In 1996 a small band of Hood Riverites began to attend the Vancouver Vineyard. The Spirit was stirring the Church through renewal at that time. The Vancouver Vineyard was experiencing some of the outpouring of the “Toronto Blessing.” Gary and Cindy Ives began to travel to Hood River to lead a home group in the Anderson’s home and before too long our home was too full to accommodate everyone. About 70 of us began to meet on Thursday nights in a local church basement. We were full of anticipation as we worshiped and waited to see what God might want to do in our midst.

We had been shaken and stirred to deeply desire a deeper walk of intimacy with the Lord. We believed that He was calling the church up higher - to be awake and empowered by His Spirit to move in His love and in His supernatural ways. It became clear to us, in time, that the Lord’s intention was to birth a new church in the Columbia River Gorge. From our inception we believed that we were called to Worship Him extravagantly, and to base anything we might attempt to do on the foundations of worship and prayer. We believed that we were called to be a church with a global heart and a global perspective - with missions intrinsic to our identity. We believed that we were being called to be a hospital where people could find healing for their lives, and that we had a call to be generous, with a significant percentage of our resources directed outward.

We were commissioned and sent out as a church plant under Steve and Layne Fish of Vancouver Vineyard, with our first official Sunday service being January 22nd of 1998. We met in the Westside Gymnasium for a year and a half. Among those added to our numbers were people from another local fellowship who had a building available for our use. We were able to move into our current location during the summer of 1999. In late 2001 Denny Anderson responded to a call from the Lord to step into the role of senior pastor replacing Gary Ives who had resigned some months before.

In the spring of 2002 the elder couples attended a conference in Seattle featuring Randy Clark and Bill Johnson. This was a pivotal time in our church’s story. Together we heard the vision we felt we were birthed in as a church plant. We were moved by the teaching, challenged by the exhortations, and stretched by the miraculous we were witnessing. We all received prayer from Randy and others on the ministry team. We began to pray about the possibility of traveling with Randy on one of his Global Awakening trips being offered.

When we returned to our Vineyard Church that following day - a Sunday - we began to worship. The presence of the Lord visited us. Most of the congregation found themselves on the floor, weeping. Our fellowship has never been the same.

To learn more about the Vineyard movement, click here.