John Martinez's Page

Hey Steve,

I am actually in the process of trying to figure out how to stay out there for the conference, but I am very interested. Trying to get my co-pastor to come with. So, so far I am saying yes. I will be there. Just got to work out the logistics is all.

Hey Alan,
Yes, Rochester is a stone's throw away to be sure. Thanks for the inquiry. I actually hail from the great country/continent known as Texas and it was there that I got my experience and training in church stuff. So when I started talking to a fellow pastor at a Vineyard church out there about the crazy idea I had for a church, he was completely enthused and thought that a whole lot of folks could identify with the direction I wanted to go.

Of course that was in Texas. lol. Fast forward a few years later and I end up in Albany, NY for work. On our house hunting trip my wife and I both felt like this was to be the place that we would plant the church. It was definitely a God thing - you know the way we ended up out there.

However we noticed a stark difference between the Vineyard out here and the Vineyard in Texas. Amazingly enough they were more conservative in Albany than in Houston. So we were a little leery about planting a Vineyard church in this region, and as luck would have it they were more than leery about us planting a Vineyard, so we parted ways on a good note and launched out to do what it is I felt that God was calling us to do with about 10 other folks.

So, now it has been three years. We have a facility (storefront) in the downtown Albany area and are doing a lot of good things. Our values have not changed much since the beginning. Mainly we decidedly agreed that we wanted to plant the church differently then the big Launch method (the current trend) that seemed a bit inorganic and non-relational to us at the time.

So we set out to grow our church by building relationships with others and eventually inviting them in. Most folks in Albany that go to church are either pretty traditional folks that stick closely to their Catholic heritage. These folks pretty much see it as a Sunday thing (the Eucharist) and are unconcerned about community matters, and don't really get why anyone would want to hang out with church folk any other time. Or they are the folks on the conservative right that have aligned themselves with churches that are politically active for seemingly me to me, all of the wrong reasons.

So when they see a church like ours with the irreverent name of "The Distillery" a lot of folks are turned off instantly. Then when they do come and find us all to be rather close and unconcerned with appearances and more interested in a good conversation than trying to prove some kind of point, it throws them off.

And of course we get labeled as liberals, or heretics for asking hard questions and maybe not answering them all with the expected scripture references.

Its hard to imagine that people would not want what we have in our community, but it would seem that we are misunderstood by more than a few folks out here. So, our original values of slow, relational and organic growth have produced exactly what we thought -- a few good friends gathering together on Sundays and playing together during the week, serving the folks in the local area and worshiping God together.

Of course, I love it.

heh, sorry to post this twice...