About Us
International Word Fellowship History
International Word Fellowship Church was started with a prayer meeting on July, 1981 at Daryl Steinbrink’s home with Pastor Dean Miller. Bible studies and home meetings continued until the present church location became available to rent. On November 2, 1981 application was made to become an affiliate church with International Word Fellowship. The first worship service was held on November 22, 1981. On October 15, 1982 International Word Fellowship of Austin, Minnesota became a non-profit corporation with the State of Minnesota.
Founding Pastor Dean Miller pastored the church until November 1986. Frank Sabatula was pastor from November 1986 to June 1990, and Raymond Tuck has been pastor since June 1990.
International Word Fellowship operated under the name Victory Christian Center until January 2005, when the Board of Directors decided to begin using the name International Word Fellowship Church to better convey the vision of the church to reach out to the international community in the Austin region.
VINEYARD History and who we are…
The most important place to start when we look at the subject of membership and relationship is to look at the background. This will help you to understand where we came from and help you to appreciate all that God has done for us. So let’s start at the beginning.
Austin Vineyard History
Pastor Jonathan Law was appointed senior pastor of a new church plant in 1981. Early in January 1984 the new congregation began worshipping Sunday nights at the Austin Baptist Chapel and chose the name New Life Fellowship. After a year they moved to Southgate Elementary School, which was temporarily closed. During that year the congregation petitioned the United Methodist Church asking to be approved as a new United Methodist congregation. Three months later the Bishop told Pastor Law that he had a choice: if he remained with New Life Fellowship he must surrender his United Methodist ordination, or he could accept the pastorate of a United Methodist Church somewhere other than Austin.
A week later, in June 1985, Pastor Law attended a conference on healing in Denver, Colorado, sponsored by a new group of churches called the Vineyard. Speaker John Wimber had an extraordinary grasp on the bible like none other the Laws had ever heard, and he moved powerfully in the Holy Spirit. Hundreds of people were physically and emotionally healed. Others experienced deliverance from spiritual bondage. On the third day of the conference God spoke to Pastor Law saying, “You’re home.” Pastor Law knew that God was telling him that his life-long search for a church was at an end. God wanted him in the Vineyard doing that kind of ministry. Returning to New Life Fellowship, Pastor Jonathan and Maryann Law asked the congregation to allow them to teach the things they had learned at the conference, and they began singing the Vineyard worship songs they had learned. Virtually everyone in the congregation took a course on the Vineyard biblical model of praying for the sick. Cell groups were formed and most of the people of the congregation joined a group. In February 1987 we became the first Vineyard church in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North and South Dakota; and changed our name to New Life Vineyard Christian Fellowship.
Pastor Law was downtown one day when an elderly woman stopped him and asked, “Are you the Pastor of the Vineyard? Do you know anything about Billy Sunday?” He replied that he knew that the famous evangelist had been brought to Austin in 1906. A large wooden tabernacle that seated 3,000 people had been built for his service, and Sunday had preached every day for six weeks. She replied, “Do you know where the tabernacle was located?” He replied that he had no idea. She said, “Right where the Terp Ballroom now stands.” The Spirit of God leapt in Pastor Law’s heart confirming that it was God’s place; sacred land cleansed by God and dedicated to God’s work by the preaching of Billy Sunday. After 40 years of alcohol consumption in the Terp Ballroom, God wanted his land back. As a result, the Terp Ballroom was purchased and in July 1989 the congregation began stripping out the interior of the building. Men, women, and youth who knew nothing about construction volunteered thousands of hours and learned how to build. Finally, the first Sunday of April 1990, we held our first worship service in the building. In July 2001 Pastor David Skelton and his wife Joy from North Dakota came to Austin and served as senior pastors until January 2002, at which time Pastor Richard and JoAnn Chinander became interim pastors of the Vineyard. On September 21, 2003 Pastor Richard and JoAnn Chinander became the senior pastors by unanimous congregational vote. We changed our name from New Life Vineyard to Austin Vineyard on November 29, 2003. This continued until floodwaters proved to be financially devastating to our congregation. Pastor Richard Chinander led the Vineyard to sell its property in mid 2008. On January 1, 2009 we voted to merge with International Word Fellowship Church which had like beliefs, and the two churches became one.