July Updates

We hope you’ve had a beautiful, restful and joyful summer so far. Ours has been pretty full and will continue to be! If you missed our first update where we introduced our team and some of St. John the Beloved’s story, you can find it here. This month, we’re excited to share with you:

• Some personal and church updates

• How to join us for upcoming events

• Prayer requests

Hohmeier Update

Last month, Anna and Brian successfully moved from Columbus into their new home in the Old Brooklyn neighborhood, thanks to some incredible provision from God. They're incredibly grateful for the support of prayers along the way—from being let out of their lease early to finding the right house at the right time. On moving day, family and friends came to help unpack, clean, and ogle at their cottage garden full of native plants, and Ivy Gierhart (11) was commissioned to make Anna’s Dad a birthday cake because they moved on his birthday. They've already gotten to meet some of their new neighbors and look to continue building those relationships over the months ahead.

Before they left in June, Scarlet City, one of our sending churches, commissioned and celebrated both Anna and Brian. It felt special and sacred to be prayed over, to rejoice, and to remember the shared work of God together as a long-time church family.

General Updates 

Besides moving and summer travel to rest and visit family, we’ve been progressing through the Vineyard Church Planting assessment process and enjoying Vineyard partnership in the area. 

• A Saint John the Beloved takeover! We got to lead the worship service at Vineyard Cleveland this past weekend. Wendy preached, Mike and Anna led music, and Brian led Communion. It was such a joy to be welcomed and get to celebrate as part of a larger Vineyard family.

• Project Timothy: Anna led worship training for high school students at Project Timothy for the Great Lakes Region in the Vineyard.

• Vineyard Church Planting Assessment: All four of us are progressing through the Vineyard assessment process, with marriage and psychological assessments upcoming.

• Church Board: We’ve started inviting some trusted friends, who are also experienced and wise leaders, to discern joining our initial board. This board is an important part of St. John the Beloved’s governance model, alongside of our team of elders, and our goal is to have our board in place and apply for 501(3)(c) status by early fall. 

We look forward to attending the next area meeting with other Vineyard churches in Northeast Ohio as a full team!

Local events for Clevelanders!

For the rest of the summer, we’re turning our attention toward building friendships, gathering interest meetings, and cultivating connections on the Near West side. If you’re local and interested in getting involved with the St. John the Beloved church plant, we’d love for you to join us at one of these events! 

• Sunset Worship at the Beach (August 16): We’ll practice a simple, contemplative liturgy at the beach. 

• Interest meeting at the Hohmeiers’ (August 27): Come over for dessert and cocktails (or mocktails) to hear more about what we think God is inviting St. John the Beloved to become. We’ll also have time to worship together through prayer, singing, and sharing in the Eucharist.

• Picnic at Lincoln Park (August 30): Join us for a meal in Tremont! The main agenda is simply to meet one another and enjoy summer foods. You can bring an optional dessert or side to share. We’ll cover the rest!

• 1:1 Conversations (anytime!): We would love to hear about how God is stirring and inviting you, dive deeper into the heart of St. John the Beloved, and just get to know you better. Especially if you can’t make any of our upcoming events, email us at stjohn@belovedvineyard.org and we'll schedule a time for you to connect with one of us or with our team.

If you’re interested in attending any of these events, please fill out this form so that we can keep an eye out for you!

Prayer requests

For now, we would love your prayer for:

• The gatherings that we have planned for this summer, and especially for those God is inviting to join us. We’re increasingly aware that God is stirring in people we haven’t even met yet! We’re praying for graced times of building new friendships and spiritual community.

• Introductions and connections with our neighbors on the near west side, whether new friends, local churches or ministries, business owners, and residents. We pray that St. John the Beloved can be a kingdom presence that partners and cooperates with the good of these neighborhoods.

• People on the near west side who don’t know Jesus yet or have become disillusioned with faith.

• Our invitations to potential board members and their discernment. 

It’s been such a gift to know so many friends are praying for us. We’re humbled and grateful for your partnership in prayer.

“Remain in [Jesus’] love” (John 15:9),

// Wendy, Mike, Anna & Brian
Co-Pastors
St. John the Beloved Vineyard Church
belovedvineyard.org

Introducing St. John the Beloved Vineyard Church

Hello, friend,

We (Wendy and Mike Gierhart, Anna and Brian Hohmeier) are planting a church! And we're already so grateful for your support, friendship, interest—or whatever else got you onto this email list, where we're excited to keep you updated over the coming months.

Introducing St. John the Beloved

St. John the Beloved is a contemplative, charismatic, sacramental Vineyard church, centered on the love of God and Cleveland's near west side neighborhoods.

Our vision is to be a people seeking to know and become the love of God. And it’s this emphasis on the patient, present and transforming love of God that inspires our name. The gospel-writer John knew himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” and it’s only in experiencing this belovedness for ourselves that we can become witness of God’s love to the world.

Who we are

Wendy, Mike, Anna and Brian will each co-pastor St. John the Beloved bi-vocationally as we get started. The two couples met each other through Anna, Brian and Wendy’s involvement in the Order of the Common Life.

Right: Mike, Cole, Wendy, Ivy, and Keagan. Left: Brian and Anna.

Anna is from Columbus, Ohio. She’s a student at Ashland Theological Seminary (ATS), teaches digital skills in the community, and has helped lead worship and liturgy at Scarlet City Church for 12 years. Anna will graduate with a Master of Arts in Christian Ministries from ATS in 2027.

Br. Brian is a spiritual director from Cleveland and a vowed brother in the Order of the Common Life, where he also serves as the director of formation. He graduated from Fuller Theological Seminary in 2013, and he and Anna have been married for four years.

Mike is originally from Central Pennsylvania and has lived in Cleveland since 2017. He's an infrastructure engineer for a financial services company by day and a graduate of Nyack College's pastoral ministry program. He has been involved in ministry for over two decades, serving at various points as a full-time pastor, part-time worship director, and volunteer.

Wendy is a spiritual director and ordained pastor from the Philadelphia area who has made Cleveland home over the last decade. She serves at Order of the Common Life as the program manager for the School of Formation, and she and Mike have been married for almost 18 years. Their family has taken different shapes due to foster care, but they currently live at home with their two kids (Cole and Ivy) and have one out of the house, Keagan. Wendy graduated with a M.Ed. in 2012 and a M.A. in Biblical Literature in 2020. She’s currently completing a Doctor of Ministry in Spiritual Formation & Relational Neuroscience.

Where we are today & where we’re going

Today: Right now, we’re in the formal planning stages of our church plant and, while we already have the support of the Vineyard and our sending churches, we’re working through the official assessment process.

Summer 2026: This June, Anna and Brian will move from Columbus to Cleveland, where the Gierharts already are. The four of us will begin gathering with people around meals and developing friendships in the area with an aim of beginning regular meetings in the fall.

Fall 2026 and forward: Starting in the fall, we plan to begin meeting in living rooms twice a month for prayer, worship and communion; cultivating a small team of formational leaders; and continuing to strategize and pray as a pastoral team, discerning with the Spirit when to move into larger or more frequent gatherings.

How to get involved

Your ongoing prayer and encouragement is one of the most important things you can offer us as we take the next faithful steps, and we hope you’ll continue to follow along as we send these emails (we’ll be staying off social media!).

For now, we would love your prayer for:

• Anna and Brian’s move. They’re in contract on a house in Old Brooklyn and appreciate your prayers for a smooth closing on June 9th

• Our process with Vineyard Church Planting, which is underway.

• Discernment as we invite people to join our external advisory board, particularly a treasurer with financial experience and wisdom

• Protection—spiritual and relational—as we keep saying “yes” to God

Finally, we would welcome any financial support you may feel invited to give. You can follow this link to give through our donation platform, Tithly. We’ll have more to share about this in the coming months, but while our bi-vocational ministries mean we won’t need to raise salaries for the foreseeable future, we’ll be raising support this summer for our assessment costs with the Vineyard, website/subscriptions, and food for summer gatherings we’ll be hosting. As a registered church, all donations are tax-deductible.

Again, we’ll have much more to share with you in the coming months (and years), but if you feel led or curious to get involved in other ways—or just to learn more—please reach out to us at any time so we can grab some time (and maybe a coffee) either online or in person.

“Keep yourself in the love of God” (Jude 1:21),

// Wendy, Mike, Anna & Brian
Co-Pastors
St. John the Beloved Vineyard Church
belovedvineyard.org