Church Letter from the Board: May 8, 2020

Greetings, Vineyard Family,

“I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.” - 1 Corinthians 1:4.  We are grateful that we get to be family in this season of hardship.

Life as we have known it has changed in the last weeks.  In the mists of crisis, we have not been able to gather together but we believe we are more together than ever.  We are excited to hear about people contacting each other and joining the different Virtual Connect Groups (vvinfo.org/vgroups).  We are filled with joy to hear people reaching out to their neighbors and seeking ways to become light and salt to those around them.  The church is not closed; our building is closed, but the church has spread into the neighborhoods and is more open than ever to impact the city and our valley.

Our Vineyard’s leadership team and board members have met to pray and continue to plan for the Valley Vineyard’s future – both in the coming weeks and the coming years.  We want to let you know of a couple of things:

First, our staff has contacted the majority of you, reaching out to help those in need and pray for all that are going through a difficult time due to this pandemic.  This has been a stressful season for many since we all have had to adopt a “new normal” in regard to work, educational, family, and church life.  There are many challenges, but in the midst of it we do well in taking a step back to ponder how God can work his plan and purpose in us.  As Pastor Jimmy put it, “this DISORIENTING season can ultimately help in REORIENTING our lives.  In these hard times we can REDISCOVER many important things about ourselves and about our loving Father.”  

We pray that you continue to stay connected through the many opportunities via online services, our website, the church app, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter Look us up under vvineyardchurch.  We continue to have weekly online activities for children, youth, young adults, and adults.

Second, we want to recognize the incredible leadership and tenacity the Vineyard staff has displayed for the last couple of weeks.  You can sense it: the entire team has been working hard to care for, serve, shepherd, and reorient our church.  All this has been done in record time!  The staff has seen this crisis as an opportunity to flow in creativity, thoughtfulness, and purpose.  Thank you to the entire team!

Finally, we would ask that you join us in keeping the Valley Vineyard financially healthy and stable. We have reduced our expenses as much as possible but have also had to purchase expensive tech gear to get us on board for this season of online gatherings.  We are not only positioned for this crisis but also have invested towards the future.  

At the same time our Manna ministry has been serving the neighborhood distributing food on Saturday mornings and we have also been helping our more vulnerable members by helping them purchase food and personal items.  

In the midst of this crisis, there is great vision to continue being the church and helping the less fortunate.  We invite you to join in this endeavor.  As you can imagine all this is being done while our weekly giving is lower than expected due to not being able to meet on a weekly basis.  Some of you are experiencing hardship and of course we wouldn’t ask you to give more than you are able to give, but some of you may be able to give more during this difficult season.  

We want to let you know of 5 different ways that you can give.

1.You can go to our website www.valleyvineyard.org
2.You can give through our church app (with both of these methods you can give a one-time gift or setup recurring giving).
3.You can Text the word “give” to 818-290-8996.
4.You can give through Zelle.  Look us up under info@valleyvineyard.org.  Recurring bank account transfers and Zelle giving does not charge service fees that deplete your giving or what we receive.
5.You can also mail checks to Valley Vineyard, 6642 Reseda Blvd., Reseda, CA 91335.

If you're already giving regularly, thank you! If you can give more than you normally do, thank you!

One thing we are certain about, God has been good, is good, and will continue to be good.  He has been faithful for the past 40 years to our church and remains tending and protecting His vineyard.

If you have any additional questions or need help, please reach out to any our church staff or our board members. We look forward to the day when we can gather together in person and worship our Lord in spirit and in truth.

May the peace of our Lord be with you.

Blessings,
Andy Allocco, Mark Landstrom, Martin Liu, Jane Willard, Lynn Cory, Victoria Curtin (Vineyard Board), and Jimmy Reyes, Leroy Chavez, Annette Grable, Donna Tucker, Dan Keenan, Aisha Oyarekhua, Johnny Mendoza, and Lauren Agapiou (Vineyard Staff)