How I Became the Vineyard Calvinist, Part 4

I previously told how I first came to Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Tampa about 3 years ago and although I did like it and I even had my first experience with the gift of prophecy, I nonetheless wanted to be around Katie so I started going to her church. Her church at the time was more of a traditional reformed church. It was non-denominational but I always liked to refer to it as being diet presbyterian. They had a lot of the look and feel of a presbyterian church but they weren't actually a presby church.

Over the next two years I did learn a lot. In fact, for a time I really thought I could make my permanent church home there. They really emphasized church history, reformed church polity, the mixing of contemporary worship with hymns, the ancient liturgical calender, but also curiously a lot of almost emerging church forms. The man who led congregational singing was a disciple you might say of the late Robert Webber and many of the things one might expect in one of Webber's books you could find from him. I didn't know much about Robert Webber but found some of it interesting although over time I became a little uncomfortable with some of it.

The main pastor was (and is) just a wonderful, godly, compassionate guy who just really loved the flock and would happily give himself to anybody who needed him. A few times he and I even got together for lunch or coffee. I could easily say he was one of the biggest influences in my walk with the Lord. He even married me and Katie. Most of the people were great and we made some friends.

However, over time some things made me a little uncomfortable. I don't want to get into all the details because I don't want to speak evil of them. Much like Calvary Chapel, I did learn a lot and they are wonderful Christian believers but one of the main things was that I have a particular ecclesiological belief system that was just incompatible with what they believed and practiced. I am of the belief that the local church and not the theological seminary should take primary responsibility to raise up and train pastors and missionaries. They just don't do that and they even told me so. That coupled with my increasingly charismatic/Third Wave theology(I joined the Association of Charismatic Reformed Churches during this time) led me to look elsewhere for a church fellowship (much to the initial chagrin of my wife, but now she loves Vineyard). We tried out a Sovereign Grace Ministries church but it was too far away from where we live and I wasn't sure I'd be comfortable their either. I had had previous experience with the Vineyard church in Tampa, and I knew the pastor was reformed so we eventually settled there and we are very happy to have done so.

Next time I'll wrap this up with some of the more recent happenings.

-Christian