John
John made the choice to begin following Jesus back in 1982 at a Youth Retreat put on by a Nazarene Churchin Houston, Texas. Shortly after joining the Air Force, he married Tammy in June of 1986 and they now have three children together (Ashley 21, Johnathon 19, James 18), and one Grandson (Vincent 2). Well, Ashley actually had the Grandson, they just watched. He Got his Bachelor’s of Science degree in Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas in 1995.
Most of his time in ministry after college involved leading worship and bringing the contemporary worship of the Vineyard to a few Nazarene churches in Texas, and Tennessee. Then in 2003 he began attending the Vineyard Church in Houston and served as the Youth Pastor for about 18 months. In the Summer of 2006 he moved his entire family out to Albany, New York from Houston, Texas, and there began immediately helping out at the Albany Vineyard in Latham, NY. Before long he was the Youth and Worship Pastor, a home group leader, the leader of deep healing ministries and was doing pre-marital counseling while at the same time participating in the Vineyard Leadership Institute (an Internet Correspondence Seminary Course). All of this while working full-time, and he couldn’t be happier.
Shortly after arriving in Albany though, God began talking to him about planting a church here that was a little bit different than other churches he had been involved with in the past. So in July of 2007he stepped out on a limb of faith, leaving behind his job at the Vineyard, to plant an independent church along with about 10 faithful others who agreed with the vision of planting a different kind of church. He considers himself to be a student of life and prefers to spend his spare time reading and learning about spirituality, theology, and similar topics, but he is frequently and pleasantly interrupted by his wife and children where he tends to devote most of his time. He is currently trying to makehis way through The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, a work of fiction by Stepehen R. Douglas that he frequently picks up and puts down. He is still a bi-vocational pastor and is currently employed full-time with Tennessee Gas Pipeline as an I.T. Coordinator for the Northeast Region.
3 Comments to “John”
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By John O'Grady, October 23, 2009 @ 10:05 am
Hi John -
My day job (since no one’s around to pay me for the neighborhood association) is counseling youth and families in Albany, and in this capacity I have a question: What sorts of outreach do your members do? I’m working with a Mom and two kids who live in our neighborhood and who have very few resources. Mom would particularly benefit from someone who could watch her kids every so often (middle-school-age boy and girl), as she works and attends a program to get her RN.
– John O’Grady
By John, October 24, 2009 @ 5:04 pm
Hey John,
Thanks for the inquiry. We don’t really call it outreach anymore since doing kind things for other people tends to do us just as much good as it does them, and this sort of activity needs to be a normal result of the outflow of God’s love in us and therefore should not be treated special or labeled as something different. We do have a community of folks that are doing stuff together that may be of interest to your friend.
On Tuesday mornings we have a children’s playgroup that gets together for about 2 hours and facilitates their children in play. The group is for toddlers mostly ages 1 – 5 or so. Of course older children are welcome, but they may be asked to help the toddlers in their play with playdough, blocks and other hands-on activity.
This group is for both the children and the parents in that it gives the kids a safe place to play, while the adults get to be with other adults with small kids. It gives them a place to decompress a bit and build good relationships as well. Parents of older children in school are also welcome to attend and help out.
We also have a Bible Study that meets in Newtonville for people who are around in the day-time. It is on Thursdays at 10 AM as well and you might see the same folks from the playgroup there.
Every other Friday night we do “Rock-Band” in a pastor’s home in Delmar. This may interest the middle-schoolers. Parents are encouraged to bring their children and rock out with us from 7:00 PM until about Midnight (or whenever your kids get tired). The next Rock Band night will be this coming Friday (10/30/09). There is one couple who brings their three middle school aged children with them. Keep in mind that some adults do drink alcohol responsibly at this activity.
And on Sunday, we meet in the evenings for worship. This includes a little time to snack on some food together, some musical worship with the children. Remarkably we are currently talking about the possibility of a “Youth Group” in our community that would give the middle-schoolers a group of leaders and peers to hang out with and discuss the Bible with.
As far as random childcare, we really don’t have the resources to pay someone to watch children, however we encourage everyone to build relationships with other parents of children and other folks in our community, and many times this leads to us watching children that are not our own, in exchange for the same type of help from other individuals.
Make sense? Ultimately, we hope to send the message that when you participate with us in community, you are considered a vital part of the give and take relationship that exists in any true community experience. I think that this person and her children would benefit greatly by getting involved with us, and of course I feel we too would greatly benefit from their participation. So, I encourage you to send her our way.
By John, October 24, 2009 @ 5:09 pm
Oh yeah,
Forgot, we also will be starting up a FoodNotBombs chapter at the church in late November. So, we will be giving out free food on Wednesday evenings to whomever wishes to eat with us or come by.