OUR STORY
After 20 years of ministry Laurie and I sensed God’s call to Cincinnati. We moved here in 1999. In 2001 we started Vineyard Northwest around values we had picked up in our 5 years at the Central Illinois Vineyard. We kicked the church off with a prayer meeting in our home where we had 8 people the first night, including the 2 of us. The second week we met one of the people shared a word God had given him. The Lord had impressed on him this message, “I will forge my church out of broken people.” We took that to heart. Not long after, another key prophetic word came, “When this church is birthed, no one will wonder who it’s daddy is.” The first word spoke to a culture of mercy, and the second word spoke to a culture of supernatural presence and power.
The group grew quickly. By June of 2001 we had 75 people and were looking for a place to meet.
Springdale Chapel, a Mennonite Church, opened its doors to us and we used their building on Saturday nights for close to a year. In the spring of 2002, we moved into the Clippard YMCA and had 135 people our first week. We saw people saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, healed, and growing in their faith. By 2004 we had 2 services, 300 people, and needed our own building. We purchased the land on Round Top Road and formed a Facility Planning Team. In 2005 we had a giving campaign to fund the building – we needed at least $500,000.00 in a one day offering to get a bank loan. It seemed impossible, but when we came to the day of the offering people gave with outrageous generosity. Some gave stock, many gave cash, and others gave land, jewelry, and even family heirlooms. We received $775,000.00 that day! God can do anything.
We moved into our current facility in 2006 and doubled in size within months. In the past 7-8 years we’ve been ardently pressing into more and more powerful worship and Holy Spirit Ministry. The Cincinnati House Group ministry started spontaneously, which reached hundreds of millennials and began to change the face of the church. We’ve also recognized the call to be a regional church – a watering hole for other leaders and churches that need refreshing and long for more of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Only God knows the future, but we have promises from God that we’re pressing ahead into. We invite you to come visit us and see if your heart aligns with what God’s doing here – if He calls you here.
