OUR HISTORY

The Vine’s very first gathering was held at The Abbey Resort in 1999 after Jennifer and Dano Jukanovich asked, “What would happen if a generation of believers gathered together for one simple purpose – to build relationships now that would impact the future of the church?” They felt a deep burden for the divisions they had experienced in the Church. Jennifer had just finished working for an advisor to President Clinton on religious issues and was troubled by the tensions she saw among religious leaders. Inspired by a unity-building conference she had convened in college among Christian college students in New England college and the programming philosophy she witnessed working for Ambassador Phil and Linda Lader’s Renaissance Weekends, she and Dano posed this question.  

That same summer, Andy Crouch, Bill Haley, and others had taken on the publishing helm of re:generation quarterly magazine. The Jukanoviches asked if The Vine could be the face-to-face venue for the conversations they were hosting in the magazine. Together they formed Regeneration Forum, which rooted in orthodox Christianity, gathered emerging Christian leaders across deep differences, advancing conversations and relationships that would impact the future of the church and the culture. Their goal was that in bringing Christians together with other believers across deep differences, that they would not water down differences into a lowest-common-denominator, but invite conversations where all the specificity of different Christian traditions and vocations are brought to bear on contemporary questions.  

Predominantly volunteer-led, The Vine convened five national gatherings and six regional dinners, until life circumstances forced the hard decision to close in 2006. Deirdre McQuade served as Executive Director of The Vine in that season. In 2021, Jennifer had the privilege of spending time with Deirdre just a few months before she passed away from cancer. Deirdre said to her, “Jennifer, there is so much fruit of The Vine. You need to gather people again.” Those words stayed close to Jennifer’s heart. So much has changed since the last Vine gathering. So much division and polarization pervades our country. In talking with other past participants of The Vine, a group sensed a call to bring people together, to testify to “the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” for the healing and hope of our communities and nation. So in faith of what might God might do.  

We are no longer emerging leaders. Life has provided twists and turns we did not expect. We have experienced deep losses and deep joys. But there is a wisdom to our experiences that needs to be shared. And so we gather.