My husband and I gave in to the rain last weekend and dug about in our house, cleaning out closets and re-organizing the office. I found lots of long-forgotten items. Like a play I wrote when I was 15, pictures of kids loved and lost, and a note from my old friend Renee, gone to Jesus now.

And this. Written in my friend Katharine's hand on the back of a church bulletin. Because she read it and she knew. It is us.

Imagine a ragtag collection of surrendered and transformed people who love God and others. They are mesmerized by the idea that this is not about them, but all about Jesus. They are transfixed by His story and His heart for their city.

They are seed-throwers and fire-starters, hope peddlers and grace-givers, risk-takers and dreamers, young and old. They link arms with anyone who tells the story of Jesus. They empower the poor, strengthen the weak, embrace the outcast, seek the lost. They serve together, play together, worship together, live life together. Their city will change because God sent them.

They are us.

We believe that small things done with great love will change the world.

-Vision statement of Vineyard Community Church of Cincinnati.