Vineyard Church | Weekly Update March 13, 2024

I am not a huge fan of meetings. I lack the skill set that would lead me to excel at sitting in one place, “paying attention” for minutes on end, especially when I have to travel out of state to attend one of these debacles. While I know that travel beyond the borders of the great state of Montana is something that occurs, the older I get, the more I wonder why, but because this is not a travel blog, I digress.

So, meetings… I had one last week in Orlando, the positive side being that I could binge watch Yellowstone on the Delta flight, which allowed me to pretend that I was still in Montana (because we know how authentically Yellowstone portrays Montana) as we traversed the great expanse of our country all the way down to that appendage we know as Florida.

Landing in the muggy ambience of the tourist trap of the developed world, I was resigned to my fate of suffering through another meeting that would replicate all meetings, something that would have made a decent email and allowed me to remain under the comfort of the Big Sky.… But I was to be disappointed. I found something in Orlando that still has me shocked to my core: God can use meetings to speak and bring power. Seriously.

For the past several weeks, we have been engaged in a teaching series to begin the year that takes a look at the Gospel of Mark through the lens of the countercultural, counter-religious defiance that Jesus demonstrated as he worked out the unfolding plan of God. The reason behind this series and the series to come, as well as much of the intentional work of our Billings Vineyard Family this year, comes from discerning a focus I sense God is asking for, a focus on discipleship, accountability, and growth together as a body that looks more and more like Jesus. If you have been following the blog series since December or so, you have tracked my thoughts on this as they have been developing.

The path of discipleship is a path of friction, conflict, growth, and faith. It is the path that continues from the initial emotion, joy, and celebration that come from finding Jesus, a path that helps us become like Jesus. This path is often a path that has been neglected by churches because of the friction, conflict, and need for faith and, by extension, avoided by followers of Jesus for the same reasons. I think there is a shift happening, one that calls us into friction and conflict, and this meeting helped me see that this shift is happening beyond the borders of our BVC family.

Back to this meeting in Orlando, our National Director, Jay Pathak shared some thoughts, vision, and encouragement as he is discerning a similar path for leading all the Vineyards that comprise our movement. One of his helpful analogies we will unpack next week (it worked for me because it included a swim coach!), but for this week, leading us into our message for Sunday, we will grapple with his directive for the movement as it applies to discipleship: Monkey see, monkey do.

I can relate to Jay because in his teachings, he demonstrates how low the bar truly is with the reality that it is still difficult to step over. Monkey see, monkey do.… This is an excellent presentation of the example of Jesus for discipleship. First, monkey see. We have to be taught, we have to be instructed, and we need an example. We need someone actively discipling us. This is a benchmark for evaluation, asking these questions: Who am I in a submitted discipleship relationship with? Who am I following? Whose leadership is influencing me, and is that person under the accountability of another? In other words, is the monkey I see also seeing a monkey?

Next, am I engaged in what I am seeing? Is my monkey-do game on point? Where am I struggling to do what I see being done by my helper monkey? As we have been traversing the last several months together, I have had several opportunities to do what I see my helper monkeys do.… As we have pressed into this, I am seeing God present opportunities for me to practice with greater frequency than before. Opportunities to humbly submit to reconciliation with broken relationships, refining behaviors that come from past hurt and experiences, and even reevaluation of an ethic for missional engagement have been coming at me at crazy pace. Some of these I was ready for and some I wasn’t, but each one has given me the chance to evaluate how well I am emulating my helper monkeys and how well I am setting an example for potential watcher monkeys.

In closing, I want to acknowledge how ridiculous this particular blog is.… But also, it gives us a way forward that is sustainable. Monkey see, monkey do. We see, and we do. If we accomplish anything together this calendar year, let it be that we have developed into a community of monkey see, monkey do.

Not all meetings can be done in an email. Some need a blog!

Adam Greenwell
Pastor | Billings Vineyard Church
www.BillingsVineyard.org