Must Be A Vineyard Thing

Wendy & I were in Brandon all weekend, mainly for Celina & Ken's wedding, but it was great to catch up with some of our extended "family" that we haven't seen for a while -- the "Southies" aka Winnipeg South Vineyard. And to talk for a while with the Heinrichs who are leading the Transcona Vineyard church plant. And to visit with Jan & Coral at the Brandon Vineyard on Sunday morning -- complete with Jan doing his traditional act of hauling me up to play bass with no warning or chord charts.

Must be a Vineyard thing: back in Victoria during the mid-1990's, I was phoned just before a meeting was about to start, and it was the sound tech asking if the band could borrow my bass guitar for the evening. I said "sure", ran to our Vineyard to get it, took it to the "other" Vineyard and got it set up, checked the tuning, etc. @ 6:59 (meeting to start prompt at 7:00).

As I was turning to leave the stage, the worship leader, Andrew Smith (who I'd met and had a few conversations with here and there), grabbed my arm. "Where are you going?" he asks.

"I'm going to sit down," I reply. "The bass is ready to go."

Andrew gets this funny smile on his face. "No, I need a bass player."

I look around the band -- Sherri Funk, Norm Strauss, Rik Leaf, Trevor Haug -- and think to myself "it'd be cool to play with these guys", so I said, "yeah, sure, I'll do it. Where are my chord charts?"

Andrew gave me another bemused smile as he began strumming his guitar to start the first song. "Chord charts?"

I put on the bass, and turn to look at the congregation, who are primed and ready for worship, and who's sitting in the front row? The Kevin Prosch Band -- including Tony Green, one of the best bassists I have heard in the Vineyard. And here I am with no chord charts, and as the evening proved, Andrew did a lot of songs I had never even heard before.

It was a lot of fun playing with those guys, and I would later enjoy many opportunities playing and touring with Andrew, Norm, and David Ruis in the years following, but it was a very humbling beginning, believe me!

Must be a Vineyard thing. But getting back to Brandon...

It was a little unnerving at times to have people walk up to me and say "hey, are you that 'Robbymac' guy?" It's hard to know how to respond -- "Well, yeah... friend or foe?" It was cool to put faces to some of the names of people who have commented, and to be reminded that there's a number of people who don't comment but drop by for a visit fairly often. So, for those who drop in but remain silent, "hi!" and thanks for taking the time to visit.