Vineyard Sacramento 14 Year Retrospective from Joedy Zapara on Vimeo.

A Natomas Drive-By from Joedy Zapara on Vimeo.

Natomas is a large suburb that sits about 6 miles north of downtown Sacramento. Natomas is home to the Sac International Airport, Arco Arena, and butts up to our two rivers and the edge of Sacramento development on the north side. One of the things that we’ve come to love about Natomas is its diversity. By it’s dictionary definition, diversity is another word for variety. We are asking God to give us some of the same variety in our church plant that is resident in the community at large.

Natomas has a lot of ethnic and cultural diversity. On any given street, you could have homes next to each other that are occupied by 1st generation immigrants or people whose great great grandparents were the ones who came to America. There are neighborhoods where you will find people from cultural backgrounds as different as the pacific islands and the eastern block living next to each other and enjoying the value of being a good neighbor.

Natomas has areas of great wealth as well as areas that are low income, all within 5 minutes of each other. The middle class make up the majority of Natomas, and they subscribe to all the various political persuasions. The population was estimated to be around 150 thousand in 2008.

Planting a church in a community like Natomas will be an adventure. Will the Natomas Vineyard church plant reflect the diversity we see around us? This is a good question, and we would like to think so, but only time will tell. We have a value for the poor, otherwise known as the least and the lost. We also know that despite their affluence, people of great means have great needs. Then there is the issue of the thousands of Natomas’ residents who have grown up in households that practiced a faith that is not Christianity. How will we relate to people who have practiced Sikhism, Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism as children or adults? This is another good question. Our desire to love people and expose them to the life of Jesus Christ will put us in front of people from all different stripes, and we will be asking God for favor in these interactions.

Check out the link below to the Census date for Natomas. Also watch the video entitled “A Natomas Drive-By.” These two items will give you some insight into how to pray and ask God to give us wisdom and direction as we move towards the Natomas Vineyard church plant.

Check out the Census Data

Church Plant Chat from Joedy Zapara on Vimeo.

Kendra (my wife) and I just celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary this July 2009, but our church planting experience has an even longer history. As of this writing, we have both helped launch 3 churches, the first of which was the Downtown Vineyard in 1995. For some of the plants our contribution was limited, as it was in the way we helped the Roseville Vineyard, AKA Horizon. For others, we were more involved, and in all those experiences, God began to birth a vision in Kendra and I for being both pastors and church planters. I became a licensed pastor in 1999, and have since been ordained. Our large and extended family has a rich heritage of leadership and ministry, and our lives have been given to that same pastoral call since we were teenagers. The pastoring part has been in effect for over a decade, so what about church planting?

For those of you reading this that have not been a part of a church plant as of yet, let me be clear on a couple points. First, helping a new church develop and thrive is a very exciting and fulfilling work. Second, helping a new church develop and thrive is a very difficult work as well. Considering the fact that the church is made up of people, that shouldn’t surprise, but I want to keep reminding myself and you of this fact, so that when its proven out, we’ll be ready. Like most things that require faith, taking the good and bad, the easy and hard, the ups and downs, and all the other emotional analogies, we have to decide that if God has called us, then its worth it, and He will provide what is needed to make it happen.

So again, what about church planting? I’ll cover the “Who, What, Where, When, & Why” in later posts, but for this one, I will try and put some of the intangibles to page so you can travel with us from 1995 to 2009 and beyond. As we have matured in our church involvement and leadership development, we have crossed paths and built relationships with tons of people, functioning in tons of different gifts and callings. We have been naturally drawn to others who have church planted, hearing their stories, feeling the vision and excitement that they emote, and over the years, seeing our own church planting call emerge due to these people sowing into our lives. Think of it in this practical way. When you are at a cocktail party, you get to hear about the vocations and hobbies of each person you talk to. If you are like me, you have had that moment when you hear about what someone else does, and you feel everything from jealousy to admiration. Conversely, someone could tell you they are a doctor, social worker, or marine biologists, but it doesn’t speak to you or hit you the same way. The bottom line is this - everyone has a created purpose that is supported by their likes and dislikes, personality, and experiences. We walked away from each of those early church planting conversations with interest and excitement, which is a strong indication that God was doing something in us that was different than what he was calling other to.

5 years ago, we relocated to a suburban community 5 miles north of Downtown Sacramento called Natomas, and since then, the church planting bug has bitten us hard. Discerning what God is saying can be a process, and for us, it’s taken 4-5 years to get to where we are at now. Our church planting call has been challenged by people, circumstances, and Satan, but God has called us, and He continues to lead us through those challenges. The overwhelming majority of people who know what our plans are have agreed that it is God’s call on our lives to pastor a church in our community, which is a real encouragement, and I believe, part of the way that God keeps us moving forward.

Things are beginning to happen more quickly now as we move closer to our new adventure. My excitement is not just for the new Natomas Vineyard, but also for the Downtown Vineyard, which will also experience humongous blessing as it gets ready to plant it’s 3rd church since 1995.

For more information of what planting a church in the Vineyard movement looks like, hit up these links.

Our Northwest Regional Website
NorthWest Church Planting

The National Vineyard Movement Site
National Church Planting