Justin's story
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“My mother has been battling a resilient form of cancer known as GIST for around 3.5 years. This type of cancer had grown throughout my mom’s lower abdomen in the form of countless small tumors. It’s inoperable due to the quantity and size of the tumors. It is a type of cancer that can perhaps stabilize but rarely shrinks. The doctors had suggested that we were to expect her to have this cancer for the rest of her life and to adjust to the reality of her taking chemo indefinitely. One weekend in December of last year, Mom visited our family and joined us for service at the Westerville campus. During ministry time, Eric gave a call for folks afflicted with severe illnesses and conditions, including cancer, to come forward to receive prayer for healing. Mom and I made our way up front and were prayed for by a prayer ministry volunteer. Afterwards, Mom didn’t feel any different other than feeling immensely loved by our church and greatly encouraged by the prayer. A month later, Mom attended her regularly scheduled CT scan. Once she received a copy of her scan’s findings, it showed nothing. Absolutely nothing! After her second scan, still nothing! It has now been over five months since her first clean report and being chemo free. The Holy Spirit has shown himself faithful to my family and has proved to us that the kingdom of God still comes tangibly and substantially. Praise God for his love and grace.”
Justin Brown, Westerville Campus
Faith's story
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One teenager came to the conference workshop about the gift of praying in tongues. She had asked for the gift before, but she hadn’t received it. She came forward for prayer at the end of the workshop and started praying in tongues! She said, “I had been struggling with prayer and my identity in Christ, and speaking in tongues gave me a new closeness with God. It lit a motivation in me to seek the Lord more and share Him with others. This gift has made me so joyful and excited to see what God has planned for me.”
Faith, Westerville Campus
Kiana's story
"My life has felt so refreshing since accepting Jesus into my life. I have daily conversations with God and now that I'm paying attention to him, I can hear him speaking to me and watching over me."
Kiana Risor, baptized at East Campus
Sean's story
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One student grew up in the apartments behind the church, regularly playing basketball in our parking lot. He started attending Student Night and then he attended Summer Camp for the first time in 2022 where he gave his life to Jesus. This year, he stepped into leadership and led a cabin of middle schoolers at summer camp. He said, “Summer camp had a big impact on me this year. The teachings and Bible studies helped me understand what it really means to be a Christian. The camp created a safe space where I could express myself without feeling embarrassed. But the best part was being chosen as a student leader. It helped me grow in my faith, beliefs, and my connection with God. Sharing my story and helping kids understand what it means to be a Christian brought so much joy to my heart.”
Sean, VC Student
richard's story
Richard and Nancy share their story of stepping out into courageous faith and experiencing the spiritual gift of healing.
Viña Grandview
Watch Daniel & Nicole Hernandez share about the founding of Viña Grandview.
O Come O Come Emmanuel
Watch Heaven & Earth Music perform O Come O Come Emmanuel live!
Heaven & Earth Music
Ali & Spring's story
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Ali and Spring and their four children have been working in Sudan for 20 years planting churches, feeding the poor, educating children, and bringing the light of Jesus. Ali was raised in Sudan in a Muslim family, found Jesus in his late teens, came to the U.S. for education, gained citizenship, and returned to Sudan 20 years ago to engage in holistic kingdom ministry in Muslim communities with substantial refugee populations. Over the years, Ali and Spring have planted 9 churches, started three schools and a medical clinic, and seen many people come to faith. This year, with the outbreak of fighting among rival military factions, Ali and his family were forced to flee to Egypt. Many Sudanese churches have been uprooted and scattered, and Ali and Spring and their four children have moved to Cairo to seek safety and to serve the many Sudanese refugees now in Egypt. Your generosity has supported Ali and Spring and the work in Sudan for many years.
ESL
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A volunteer ESL teacher shared this story about God reaching in during an ESL lesson.
During the lesson, a student who doesn’t even believe in God stopped class to pose a spiritual question. She asked, “What does it mean when Christians say, ‘I was touched by God.’?” A Christian student and I both shared a little bit with her about what being “touched by God” means to us, and how we don’t always feel God close to us even though we believe he is. I then shared how I felt God was there with us as we were talking together. I offered to pray for her if she wanted a touch from God, and she said, “Yes, you can pray for me now.” After we prayed, she asked about the Bible. I offered to bring one for her. She requested an English translation so she could study it and learn what it’s about as she learns English. So, our little English class turned into a “touch from God.”
During the lesson, a student who doesn’t even believe in God stopped class to pose a spiritual question. She asked, “What does it mean when Christians say, ‘I was touched by God.’?” A Christian student and I both shared a little bit with her about what being “touched by God” means to us, and how we don’t always feel God close to us even though we believe he is. I then shared how I felt God was there with us as we were talking together. I offered to pray for her if she wanted a touch from God, and she said, “Yes, you can pray for me now.” After we prayed, she asked about the Bible. I offered to bring one for her. She requested an English translation so she could study it and learn what it’s about as she learns English. So, our little English class turned into a “touch from God.”
Annual Impact
Fiscal Year 2022–2023
It is nothing less than a miracle that folks from more than 125 nations call Vineyard Columbus home. It’s a sign of God’s grace that volunteers served over 30,000 hours last year. Over 3,400 families gave financially to the work of Vineyard Columbus. Each week, 3,800+ people worshipped at one of our campuses in-person and an additional 2,500+ online.
Areas of Impact Fiscal Year 2022-23
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EXPLORE AREAS OF IMPACT
baptisms & commitments to christ
Because you invited someone to Vineyard Columbus this year
2200+
new guests visited a worship service and heard the hope of the Gospel
857
people committed or recommitted their life to Christ
364
people were baptized
experiencing god
Thanks to your giving, we host a free Holy Spirit Conference every year so more people can have the opportunity to meet with God in a profound and life-changing way.
4000
Over 4,000 people attended the Holy Spirit Conference
8000
Over 8,000 more viewed the conference online
Photos from our 2023 Holy Spirit Conference
NextGen: Kids & Students
photos of VC Students
"For the kindgom of God belongs to such as these."
–Jesus (Luke 18:16)
580
kids worshipped weekly across our campuses each week
250
students attended our Student Night on average per week
65
kids and students between the ages of 10-18 were baptized last year
297
students attended Summer Camp
residency program & Campus Launch
The Story Continues
In 2023, we launched a new Viña Grandview campus for our growing Hispanic community in Columbus. And, to accommodate tremendous growth, our Viña Westerville campus transitioned from the chapel to the multi-purpose room just in time to celebrate their 10-year anniversary! For over a decade we have created space for Columbus’ Hispanic community to worship God in their heart language.
“Many people have left families and their home countries, and they have found a new family in Christ here at Vineyard Columbus.”
--Pastor Daniel Hernández, Vina Grandview Pastor
photos from our campuses
digital
We have increased impact this year within and beyond the community of Vineyard Columbus because of our missional presence online. Your giving helped reach people with the gospel through the launch of a new daily audio devotional called Be Still.
700+
people are encouraged and strengthened in their faith daily by this devotional!
2500+
people experience God by worshipping with Vineyard Columbus online
200,000+
our worship services and devotionals were watched online over 200,000 times
worship
Your giving has also continued to expand the work of Vineyard Columbus’ worship collective, Heaven & Earth. This year, our worship leaders and volunteers continued writing new music that fits the unique multiethnic makeup of Vineyard Columbus. And we released our third worship album, Behold. We are reaching people far beyond our church walls through our digitial and worship ministry!
9000+
people have listened to or watched our worship online.
17,000+
Our monthly listeners on Spotify went from 300 to over 17,000!
photos from our Heaven & Earth album recording
Community outreach
Being a Best Friend to our city
24,000+
ministry touches through our community center programs & services
270,000+
meals served by our Northside Food Pantry
613
moms assisted with unplanned pregnancies
200+
served through our medical clinics
520
students enrolled in Vineyard's English as a Second Language program.
Global Missions
When you give, you bring God’s kingdom to people and places all around the world. From Brazil to Southeast Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, East Africa, Central Asia, the Caucasus region, and places in between.
24
Vineyard Columbus supports 24 long term overseas workers in a dozen countries
350K
$350,000+ was given in direct support to overseas mission.
“He has no body now on earth, but yours.”
– St. Teresa of Avila
Across campuses, signs of life—new visitors, first-time salvations, baptisms, and new members—are all steadily increasing, praise be to God!
We regularly pray during our offering liturgy that we are determined to increase in generosity until it can be said that there is no needy person among us. This is our prayer… No child in need of care. No pregnant 17-year-old in need of support and mentoring. No refugee family in need of heat in their home. No young adult in need of medical services. No hungry soul in need of the Gospel of Christ. In our world, there is overwhelming need, and we want to partner with Christ to heal the world!
For Christians, no matter what age, practicing generosity by regularly financial giving is God’s clear intention for all believers (read this article to understand why we encourage regular giving).
Vineyard Columbus is growing, healthy, and having Kingdom impact in Columbus and throughout the world, but we have a need for more of our members to rise to the Kingdom call before us and step into regular and faithful generosity.
Would you take a moment right now, and consider what you can commit to give to the Lord through Vineyard Columbus?
- If you are not giving to the work of Vineyard Columbus at all, would you start today?
- If you are giving but not yet tithing to the Lord through Vineyard, could you make a commitment to move toward giving the first tenth of your income to the Lord?
- If you have not set up recurring giving, would you consider setting up a recurring gift to Vineyard Columbus? You can set up a recurring gift by clicking the button below.
We hope that the stories in this impact report encourage you, and that you’ll continue to be on mission with us to develop multiethnic communities of disciples who experience God, love one another, and partner with Christ to heal the world!
– Eric & Julia Pickerill