About Us

Not too much to say (at least not yet)... no long list of credentials... just a story that's worth sharing. I'm Adam Vaughan. My wife, Kelly, will also be sharing. We have 6 children. Our two sons, Lincoln and Tucker, have gone to be with the Lord. The remaining four with us are Emmiline, Eloise, Elliott and Charli. Charli is a triplet. Her brothers Lincoln and Tucker are identical twins. They're dancing with Jesus right now, and they're not sad about it at all!

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Kingdom's sake

We are a forgetful culture...
I am learning to be a remembering daughter.
When the storms come and the rain beats hard...
My eyes are tempted to only see that which is immediately before me.
The winds attempting to toss and cripple my faith walking...

He whispers beneath the wind...
Do you remember...
Your name...
The crown I wore... 
So you could wear yours?

Remembering... telling... and retelling... 
I do think that is why the body exists...
To worship... 
Sharing how good our Papa is... TOGETHER...
Sabbath stories... stirring our hearts towards greater affection...
To Him... to each other.

Our Papa...
Not a dictator...
Instead a Delighter...
He loves tagging His smalls with notes of proclamation and remembering...
On the crinkled paper displayed on our lives... 
He names us... inviting us... 
"LIVE OUT OF YOUR NAME."

Only our God would use the weeds in our lives to bring beauty... 
Decorating the panes of our souls...
Fighting through the rain... I see the truth of our relationship.
I must remember Him holding my hand...
Guiding me...
As I feel very afraid to take another step towards the dark unknowns...

I must also recount the moments
He playfully holds me... celebrating my joy...
Blessed by His word alive...
A book full of promise...
Calling out to me... seek with your whole...
I will be found by you.

As I put on my faith shoes...
Thanking Him for the "bigs" that remind me of the truth of who I am...

Knowing if I can't remember the truth of who He is in me...
I am a less effective tool...
In reminding other ROYALS of who He has tagged them to be.
                            
Learning to remember...
For The Kingdom's sake...
One princess slipper at a time.











Wednesday, May 30, 2012

what?

What do you do when you don't know what in the world to do?

Pastor... back home.
The Hopeful's... busily reconnecting hearts and enjoying family togetherness...
Tonight after a long day of pool play...
We shared hearts...
Walking the winding trail of questioning...
Hand in hand... asking...
What does God want us to do?
After about 8 months of our home being on the market...
One failed contract...
7 months of commuting...
Unexpected beauty in hidden places...
Heartaches and heart-fillings.

Lots of "ideas" from those that love us...
But what does He desire?
What do we do?
As we co-author HIS STORY...
I can honestly say that in this season we have seen the hand of God like no other.
Our faith... stronger.
Our hearts more in tune with the Father's.
Our love for Him... growing immeasurably.

The question still remains...
What door are we to walk through?
What most honors Him?
Do we rent or is the delay divine?
We don't know.
Desiring to rest in His perfect provisions and timing.
Trusting...
Like a little girl with a paintbrush full of faith...
Never giving up on promises fulfilled...

For today...
We ask for new words...
We thank Him for what He has already done...
For what we see Him doing...
And Pastor...
Well...
He makes bold declarations...
A good contract on our home by June 14th... our Shorty's 8th birthday...
Praying to be stepping over a new fleece shortly thereafter...
Would you partner with us as we ask the Hand of God to move on our behalf...
To release us from Ridgegate and free us to find Faith's House in Dayton?
May we be faithful to see and seek His best...
May we be found joyfully expectant in the waiting.
Thank you for loving and joining our songs of asking to The King.
Thank you, Papa...
For close up views of Faith on the horizon...
And little girls longing to bless their momma with HOPE.

"Now hope that is seen is NOT hope.  For who hopes for what he sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see we wait for it with patience."
Romans 8:24

Yes and Amen!

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

AV to CA

Pastor here today.  Got the privilege of going to California about a month ago.  All I can say is, "Wow."  So amazing.  No idea where to begin.  No idea how to communicate what I experienced.

I began reading literature published by staff from this church in Redding, California last year.
The materials and church are quite different than those who publish what I would have usually read.
Drastically different.
Some I know and care for deeply would frown upon...
Not exactly the same theology...
Some of it seems weird and strange...
I'm okay with weird and strange.


I stayed in a happy, little town.  Actually, nothing seemed all that unusual about the town.  I liked it, but there wasn't much that distinguished it from any other place.

However, not too far away from Redding are things like what you see below...


In the background is Mount Shasta... this was taken at the end of April.  Because of the altitude there's still so much snow... the road and parking lot have been scraped to make way for cars.

This church, Bethel, did to me what the sight of Mount Shasta did... notice how it's above the tree line.
It causes me to have higher highs.
It inspires me to be more adventurous and pursue even more...
Dream bigger...
Fight harder for the body...
Expect more.
Longing to honor better... and foster a greater attitude of honor among others.

While at Bethel there were times I thought, "This place is wacky and wild."
No doubt about that.
Even more unquestionably true is that it has received a special anointing from the Lord.


I know where your mind might be going... I've used vague generalities like, "wild, weird" and "strange," well, you might want me to unpack those things.

I'll unpack through situations I experienced.  One example, the conference was a leadership conference.  Because of that we got a special privilege... we all got the opportunity to be prophesied over.  When it was my turn, I had 3 young men ranging from 13 to upper 20's.  I didn't say a word.  Truly, they didn't know anything about me... for two reasons.  One, I wanted to give them as much time as possible to share.  Two, I honestly (maybe a little skeptically) wanted to see what they had to offer.

It was insane!  They nailed it.  The words, "pastor" and "discipleship," came up immediately.  My title at the Vineyard is "Making Disciples Pastor."  The night before I received this privilege I shared with Kelly that I was tired of small dreaming... tired of limited visions.  I'm going to "Change the World!"  That was the exact language the young boy used... "You're going to change the world."


Got to spend some time with close partners in the ministry while in CA...
Even while galavanting around, God continued to speak.
Below is a lake that's on one side of a dam.

I got to walk across this very long and incredibly magnificent dam.
On the opposite side of the dam I saw this...

I am aware that this dam is creating steady current of power and electricity.
As I saw this something struck me so clearly.
I don't want a steady current of power.
I'm ready to release power that does that which seems mind-blowing.
I don't want a consistent strickle.
I want much more than "steady."

I want the kind of power that can't be damed it (I checked... that's how you spell it... and, no, I didn't mean the profanity word).

I believe in this power.  My mind has believed in it in the past.
Now I want to function out of it.


Monday, May 28, 2012

Father Abraham....

This daughter is humming many songs of thankfulness for Father Abraham today.
His faith... courage... risk and hope...
They speak...  "Keep going" to my weary soul.

This past week... one of the harder faith weeks since our NICU days.
Not sure if what I am fighting off is physical or spiritual, but I feel totally drained.
Seems fitting that Abraham should be my focus...
His testimony increases faith...
Plain and simple.... in all his waitings... twists and turns...
HE BELIEVED...
Abraham was called God's friend.

Pastor and I really chewed on Abraham's story last summer after his firing.
Wondering what it might look like to receive a promise we were physically unable to participate in.
The sons and daughters have a lot to learn from his life of faith...

What must it have been like?
Abraham audibly hearing the wild promises of God?
Trying to make sense of them in his small, little-old mind...
I can't imagine.
It would require a nonsensical faith.
That is where I find myself today...
Not wanting to create an Ishmael of my own because timing isn't lining up the way I dreamed.
I cry out and ask...

He reminds me with markings of truth on the art of my story...
Un-asked-for "Charli scribbles" on the canvas of my life...
She is one of many delightful reminders of God's goodness fulfilled in my life...

Words and scriptures...
Remind of the great RISKS Abraham took to ensure God was enthroned on His rightful place...
Altars... questioning sacrifices... tears... thickets and supernatural offerings...
All important...

This evening as I have continued to process...
Emmiline pointed me back towards MORE PROMISE...
The beauty of Hope...
Growing like red affection perched on Charli's tree.

Wanting to remember Father Abraham's story as I struggle in the moments of my own...
Desiring to see things from a heavenly perspective...

Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done…Isaiah 46:10.


Wanting to live out of promises fulfilled... work my way backwards... celebrating the unseen as if it were clear today...

Still much to learn in the growing pains...
Thankful for the Father Abraham's of Faith...
So thankful.












Sunday, May 27, 2012

Sabbath

Sabbath....
A day for...
Repainting and replenishing...
Our sun-worn souls.
Resting... 
So the tired shines new again...
A day for the fragrance of freshness to reign...

Set apart...
To stroke the cross...
Deeply... onto the doorposts of our hearts...

A day for...
Radiating His light...
Shining from the previous week's growth...
Edifying and offering ourselves to Our King and His beloved.
Sharing harvests...
Picked by our hands...

Enjoying feasts on platters marked...
With the story of our names...
We give thanks today...
Longing to offer more...
Love...
Joy...
Peace... and 
HOPE...

Sabbath blessings,
The Hopefuls



Saturday, May 26, 2012

Anniversary

Pastor here for a change today.
Celebrating a very special anniversary.  No, not that kind of anniversary.  Kelly and I got married in April. 
A different kind... a year ago on May 11th I got the "can"… you know, "the boot." 
Actually, it wasn’t anything like that.  It just sounds more fun to say that way.

I was "released".  That really is good word for it.  
It was a mutually beneficial release… Man, talk about a release.  It allowed my friends at my old church to go the direction they felt lead to go,… and it allowed me to become a new, different me.

I did and do love my old church.
At the same time this has been the 12 months of my life that I have learned and changed the most.  Crazy.  Grateful.  Man, God loves to redeem things. 

Metaphorically (and sometimes literally), I'm driving a whole different machine.  What I do...  How I go about doing it...  My blind spots...  Well, they're all so different.  Feels frightening at times.  Feels exciting at others.  I even feel like a big kid on occasion.
I'm trying new things... things I used to make fun of... less concerned about what others might think.
I'm seeing things I've never seen happen before...


This is a picture of something I had never seen (or thought about)... it's two lizards mating.  Definitely caught me by surprise.  There have been many new (and "different") things in my life that I've stumbled into in the last year... many have caught me by surprise.  Some seem so strange, but they are the way things are intended to be (i.e. the power of the Spirit working through believers).

Trying new things... even things that I hated so deeply in the past.  Some I still hate.  Some are changing me.

Spirit alive.
Hungry.
Learning.
Becoming a catalyst for change.
Grateful for deep bonding on many levels with very special people.

Longing.
Missing.
Morphing.
Grateful for the anniversary.





Friday, May 25, 2012

Mama Charli... part 2

Sweet little Charli.
Growing more and more each day.
The eternal infant no longer...
Using her little faith legs... walking strong...
Today...
My view...
So cute... 
I enjoyed watching her be momma...
She was so proud...

Her chosen cargo...
It took my breath away...

It really is the little things...
That fill our hands and hearts.
Like a small... loving on her twin monkeys.
Feeding with bottles of love...

Born to nurture...
No doubt she will miss tending to the identicals.  
We all will.

Today...
Just giggling with life...
Feeling big.

This momma... 
Deeply enjoying her joy.

Just when I thought the view couldn't get any sweeter...
I notice her unprompted addition...
A little Panda thrown in with the monkeys...
The 3... all crazy... stuffed in there...
Just like our Panda and the original crew...
A rich picture for me...
Thankful for her playfully detailed spirit...
Blessed...
By ALL her wildness... 
The life she brings...
Celebrating her this very moment... 
Walking...
Strolling...
And loving...

Praising THE SOURCE of such goodness...
Recounting...
Like facts on a blackboard...






Thursday, May 24, 2012

dinner chat

Over dinner the other night Pastor, the smalls and I were discussing...
If... Lincoln and Tucker were with us...
Charli... no doubt would be mama to them all.
We smiled at the thought.
Then... out of nowhere... Prince Elliott made his own contribution...
"I berry want to see my brothers."
My heart broke for him... it broke for all us Hopefuls.
Often wondering what waters are rising up...
In His wells of remembrance.
His little mind and soul processing so much more than I am aware...
His words... once ripping me open...
Now bring mending.
So thankful He helps us remember...
To see beauty in what feels like stick figures in my Spirit...
He longs for them.
Drawing his heart out on scraps...
Naming the art pictures "his boys."
Unable to share daily affection...
He clings to his stuffed friend that brings security...
Unhindered by logic... 
He offers all he can...
A remembering heart.

We grieve together.
As his momma....
I "berry want" Bud to have brother time... so much.
For now... we enjoy playful portraits of togetherness on the fridge...
Missing... 
Still aching... 
Never forgetting...
Thankful for a little buddy that makes sure of it...
Even over dinner chats.