http://charleswear.com/2009/03/22/we-like-our-heroes-larger-than-life/ the publisher of Next-Wave Sat, 28 Apr 2012 06:00:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://charleswear.com/2009/03/22/we-like-our-heroes-larger-than-life/comment-page-1/#comment-472 Phil Hawkins Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:48:18 +0000 http://charleswear.com/?p=275#comment-472 I never knew Wimber, not even to hear him speak. But I spent about ten years at the Cincinnati Vineyard and helped get one of their church plants going (last I knew, they've planted more than 20 other churches, besides their own growth to a megachurch). I have a lot of respect for Steve and for the inner circle who worked closely with him to lead that church. One of the things I find very significant is the way the church handled the time around his medical trouble and the transition of leadership after it. When Steve was in the hospital kept under anesthesia and no one knew if he would live, the church leaders functioned without visibly missing anything of importance, while freeing Janie, Steve's wife, from all her ministry duties so she could deal with the crisis. And unlike a lot of large churches, when it became necessary for Steve to step aside from active leadership, the people he had trained stepped up to the plate and the church maintained its DNA, its focus, and its growth (what numerical losses there were came from sending people out to plant more churches). I never knew Wimber, not even to hear him speak. But I spent about ten years at the Cincinnati Vineyard and helped get one of their church plants going (last I knew, they’ve planted more than 20 other churches, besides their own growth to a megachurch). I have a lot of respect for Steve and for the inner circle who worked closely with him to lead that church. One of the things I find very significant is the way the church handled the time around his medical trouble and the transition of leadership after it. When Steve was in the hospital kept under anesthesia and no one knew if he would live, the church leaders functioned without visibly missing anything of importance, while freeing Janie, Steve’s wife, from all her ministry duties so she could deal with the crisis. And unlike a lot of large churches, when it became necessary for Steve to step aside from active leadership, the people he had trained stepped up to the plate and the church maintained its DNA, its focus, and its growth (what numerical losses there were came from sending people out to plant more churches).

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