Covenant News

Vibrant Covenant Plans First 'Preview' September 19

PORTLAND, OR (August 10, 2004) - Vibrant Covenant Church is busy preparing for its first preview worship service on September 19, according to church planting pastor C.V. Hartline.

The core group of 25 individuals will have an opportunity to worship with members from some of its supporting churches – including First Covenant Church in Portland and Trinity Covenant Church in Salem – on August 22 at First Covenant. First Covenant is helping birth the new congregation, which began core group development in April and had its first official event on June 13.

C.V. and his wife, Stacy, are originally from Dallas, Texas, and Edmond, Oklahoma, respectively. They met while C.V. was at Truett Theological Seminary in Waco, Texas. The two completed their undergraduate educations at Baylor University, which sponsors Truett Seminary through the Southern Baptist Church. Hartline was pastor to students at Trinity Covenant Church for five years before being called to church planting.

"What really excites me is exercising faith," said Hartline about the new church, which will meet at a local school in an eclectic area of town this fall. "I'm really leaning hard on Christ to do far more than even I can imagine. Our whole goal is shifting church from the idea of place to an emphasis on relationships. The way that it is manifesting itself is through our core group and weekly core group meetings. We're watching it take shape within the core group; we're functioning in small groups and I'm encouraging them as a leader through connecting people and letting them know that they're intrinsically valuable."

Music and drama are important concepts as Vibrant Covenant begins considering how to form a church. Hartline likes to call himself a "community designer and planner" as he communicates Christ's values in a multi-faceted way. The congregation also values children's ministry and has core group members who have already done children's ministry at previous churches or organizations. Hartline is hoping to connect with native Portlanders – using small group ministries throughout neighborhoods - without communicating "Christian-ese," he added.

For more information about the church, call Hartline at 503-238-5950 or email him at Silversurfer_cv@msn.com. The church's website is www.thevibrantcommunity.com.

Printable version of this page.