The History of the Stadium Vineyard By Pastor Ed McGlasson

A beautiful girl from the Vineyard

In 1982, little did I know that my life was about to change drastically. I met a beautiful blonde named Jill who later became my wife. Jill was a member of the Santa Monica Vineyard. 

I remember my first visit to a Vineyard. It was very strange to me; people were raising their hands and singing. At first I thought there was a robbery going on, but I knew it must just be their particular form of worship. I was a conservative evangelical, and in the church I came from, if we sang the fourth verse over again, it was revival time!  I was touched by the worship, there commitment to preaching the Word of God, and their compassion to the sick, broken and poor. It was a church were was no bench, everybody got to do the ministry of Jesus.

High School Revival

A number of months later, I flew to San Antonio , Texas to join Milton Carroll and a group of professional athletes who were holding evangelistic meetings at the local high schools. Milton and I went to one high school together and something happened there that changed my life. There were 1300 attending this meeting, including teachers. As I was getting ready to stand up and speak, I distinctly heard a voice say to me, “Let me do it this time.” I thought Milton had spoken to me and I asked him, “What did you say?” He had said nothing to me. Again the voice spoke in my head and said, “ Let me do it this time. ” I thought to myself, “Lord, is that you? What do you want to do?” I heard him say, “I want to save all of these children. ” I was thinking to myself, “But what is my part?” All I heard from the Lord was, “Just stand there.”

I walked up to the podium and as I started to speak I began to cry. I couldn't control myself; I couldn't control the feeling that came over me. I know now that it was the compassion of the Lord. Not only did I cry, I began to sob. The children were getting restless in their seats. I had never cried in public like this before, and the more I tried to control myself the worse it got. Then a strange thing happened; I looked up and on the ceiling there was something that looked like a cloud. It was like a white mist floating near the ceiling and it was glowing. I rubbed my eyes, thinking that my tears were causing this, but I knew that it was real and I could see it getting bigger and bigger. The cloud began to descend upon the students. As it descended upon them, they became very quiet and began to intently focus on me. This made me cry even more. Then the Lord said to me, “Now, ask them if they want to be saved.” I had not even preached the Gospel yet, but obediently I said to them, “If you've never received Jesus as your personal savior and you would like to come forward today in front of your friends, come.” It was like a stampede. Kids were jumping over the railing, and running forward, crying and repenting of their sins. I knew I was in the presence of a visitation of the Lord - one like I had never seen before.

Suddenly I felt something strange on my leg. I looked down to discover a person hugging me; it was the Principal of the high school! He began to confess his sin to me. It was at once the strangest thing I had ever seen but also the most Holy! Many other amazing things happened that day, but there is not enough space here to describe all of them. I knew then that the Lord was opening my eyes to allow me to see His presence and His power. My prayer was beginning to be answered.

A Word from John Wimber

I had begun to attend the Vineyard with my wife and later that year, I attended a Vineyard conference in San Diego , California . John Wimber was speaking at this conference, and I wanted to hear him. In the middle of one of his sessions, the Lord spoke to me and said that John had a word for me and I was to go see him. I thought to myself, “Ah! That probably is just my ambitious heart wanting to get close to him.” So I prayed, “Lord, if that is true, have John run into me, and I will know that he has a word for me.” I thought no more about it and left the session. The conference was over and as I was getting off the elevator and rounding a corner, John Wimber came around at the same time and literally ran into me. As he fell backwards, he looked at me and said, “I almost went to heaven!” I laughed and said, “John, I think this is a divine appointment. Could I come in and see you?” He said, “Call my secretary and I'll pray about this. If I'm supposed to meet with you, I'll call you.” I had never met anybody who prayed about who he was supposed to meet!

A week later my telephone rang; it was John's secretary. She said “John will see you tomorrow at 3:30 .” I went to a place called The Wagner House to meet with John and he had also invited John McClure, Pastor of the Newport Vineyard. We started talking and John Wimber gave me a word that changed my life. He looked at me and said, “Remember that conference in San Diego ? The Lord spoke to me about you, and I want to tell you what He said. In the Book of Acts, when Paul started his ministry, he didn't have much success because of his history. So Barnabas came and trained him to be a Pastor. Ed, what I'm saying to you is that I know that the Lord has called you as an Evangelist; but you don't love the church yet. He wants to make you a Pastor, so that you'll lay down your life for her.”

“You see Ed, God has called us to three commitments: He has called us to Christ personally, to His Church, and to His Cause. There are many who minister in Jesus' name, but they don't love His bride ‘the Church'. Ed, you could spend the rest of your life on a bus or a plane, traveling from place to place, with little or no accountability. Or, you could build what Jesus is building, His church. Many of those who have chosen the former have paid dearly and lost their families in the process. If you follow me, I will teach you to be a servant. Or, you can continue to pursue your own ministry and I will bless you in that.” His words pierced my soul. I was so touched by his love, and how genuine he was. I knew the weight of this decision and I knew that it would change our lives. I would never be the same again.  In 1984 we joined the staff at the Newport Beach Vineyard with John McClure, and began to learn how to pastor. John McClure was a wonderful help to us, and through John Wimber's words, he became a “Barnabas” to Jill and me!

A Dream Come True

Later on that year I had a dream about a great church. I found myself walking around this massive building waiting for the service to begin. People were filling up the seats and the service was soon to start. It had three tiers and three kinds of balconies. I walked around with my mouth open just saying, “Wow!” I'd never seen such a building. All of a sudden I was walking around and wondering, “Who's going to pastor this church?” I saw that it was a church that worshipped God with all their heart; preached God's Word with power and gave the Holy Spirit freedom to change their lives . I knew that in this church God's love would grab you, shake you and change your heart. It would be a community that follows Christ and make Him Visible to the world.

I thought to myself, “Boy, somebody has got a lot of work to do in order to pastor this.” Then the Lord spoke to me in this dream and said, “You will be the pastor.” I remember waking up and crying out, “Oh, no! Not me!”

I decided to ask the Lord to confirm this dream by giving my Pastor, John McClure a dream. I had not heard him talk about having many dreams, so I thought I was safe. I asked the Lord in prayer, “Lord speak to John about this”. I even asked to have John directed to call me and say specifically, “Ed, I had a dream last night about you planting a church, and that you would know where it's supposed to be.” I left this with the Lord and continued to pastor. Three years later I got a phone call. It was John McClure. He said, “Hey Ed, can I come over and talk to you?” He had never come over to my house like that before. I didn't know if I was in trouble or what? When he arrived he said, “Ed, I had a dream last night about you planting a church. And the Lord said you would know where it was supposed to be.” Oh, no! Here we go, Jill.

Eight weeks later on April 1, 1988 , the Stadium Vineyard Christian Fellowship was born. We started with 11 people meeting in my living room. We began an early morning prayer group and prayed about the church that Jesus wanted to build here. We started our first Sunday services at the Jordan School in Garden Grove , California . After five years we out grew that building and moved to our present location here in Anaheim . This church was birthed to display the extravagant heart of the Father towards the lost.

Come and Join us..