically. We also like to have picnics in a park, BBQ's or make paellas (!), go for hikes, enjoy a beer or Diet Coke at local pubs, and celebrate life events together.

We encourage people to develop their interests and pursue their passions. Someone in El Camino enjoys running and wanted to invite others to join her...so,,,she started a running club. It began with just 2 or 3 people jogging on Saturday mornings. Today, the club has runs practically every day of the week, with dozens of people participating. If you would like more info, check out the Mountain View Area Run Club on meetup.com.

In the Bible, there is a famous character in the Old Testament. His name was Abraham and he was known as the friend of God. In one of the conversations between God and Abraham, God tells him, "I will bless you...and you will be a blessing to others." (Genesis 12:2) We believe that God has blessed us so that we, too, might be a blessing to others. To that end, we participate in different activities designed to help others. For example, we have helped send a trainer to Haiti to help Haitians develop their job skills; distributed bicycles to people who lost everything in the Santa Rosa fires; work with other local Vineyard churches in Mexico, California and New England to send people and finances to help develop caring Christian communities in Spain and Portugal; provided financial assistance to a home for people with disabilities and lunches to school children during the summer.

El Camino Vineyard Church is part of the Vineyard family of churches.

Jacquie and I recently returned from the Vineyard USA’s National Conference in Denver, Colorado. In a word, it was great! We hadn’t been to a national conference for a while and it was time for us to participate again. We are both so happy we did.

Here are a few of the highlights from the conference. The first two days would be the easiest to summarize…because we weren’t there! Jacquie and I had decided that we didn’t want to fly from CA to CO, but to do a road trip. We’d drive to the conference and then visit a couple National Parks – Arches and Zion – on the way back home. My Subaru Outback had other plans. Eighty miles west of Laramie, WY my radiator did its best impression of “Old Faithful”. This meant we would need to be towed into town and wait for a new radiator to arrive. Which, curiously, led to my biggest highlights of the conference.

The first highlight was Rubén Quintero. He and I are part of a partnership of churches that is helping to establish Vineyard church planting movements in Spain and Portugal. When he found out we were stuck in Laramie, he offered to come and get us. (*Denver is about 2 hours and 15 minutes from Laramie.) I told him he didn’t have to do that – he would have to pick us up, drive back to the conference and the next day drive me back to pick up my car…and then drive back again to Denver! Rubén was not easy to convince. He told me he had this happen to him before and it was terrible. He said he was already in his car ready to come and get us! I am so grateful for Rubén’s friendship.

The second highlight was the support and encouragement of our area pastors’ leader, Joedy Zapara. He hasn’t been our leader for long, but his texts of encouragement while we waited to get our car repaired were wonderful.

The Vineyard has always been about authentic relationships – with God and with each other. I am grateful to these two men who embodied genuine care and concern for Jacquie and me.

Our car was repaired by mid-day Wednesday and we made our way to Denver. We arrived at the conference just in time to attend the missions’ partnership dinner. It was wonderful to hear about the great things God is doing in the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Europe. We got to sit with Rubén, as well as our European Partnership leader, Joel Lowery. He and I had never met in person before. It was great to connect face to face, and to hear that he was just about to take a team to Ukraine. I’ve been praying for them!

After dinner, we attended the evening session of the conference which was entitled, “A Story of the Vineyard in Song”. Brian Doerksen and Cindy Rethmeier led worship. We sat with friends we had met in the ‘80s and ‘90s at the Palo Alto Vineyard. It was a sweet time of singing worship songs we had sung 40 years ago. It was wonderful to sing to God and not feel like we were simply attending another rock concert. Sadly, sometimes churches – including Vineyard churches – can feel like that.

The next morning the session was hosted by the Vineyard’s Hispanic Association. (*Rubén leads this association, btw.) It was so very wonderful to worship in both English and Spanish. And, that two of the primary worship leaders were women.

Which leads me to another highlight of the conference: Vineyard USA is finally becoming more colorful – in addition to the Hispanic Association, there is also a Black Pastors and Leaders Association and an Asian American Pacific Islander Association. More women are teaching and leading from the front – and thus, we also have a Women’s Association. I know that ever since Bob Fulton was our International Coordinator back in the ‘80s and ‘90s that we have tried to be a multicultural movement that honors both men and women. All that effort is finally paying off.

Of course, there were many other highlights: teachings that encouraged us to be healthy followers of Jesus; opportunities to pray where hundreds of people came forward - followed by hundreds of people who then prayed for them – which reflected another core value of the Vineyard: There are no super-stars, which means everyone gets to play! I made some new contacts for the Iberia Partnership, thanks to Rubén, which was an answer to many years of prayer. I saw our leaders honoring the “OV’s” (“Original Vineyard”) and welcoming new people. I see that we are trying to learn from our mistakes and shortcomings – speaking openly about them – and asking God for wisdom and the ability to change, to learn, to grow.

The Vineyard Movement celebrated its 50th anniversary in Denver – 1974 to 2024. Here’s to the next fifty years!

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Please contact Randy Chase