For Such a Time as This

In the summer of 1995 my brother Trevor and I sat in Tri’s office along with Steve Robbins. The four of us were discussing the future of education in the Vineyard movement. Mostly it was Tri and Steve talking while Trevor and I shoot nervous glances at each other trying every now and then to add something that sounded wise to the conversation. When the brainstorming meeting was over we quickly left the room. Trevor looked at me and said, “Wow, what were we doing in there?”

Trevor and I were young, both of us in our mid-twenties. My wife Jamie and I were relatively new to the Vineyard movement, having found a new church home after a crash-and-burn ministry experience right out of college. Jamie and I were healing up and excited to be in a church that had vision for discipleship.

Trevor had been in the church longer than most people. He was one of the first youth to attend Vineyard Boise when it began having meetings on Northview Street. When Tri tells the story of the first mullet-haired teenager in a leather jacket that sat down in the back of the church, he is talking about Trevor.

So why did Tri invite the two Estes boys to join him and Steve Nicholson for this education meeting? I can’t answer for him. I think it was because we both had good experiences in discipleship and biblical studies schools with YWAM. We were pretty vocal about our passion for what we had learned and how we wanted to pass that life along to others.

Tri and Steve were interesting to watch. Both men are visionaries and both had been successful in planting churches. However, both of them saw the need to equip the Vineyard with some educational models that were still lacking in the young church movement.

It wasn’t the right time to start a school at Vineyard Boise. Steve ended up taking his training vision to Columbus, Ohio. He started the Vineyard Leadership Institute (VLI) at the Columbus Vineyard and it has spread to over six hundred students at satellite church campuses, including ours. VLI is a great two-year program for those who need leadership training and a biblical foundation for ministry. It is encouraged as a prerequisite for church planting throughout our movement. One of the best elements is that it is designed for busy people – ones already in ministry, who have full time jobs, and full time families. Steve has found his niche and it is serving the Vineyard well.

But there is another hole in training in the Vineyard. Currently there are no discipleship schools for young people in our movement. If a young person right out of high school wanted to do a discipleship program before heading to college he would have to go outside of the Vineyard to find it.

Until now.

This September we are starting our very own discipleship school – The School of Christian Character Development (SCCD). I truly believe it is one of the reasons I was sitting on Tri’s couch ten years ago. The vision has been nurtured in a church that is focused on discipleship. The vision has grown in a church that has an active faith. The vision has developed around ministries that show love and compassion to a hurting community. The vision has been fed by a church that is passionate about world missions.

Our school is unique. It has some very special elements that set it apart from what other discipleship schools have attempted to do.

First, it is local church. For years Vineyard churches have been sending our college-age students to para-church organizations. This has been met with mixed results. As I mentioned earlier I had a tremendous experience at YWAM and ended up getting my degree with the University of the Nations. Those years were foundational for me and helped turn my direction to the Vineyard Church. For some students, it has been hard to plug back in to their local church when they return home. I think much of this has to do with the incredible culture that occurs during intense missions experiences. When that particular expression or culture isn’t found in the same way at home, students can feel lost and not know how to fit in. This is one of the reasons we have always wanted to do a discipleship school at Vineyard Boise. The culture of missions, the fervency of sold-out discipleship and the love of the church could and should be married together.

Next, our school is about building character. And to build character you have to strip down a lot of the belief systems the world has imposed on our youth. We want to provide a safe place where the students’ masks can come off and they can pursue the openness and brokenness necessary to pursue authentic discipleship. We want to equip them to build safe relationships, to dream big and to pursue the God-given vision in their hearts.

The school is also about training. Much of the education of the school will be done kinetically and creatively. Although there will be much book learning and more lectures than the students will like to remember, our aim is not to teach the students into submission. Instead, we plan to utilize the students in the learning process. For instance, the students themselves will be given subjects to study, prepare messages on, and then teach to their peers. Our goal is that upon the completion of SCCD that all of the students will be prepared to speak in public and be more effective communicators. This is going to be an active school – including being involved in benevolence ministries, children’s ministries, working in our elementary school, writing dramas, acting, and serving the needs of hurting people first in our community and then abroad. We also will hit some very practical training in life skills like nutrition, budgeting, car maintenance, cleaning house and having good manners. Imagine!

We are looking for hungry students – those students who want to be world shapers instead of be shaped by it.  Most of our students will be in the 18-25 year range and will be single, but we aren’t excluding anyone. If you know someone who would benefit from our school, please help connect us with them!

How else can you be involved?

·         We are looking for people who have a heart for college-aged students. We will need small group leaders, people willing to train the students with practical skills, people willing to share their testimonies.

·         We are looking for people to pray. We need prayer for the students, the staff, the finances, and the resources.

·         We need scholarship money. We would like to provide opportunities for those who can not afford the tuition on their own.

·         We need homes that have a bed and meals for a student or two.

·         We may need a couple of vehicles.

·         We need outreach leaders for when we go abroad.

If any of these items or something else about the school has stirred your heart, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I believe there are many other stories like mine and Trevor’s that are connected to this vision. I can’t wait to hear them!

This week our staff met together to begin processing the first set of student enrollments. It is such an exciting time and there is a lot of opportunity to be involved in birthing this ministry.

For those who want specific dates, costs and details about the school, there are brochures and letters to prospective students available at the Information Counter in Heritage Hall. You can also access this information on our church Web site.