Who We Are-The Wine Family
The seasons of our lives may change and we may set our hands to work at different assignments the Lord gives us, but always our core calling is the same: We will actively love and obey our Lord Jesus Christ and minister to the people He puts before us.
Early years:
Matthew’s college years (spent at King College, now King University) were a significant time of growth and even deliverance for Matthew as he found freedom from bondages from the past and he began to grow in his identity in Christ. Times of worship and prayer in private and in corporate settings were pivotal for Matthew as he grew in this season. He carried such a burden for prayer and worship that he organized and led prayer watches on King’s campus.
I (Julie) also attended King College and this was also a season of growth for me as I had grown up knowing Jesus, but college was a new season of experiencing God’s presence and love through the person of the Holy Spirit. Encountering Jesus in times of private and corporate worship and prayer (including some of those prayer watches Matthew was organizing, then occurring at our church Hosanna Fellowship) was also a critical factor in my growth in that season.
Both Matthew and I were growing in learning to minister to the Lord through worship and prayer and in learning to carry people before the Lord in prayer and through ministry to help them find salvation, healing, and encouragement in the presence of the Lord.
Marriage years:
After I graduated, Matthew and I got married and began a season of ministry together. Matthew was on staff at our church, and we both had the opportunity to receive foundational, hands on training about ministering to the Lord and to people in this season. There were significant opportunities to learn through the ministries of our church, through a growing prayer ministry (TRIHOP), and through other ministries like IHOP.
In addition to learning, we had valuable opportunities to teach. We led a home group for a time as well as taught classes about revivals, watching and prayer, understanding dreams and interpretations, and Biblical studies.
These days:
About 7 years ago, we both felt the Lord leading Matthew to step out of his role on staff at Hosanna and into raising support to be intercessory missionaries through TRIHOP. This was a leap of faith, as many transitions can be, but we felt God’s leadership into this new role to be primarily focused on prayer and worship and encouraging people from that place.
This means that we carry a burden to pray and agree with God’s heart in weekly corporate prayer gatherings. Worship has been a critical part of our calling and it is no different in this season. We pray for our nation, the nation of Israel and God’s heart for His people to be accomplished, for life in our region, for the Church of this region and the nation, for the nations of the earth to see the great worth of Jesus.
The burden to minister to the Lord as the Levites did in the Scripture, through continual praise and worship only increases over the years. Jesus is truly worthy of a pure offering of worship and prayer that would rise from His people like incense (Malachi 1:11). For both of us, getting to participate in worship through TRIHOP is a crucial part of seeing that Jesus gets the worship He is worthy of. We also know that for us, ministry proceeds from that place of prayer and worship.
Over the years, matters of LIFE have become increasingly important for us. From the early days in our marriage when I volunteered at a crisis pregnancy center following our first miscarriage to our current opportunities to stand with the 40 Days for Life ministry, we have been involved with praying for and loving LIFE in all its stages.
God’s heart for Israel has been another critical focus for us as we both carry a desire to love and serve God’s people before we were married, and we have continued to focus our prayers in that direction.
Ministering to people is a passion for both of us. Matthew is a loyal friend who loves to encourage and speak into the lives of people that God directs him to. I love connecting with people as well and encouraging them in the Lord. We both enjoy being on the ministry team at Hosanna and getting any opportunity to pray with people who may be looking for salvation, healing, the empowerment of the Holy Spirit or just a word of encouragement.
In ministry, we realize our own need to “get oil” for our lamps, which means growing continuously in the knowledge of God. Like the virgins in the parable Jesus tells in Matthew 25, we need a reserve of “oil” that would carry us through the “midnight hours,” which are the difficult and dark times that come for all of us in this life. We want to be continuously refueling our own supply of devotion to Jesus as well as encouraging others to get the fuel they need to shine brightly with Jesus’s light no matter how difficult things are around us.
God may certainly add new dimensions to our ministry as we continue to follow His good leading, but one thing is certain: no matter what season we find ourselves in, we will be faithfully loving God and abiding in His great love for us AND loving the people that He brings before us and encouraging them in any way we can to KNOW and LOVE Jesus!