Quick Drink from the Vineyard

I enjoyed the Vineyard last weekend, but my favorite part was not the worship, the teaching or even the potluck. My favorite was the afterwards part. After we had worshiped and eaten, a bunch of us went across the street to help a lady move from one apartment to another. The 15 people looked like [...]

When Jesus invented the church, He didn’t give a lot of advice on initial set up.  He didn’t explain how or when to meet or who to put in charge.  He didn’t write a book on how to do it.  Many are frustrated or even argumentative because He was vague about set up.  It is [...]

When I get to heaven someday, I want to see Jesus and many  that have gone on before me. I want to meet King David, his wife Abigail, and the Apostles Paul and Peter. One of the first people that I want to meet is St. Patrick.
I love St. Patrick. I didn’t know squat about [...]

How the world has changed in the last 10 years.  I’ve doubled the number of  my children from 2 to 4.  So much has happened.   Some have called the past 10 years, the decade from hell.  Why not call it the decade of refinement?
Here is some news on the Bateman family for 2009:
Click [...]

God is quite creative in flashing His lights into my own heart.  Take for instance the Tiger Woods car accident.  I found myself kind of glad that he wrecked his SUV.  It was nice to see that Eldrick Tont Woods is a regular guy after all.  When the sordid rumors began, I was sort of hoping that they were true.  Scandal, [...]

As we gather with family and friends, we have a lot to be thankful for, don’t we?  We may say a prayer of thanks for the great food, but lets push ourselves to reflect deeply.
We have a lot to be thankful for.

Fire swept through Southern California awhile back and 2000 homes were destroyed in the [...]

I found my way into a new culture this week: the hunting culture.  When dad and I arrived onsite, all the other hunters seemed to know what was going on.  They all looked the same, talked the same, and walked the same.  I was definitely “new.”  After we registered, we were told to go grab [...]

Three years ago today we bought our first home.   We are thankful that the banks were lending money like crazy back then because I didn’t have a job.  We were just starting to put a team together to plant the Vineyard and I was looking for some painting jobs.  We borrowed 100% and wondered how’d [...]

Recently, I talked about God blessing and inviting us to partner with Him in setting things aright (see podcast for 8/2).  With so much brokenness, it can feel overwhelming.  We noticed, however, that one individual can partner with God in setting things aright one person at a time.
Tim Tebow plays college football.  He is considered the [...]