Last week as I was preparing to teach the passage out of John 2 which I entitled "Building a Church for the Gentiles", the Lord recalled to me a vision He had given me nearly a year ago. I had written down the details of the vision and it was printed in the bulletin the following Sunday. The article called "The Potluck" appeared in Inside the Vineyard on January 26th, 2003. Last Sunday I referred to this article in my message because if this vision is from God, it is significant and relevant to our present situation as a church.

It has always been our heart to be a church that would invite and embrace the un-churched and non-Christian. It is our sincere desire that the Vineyard would be a warm, welcoming and healing place for hurting and broken people. We have tried hard not to put up any walls that might turn someone away. Last week I discussed four misconceptions that many non-Christians have of the church; I did so in hopes of eliminating any barrier that might either stop people from giving church a try, or discourage our own people from inviting their unsaved friends and family. As a result I believe it would be worthwhile and helpful to re-print the article for those who missed it before, or who were not attending the Vineyard at that time. This is my earnest prayer for our upcoming season together as a zealous community of believers.

The original article began with my relating an experience I had in Austin, Texas while teaching a seminar to a group of Vineyard pastors. We had been in an amazing time of worship when the Lord gave me this picture of a potluck in our Ezra gym. (At that time I had no way of knowing that one day we would be using our gym as a sanctuary.) The article begins with the vision I had.

In the vision I saw a room full of people who had all come together for a potluck dinner. There were all kinds of people present in the room - every size, age and color. Everyone was having a pleasant time, yet the room was very subdued. One by one people entered the room with unique dishes of food; no two dishes were alike. The food was all placed on a common table for everyone to share. No one was hording, but all were excited for others to sample what they brought. Soon there was so much food and the feast was so great that everyone realized that they could not consume all of it and there would be tremendous waste. They knew the only thing to do was to go looking for others to join them. Everyone quickly went out into the street and found anyone willing to come eat. They invited people who were living on the street - there were prostitutes, homeless and very broken people. There were those who openly confessed that they were not Christians. Those who were hungry gladly accepted the invitation and came. The room was full of excitement. Spontaneously the joy turned to thanksgiving and celebration as they all began to sing songs of praise to the Lord.

That was the vision, but now let me explain what I believe is a fuller interpretation.

God has given all of us uniqueness with different giftings and personalities. He has given us these things for us to not only 'feast' on life, but also share with all who will enter into His community. The church is like a giant potluck and it is through all of our different and various giftings that His church will be built up (edified). Through this sharing with others, many will be nourished and grow into spiritually mature believers. When we bring all of our gifting to the common table the feast will be too great for the church alone. If the church alone consumes it, it will end of becoming counterproductive. Therefore the community of believers must go beyond itself and share the banquet that the Lord has provided with anyone who is willing to come. When the poor, the broken, the rejected and the non-Christian enters the banquet hall - they are to be embraced and served by the church. This will result in joy and supernatural gladness - and hearts of thanksgiving. Everyone will experience a sense of belonging and great value which will be expressed with songs of joy and attitudes of celebration.

The truth of the matter is that Vineyard Boise is bursting with people that have so much to bring to the table. Our church has grown to a point of maturity in the last year that is far beyond anything I have ever dreamed. We have grown to be so rich with mature, gifted people. Every day I hear about people that I have yet to meet that are plugging into new ministry opportunities, and with the help of existing leaders, they are developing entire new areas of ministry. Sometimes I feel that we are ready to burst at the seams with potential and gifting for reaching out and blessing a city that is anxiously waiting to be invited to the potluck table.

To use another metaphor - it is as if we were in the last hours of pregnancy, just waiting to give birth to something new and alive. And although the labor pains are growing in intensity, our hearts are growing in expectation and excitement.

Soon we will give birth to a whole new season of ministry and like any parent, our hearts will overflow with the joy of new life. We will be like Psalm 126 says: ³Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, 'The Lord has done great things for them.' The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.²