God is our Creator. In the beginning He created all things, including us. God created us with the ability to choose to honor Him or reject Him. When we reject God, we sin and are separated from Him.
God desires a personal relationship with each and every person.
God has given an open invitation to all to come to Him, but He will never force Himself on anyone. God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to live a perfect life, die on the Cross for our sins, and rise again to offer us Eternal Life. For any person that puts their faith and trust in what Jesus did for them, they will receive forgiveness for their sins, they will receive Eternal Life, and they will have their relationship with God restored forever. It is up to each person individually to respond.
Would you like to know God personally?
Here are some simple truths that will help you begin a relationship with Christ.
For the last 2,000 years, the Lord has moved powerfully all over the World through the church that He started after Jesus’ Resurrection. The Holy Spirit has worked powerfully constantly, but there have also been special seasons of time where many people have given their lives to Jesus. One of the greatest movements in recent memory that the Holy Spirit led was the Jesus People Movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
God moved powerfully through the Jesus People Movement and changed the lives of many for Eternity. One of the catalysts at the beginning of this movement was a small church in Costa Mesa called Calvary Chapel. Chuck Smith took over as pastor of this 25-person church and was in the midst of a discouraging season of ministry.
God brought a man named Lonnie Frisbee to Chuck Smith’s door and this encounter changed Pastor Chuck and Calvary Chapel forever. Lonnie had been reaching hippies for Jesus. When Lonnie partnered with Chuck and Calvary Chapel, God opened the floodgates and began a tremendous revival that is still bearing fruit all over the world for Christ even today.
Calvary Chapel has planted over 1,700 churches that are focused on “Simply teaching the Word of God simply”.
God has greatly blessed millions of people through Calvary Chapel since its birth in the 1960’s. And it continues to do so today. One of the people that has had their life changed for Jesus through Calvary Chapel’s ministry is our Pastor, Adam Kern.
Pastor Adam accepted Christ in 2006 as a freshman at West Chester University. While he was attending WCU, he was invited by a friend to attend Calvary Chapel
Chester Springs in 2008. Under the leadership of Pastor Chris Swansen, Adam grew to deeply love the Word of God. Pastor Chris was sent out to Church Plant in 1996 by Pastor Joe Focht who planted Calvary Chapel Philly. Pastor Joe was sent out to Church Plant in 1981 by Pastor Chuck Smith.
Pastor Adam of The Vine Calvary Chapel attended Calvary Chapel Bible College in 2012 and had a brief encounter with Pastor Chuck on a tiny dirt road on campus walking back to his dormitory. The humility of Pastor Chuck to stop and talk to a brand-new student, at the Bible College that Pastor Chuck helped create decades earlier, was something that Adam will never forget for the rest of his life.
In October of 2016 The Vine Church was planted with the help of Riverbend Community Church in Allentown. Pastor Joe Velarde of Riverbend has been a great friend and mentor to Adam over the years and the relationship between the two churches remains very strong. The Vine is grateful to be a part of the SEND Network that has a heart for planting churches and building up disciples for Christ.
On Sunday, October 9th, 2016 The Vine began with 10 people in Adam’s parents living room in Schnecksville, PA. The Vine began with Adam teaching verse-by-verse through John 1. From that point they continued to meet weekly for Worship at the Schnecksville Grange till February of 2019.
In 2019 they called their friends at Agape New Testament Fellowship to ask if they could share their space on Sunday evenings for Worship. Agape was located a few hundred yards up the road in Schnecksville and was happy to open its doors to The Vine. Pastor Adam let them know it would only be for a few weeks until they could locate another place to meet.
Fast forward two and a half years to the fall of 2021, and Agape voted unanimously to gift the property to The Vine and come under the leadership and vision that God had given to The Vine.
Agape had built a legacy as a church plant since 1978 in this community and The Vine is building upon the foundation they laid for the Gospel and carrying the torch forward for Jesus into the future.
In November of 2022, The Vine Church officially affiliated with Calvary Chapel to become The Vine Calvary Chapel. We have many more stories to share. But we’ll save them till we get to meet you face-to-face. We are grateful for all the Lord has doing, and our aim is to remain humble and faithful before Him.
Whether now on Earth or forever in Heaven, we believe the best is yet to come! To be continued…