"Welcome! Joshua House is the Young Adult Ministry at Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Columbus. There are four other main services that we would like to invite you to check out: meeting Saturday at 6pm and Sunday at 8.30am, 10.15am, or noon. If this is your first time here please come to our Visitor Welcome in room 18 after The Service." And so starts the introduction of our announcements for every Sunday evening’s service. I would personally like to invite you all to take a little tour of our house. Although I can’t physically bring you to room 18 to have you meet our pastor and other leaders, I do hope to give you a picture of what Joshua House is all about. So sit back, relax, and let’s get on with it!

The Blueprints and The Foundation
Before I show you around the house, let’s take a brief look at the blueprints and the foundation. Before Joshua House there was Koinonia. Before Koinonia there were two guys sitting on a couch. Before there were two guys sitting on the couch there were ten people sitting on a deck. Before there were ten people sitting on a deck there were those same two guys, wondering and praying about what God had for them now…high school grads and not really ready to fit into an "adult kinship" ( i.e. co-ed groups) at the church. Those two guys, Chris and Isaac, sought after God and earnestly asked him where they should go. God answered. His words were "fill the gap and start something for people just like you." As the beginning of this section showed, there are fits and stops when diving into ministry. The first meeting had an attendance of eight, the second week a different group of eight came, and in the following weeks the numbers dropped to five, three, and finally it was (again) Chris & Isaac sitting on the couch. These two guys once again sought after God. This time God answered by slowly adding to the group one person at a time. A name was chosen for this group, Koinonia. There were at times fifty people who were attending this group and during this season, many people were giving their lives to the Lord. The outgrowth from Koinonia was women’s groups and the start of The Service. God continued to bless this ministry by increasing our numbers, multiplying our kinships, bringing Mark Tindall to pastor us, and finally giving us a name…Joshua House (from Joshua 24.15, "But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.").

So where are we today? We have fifteen kinships, two men’s groups, and eleven women’s groups that are meeting throughout Columbus every week. The culmination of the week is The Service (with an average attendance of 450). So what happens at The Service? Let’s take a look from May 2, 1999:

• 6.30pm Intercessory prayer for The Service
• 7.00pm People start arriving.
• The Vineyard Café is opened. The café consists of a stage, a stone fireplace, wood tables and chairs, overstuffed couches, and at the present time artwork on the walls done by members of VCF Columbus. The Café is a non-threatening place to bring visitors who are coming to church for the first time. During The Service, the café is closed, but is reopened at the conclusion.

Snacks are set out in the main auditorium. This usually consists of vegetables, cookies, and coffee.

The Info Table is set up. This table is where you will be able to find the maps for the various groups, turn in sign up sheets, sign up for conferences, and just about ask anything you want to about Joshua House or VCF Columbus.

The lights are dimmed. During main services, the fluorescent lights pretty much blind us….during The Service, we turn them down. I’ve read that others do this because it helps in intimacy during worship. Honestly, I’m not sure why we do it…other than we like the way it looks.

7.31pm *Worship begins. Tonight Jeff Anderson is leading worship. Presently, we have two worship leaders for The Service. The other is Michael Gallaugher. Tonight the songs we worship to are:

"Come, Now is the Time to Worship"

"Show Your Power"

"In the Secret"

"Sweet Jesus"

"Give"

• 7.57pm Worship ends. Jeff prays, "Lord, God, we acknowledge your power tonight."

• 8.00pm Announcements. This week by Eric Pickerill. During this time, our tithe is collected and music tapes and visitor cards are passed out to newcomers.

• 8.05pm Teaching. Tonight by Jay Pathak (intern to the Senior Pastor of VCF Columbus, Rich Nathan). Tonight is the first from a series in Philippians. Jay explains what The Service is about. He says, "We’re not about creating a performance here. We’re here to participate in God’s kingdom." Jay shares that his heart is "that we would be real, get to know each other."

• 8.57pm Ministry Time. Jay’s call is for: 1) individuals who feel like they are alone. We pray that they will get knitted into this place. 2) Individuals who are self-focused. 3) People who served and got slapped in the face. We pray for their hearts not to get hard.

• 9.00pm "Official" ending time of The Service. The parents are reminded to pick up their children from kids’ ministry. At this time, Eric or Jay will give the final blessing and we are dismissed. Many people are still at the front of the church participating in ministry. People will continue to hang out for about 60 or 90 minutes afterwards. Clean up begins. The chairs are stacked. Garbage is picked up. Lights are returned to their full force of brightness. Good-byes are said.

  So there you have it. A brief description (albeit…a biased one) of The Service. Every week is the same and at the same time poles apart. I guess that’s what happens when you ask God to show up…you expect the unexpected.

LR: "We talk a lot about ‘young adults’ here. We are a ‘Young Adult Ministry.’ We are trying to reach ‘young adults’, etc… Can you define what your picture of 'young adult' is?

LR: "What is your vision for Joshua House, in terms of the recent transition in leadership, in our goals, values, and outreach?"

In terms of vision...it's a three stage rocket
"In terms of vision, the way we have been describing it is as a three stage rocket. We believe, by God’s grace, that as Mark was leaving, that we had finished the first stage of the rocket. Our vision in the first stage was ‘to offer truth and hope to a generation by gathering a congregation of young adult Christians.’ Thankfully, we believe that we have accomplished that vision. Over the past year, we’ve been seeking God to see what stage two is all about. In the past month, I think that we’ve come to some sort of a conclusion. During this season our vision for JH will be, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to be transformed from a congregation of young adults into a missionary – minded community that will have local and global impact.

"What does community look like? We’re not exactly sure what that means yet, but I have a few ideas that come to mind. I think it will affect the way people feel when they come into a Joshua House context. I think people feel a couple of things when they come in. First, they think that this is a place that they can feel comfortable to remain anonymous. I don’t want people to come in and feel comfortable remaining that way. I want them to have a feeling of ‘I need to be known here. I want to be known here.’ My second thought of what people might think when they come here is, ‘Wow, this is so cool! Cool band; cool people; cool café; cool young speakers.’ How about this for a feeling—‘I’ve never felt such an overwhelming love?’ ‘Something is different about this place. These people love each other in such a deep and meaningful way that I can’t stay away.’ I think that if we can be more of a community, people will be inclined to stay. They’ll be swooned by the love of God.

"In terms of values, we will continue to focus on those that we have always had, but as we have grown have started to become fuzzy… such as reality, transparency, the presence of God, etc. These are the heartbeat of community. These are the beginning point. I would like to grow to be more than these. I think that people will be radically committed to the concept of community, and adopt other values and actions, such as sharing our possessions and our money.

"Finally, while we grow into a community, I want us to become even more mission minded both as a group and as individuals. That means that we are always thinking of others as God’s mission fields and ourselves as ambassadors. I want us to be even more committed to being a community with a mission, both here locally and ‘there’ globally. Locally, this means that people will be getting saved, will come into community and be radically discipled and become lights in their former and current communities. It’s the ‘mission-mindedness’ that will keep us intentional and focused on producing fruit. Globally, this means that we will send missionaries and church planters around the world. We’ve seen one church plant. This summer we are taking our first international mission trip to India. Hopefully, there will be more."

LR: "Can you explain how Joshua House functions in VCF Columbus?"

It's one of our values to operate as a family....
EP: "It’s one of our values to operate as a family with VCF Columbus. There are a lot of different ways to slice it. You could be a youth church, you could be a church within a church, or you could be a young adult ministry. We’ve chosen the latter. Choosing YA ministry is saying that we desire to be more a part of the whole and less a separate entity. We exist to serve the whole church. They don’t exist to serve and feed our ministry, although both of those things happen. My feelings on the matter are that the church in the NT and Israel in the OT were multi-generational. I think that multi-generational is the fullest expression of God’s heart. In many ways, I wish that we didn’t have to have Joshua House. I see it as something that has arisen out of a need, not out of the way it’s supposed to happen. I think that if it were to happen in the best way, young adults would feel totally comfortable with older adults and likewise in the other direction. But, like parachurch ministries have arisen out of a need in the church, Joshua House has arisen. That means that the main service is more important than the JH service. The positives of being together are the resources—financial (they have the money), relational (they’re cool to be with), wisdom (they’re smarter—and they can teach us and train us), and structural (they give us a building to meet in). The negatives are there, but fewer. Mainly, I think we have to risk less. It’s more comfortable, or at least it feels that way. The other negatives are stylistic differences in leadership and in aesthetic. I think we would do it a bit different if we were on our own in both of these areas.

"There will always be differences, but I feel great about where we are in relation to VCF Columbus. Rich really has gone far out of his way to bless us and what he sees God doing here. We are in the best possible situation with having such a supportive church that releases young leaders and cares about leaving a legacy. We have plenty of room. In many ways we are a separate entity. We’re separate enough that we have our own service, small groups, and other ministries. At the same time, we’ve found many points of connection and the relationship has been very symbiotic.

"To sum, it’s more important to us for young adults to be involved in the whole church than it is for them to be involved in Joshua House. That is, if they have to choose. I don’t like it when they have to choose, but that’s the counsel I give."

LR: "Recently you spoke regarding ‘biblical Christianity vs. American Christianity.’ How do you see Biblical Christianity playing itself out in JH?"

EP: "I see many, many young adults who have given their primary allegiance to Jesus over materialism, careers, family, significant others, etc. Not that the two are always in tension, but sometimes they are. When they are, Jesus tells us to choose him. I think that we are producing Christians that will follow Jesus for the rest of their lives. I think that they’re growing and are on a path of growth for their lifetime. What else could I ask for? I want to see a church of people who follow Jesus and model their lives on his. Being a ‘biblical Christian’ is kind of loaded with a lot of baggage and can mean a lot of things (What Christian thinks that they aren’t biblical?) I believe that there is an evangelical grid that comes through the Bible. I also believe that the Bible has an empowered grid. I think those two things are very important. To steal from John Wimber, being a biblical Christian is sticking to ‘the main and the plain." That means being Spirit-led, empowered, kingdom-oriented, and changing from ‘glory-to-glory’ in our path of holiness. It means being like Jesus."

LR: "Any challenges?"

EP: "Our challenge will be to continually be transformed from a congregation of young adults into a community while maintaining a growing edge on our mission focus. If we focus on that, the fruit (local and global impact) will work itself out. It’s especially difficult to do this the larger we get. But that’s what vision is for. It’s something that should take you to the edge of belief and almost push you over. But it’s not. It’s unreachable apart from God. That’s why we believe it’s from him."

"I guess what I’ve always tried to do in worship is to make it fun and relevant. The live bands were one of the things that attracted me to Vineyard, but the more I got into worship I realized that I didn’t want an outdated sound. One Christmas I was coming back home and I was listening to a Radiohead tape, and I was overwhelmed by how they were able to take a simple relatively slow song and make it very rhythmic. I really felt God inspiring me at that moment, and I thought this is how worship should be. I am fortunate to have a band that caught that vision and several key folks who have spent time and money to make worship more modern and relevant.

"When planning a worship set, I really have to hold back a lot from doing tons of new songs because there are a lot of good songs out there. My main sources for 

I try to be very sensitive to the Spirit...
"I try to be very sensitive to what the Spirit is doing, and I’m fortunate to have a band that really follows where God is leading me and also is musically proficient enough to lead the congregation during spontaneous times. Often God will put a song into my head during worship and really hint that He would like to do that one, so that He can minister to people and draw them into worship more. For ministry time at the end, I try to keep it extremely loose and unplanned and unpracticed as much as possible because following the sermon there may be something completely different that needs to happen. God has been faithful to speak songs, either to me or to members of the band, that would really take the sermon and nail it into peoples’ hearts.

"Regarding our practice times, I’ve learned that if practice is really going badly to laugh it off. God is in control and if practice is going bad He is still going to use it for His glory. This takes all the pressure off of me and gives me freedom to worship. I can’t force anyone to sing and I don’t have anything that is going to guarantee good worship. All I can do is be faithful in what He’s given me and let Him do the rest. God has been extremely faithful during the times of bad practices…I’d say almost every time He has blessed it more with His Spirit. Whenever we have a bad practice I expect God to show up more than He normally does.

"What I would like to see is more of God in worship. More of His power, more of His touch, and more of His freedom. It would be great to see people open up more and to be able to worship in reckless abandon. I would love to see more dancing and singing. But as always, He has his timing, and I must rest in that."

"In the early fall of 1995 I was about as far from God as possible. I was a punk kid, with a bad attitude who spent all her time partying, going to shows, and getting high. I had poured my soul into my boyfriend and raving with a couple of bi-sexual girls who were dance classmates at the performing arts high school I attended. I lived a dark life, surrounded by people who thought living hard was the answer because life had nothing else to offer but music, sex, and drugs. The world’s pretty packaging deceived me, but I was utterly miserable. 
I violently hated myself and had self-destructed...
"I violently hated myself and in two years I had self-destructed in a way I never thought possible. Ron, on the other hand, had spent his summer gutting out everything in his life that appeared worldly. He did not know how to become a Christian, but had decided that God could save him from his demons. He had spent his life consumed with his artwork and women. Once he got to what he thought was the top he felt empty. Being a sought after artist, having lots of money, and a woman who shared his interests did nothing for him but isolate him more. He recognized that his pursuits could not fulfill him.

I couldn't stand being with people who loved God...
"A mutual friend of ours was helping out with the first college age Bible study at the church I grew up in (VCF Columbus). I ended up going to the Bible study the first or second time it met as a favor to him. During the entire evening I felt a great sense of uneasiness. I couldn’t stand being with people who wanted to love God. I had prided myself on being open to whatever people wanted to believe, but that night I couldn’t handle it. I had run for several years from the call of Christ, but He had not relented. His conviction was so powerful that night, I recommitted my life to Him.

"Ron was attending Cleveland Institute of Art during this time. He decided to come to our meeting. Though he grew up with little exposure to Jesus, he wanted badly to connect with God. He had stopped sleeping with his girlfriend early that summer (who in turn broke up with him), threw out a lot of his music, and started praying. After coming to Bible study, at once he was enamored. Every Wednesday he drove from Cleveland, Ohio to Columbus for kinship. He couldn’t get enough of Jesus. He started driving down on the weekends for the main services at the church and to hang out with everyone from the group. Because of the Lord’s prompting, he left art school after Fall quarter and moved home to Columbus.

The next year was the most amazing year for us...
"The next year was the most amazing year in both of our lives. God came so powerfully upon our group of 7 to 8 people that we spent every waking hour doing everything we could for the kingdom. We spent time on campus praying for the homeless, buying them food, prophesying over each other, praying all hours of the day and night and eating together. We met after Bible study in what came to be known as the "red carpet apartment," a dingy one-bedroom apartment two of the girls in our kinship rented on campus. We would wash each other’s feet, pray for one another, and eat spaghetti. The passion we had, consumed us so much that every moment we spent together, we ran hard after God. The group began growing that winter and soon there was about 40 of us.

"The core group of us stayed fast friends and Ron and I fell in love. He proposed to me that summer and we were married a year later. We look back and realize how fortunate it was that God extended so much grace to us in those days. None of us had any idea what was going on, but God was in control of it all. In the beginning we were seeing at least one salvation a week. It was contagious. The Holy Spirit changed our lives in a radical way; we’ve never been the same. We’ve learned how to become disciples of Christ together. It was a glorious time, a season of birth and passion. Ron and I feel more grateful than words could ever express that God met us where we were with His love and allowed us to be the beginnings of His great work through Joshua House."