Tri and Nancy Robinson

The Vineyard was birthed in the midst of what has become known as the “Jesus Movement” of the 1970’s. It actually began in 1974 as a small bible study in Orange County, California. In the beginning it was connected with Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa until one small group established itself in downtown Hollywood. This group led by Ken Gulliksen grew rapidly into a vibrant church and was called the Hollywood Vineyard.

Hundreds of non-believers accepted Christ through this new ministry. From the beginning this first Vineyard focused on worship music that was very unique for that day. The music created a style of worship in which people sang more to the Lord than about Him. In those times of worship people began to engage with and become aware of God’s presence. Through this new concept of worship the Lord opened hearts to accept the Gospel, receive Christ and experience authentic healing and life change. Worship and relevant Bible study were the two highest values for the new movement. Because of this, people became hungry to be used by the Lord to communicate and demonstrate the love of God beyond the confines of this first local church. 

Leaders were identified and rapidly trained, then sent to plant new churches around the Southern California area and across the country. The Vineyard grew quickly in the late seventies and eighties, finding itself in need of better organization and leadership. During this time God provided a gifted leader, John Wimber, to take the helm of this fast growing movement of Christian churches in 1982. John was a teacher and church growth consultant with Fuller Theological Seminary. Because of his role, John had the opportunity to examine many different churches and denominations up close and therefore understood the attributes of fruitful churches. Over the next fifteen years John taught hundreds of new leaders how to plant and lead healthy churches and the Vineyard began to grow around the world.  When John passed away in 1997 the Vineyard was one of the fastest growing movements in the country. Today, the Vineyard is established in 71 nations and is one of the fastest growing church planting movements in the world. At last count there were more than 1400 churches worldwide, a long way from that first church in Hollywood over thirty years ago. 

During the eighties, Tri and Nancy Robinson were assistant pastors at the Lancaster Vineyard in California. Tri was a secondary school teacher for twelve years and began to attend the Lancaster Vineyard shortly after it began. Through the ministry of the new church plant both Tri and Nancy went through a time of recommitment to the Lord and were hungry for discipleship.  After being sent on mission outreaches to China and Burma they realized the Lord was calling them into full-time service. While Tri was still teaching school, he and Nancy worked hard to establish the first Vineyard School of Ministry on a ranch that neighbored their own ranch. That school became known worldwide as “The Vineyard Ranch”. (After more than 25 years this ministry is still in existence today.) Soon after, Tri and Nancy were asked to take a staff position and remained in that position for the next eight years. They served diligently in the Lancaster Vineyard under the leadership of a very zealous and creative Senior Pastor named Brent Rue. Unfortunately, Brent died of cancer in his late forties in 1994 which was a tremendous loss to the entire Vineyard worldwide. 

In the summer of 1989 Tri and Nancy led a team of twelve families from the Lancaster Vineyard and moved eight hundred miles to establish a new Vineyard church in Boise, Idaho. Tri and Nancy had previously fallen in love with Idaho when they met and got married while attending the College of Idaho in the late 1960’s. They came back to Idaho some twenty years later with the dream of establishing a new church that focused on authentic discipleship. The families that joined forces with Tri and Nancy where true pioneers. They had given up homes and lucrative jobs with a sense of excitement and expectation of what they believed the Lord would do through their efforts in Boise. During that first summer they were joined by several Boise families and met three times a week to plan, worship and pray for this new work to begin. In the fall of that year they secured a lease on a small church building on Northview Drive and in November the church officially opened its doors. 

From the beginning the Lord blessed the work and the church grew over the next year to approximately 230 people. In fact the small facility was no longer sufficient to handle the amount of people and the group was forced to search for more space. Believing that God had yet bigger plans for the Vineyard in Boise, the church secured a lease on a large building on Overland Blvd. that had been vacated by Waremart grocery store. After a summer of extensive remodeling, the Vineyard opened its doors and continued to grow at that location for the next two years. (Today, this is the location of the Reel Theaters.) 

During this time Tri focused his energy on training many new leaders who had felt called to be a part of this quickly growing body of believers. He believed the best leaders were grown out of the fellowship rather than imported from other churches across the country. Today, every pastor and leader in Vineyard Boise has been homegrown through a process of relationship and hands-on training.

By 1992 the church was bursting at the seams once again and was in need of more space. The decision was made to purchase 22 acres in Garden City and begin building a facility that would suit the vision of Vineyard Boise for years to come. Miraculously the land was secured for $170,000 and the first building was built and construction hasn’t stopped since then. After the original building project, the Ezra Family Center was completed in 1998 along with athletic fields and a full gymnasium. This building facilitated the growing need to care for the children.  Soon after this came the Barnabas Center which was completed in 1999 on the northeast side of the property. The Barnabas Center was built to house the Vineyard’s rapidly growing outreach ministries. The Barnabas Ministries effectively reach out into our community by meeting very real needs, feeding hundreds who are in need each month and providing medical and legal services to them as well.