Deacon Godsey Oral History

Abstract

Oral history interview with Deacon Godsey conducted by Emily Stratton in Lawrence, Kansas, on June 21, 2013. Deacon Godsey is the lead pastor at Vintage Church in Lawrence. Vintage Church is one of Lawrence’s newer non-denominational churches. The church originally began under the name of “Heartland K-10” in 2003, as a multi-site operation to Lawrence from Heartland Community Church in Olathe, KS. But after a few years of being in Lawrence, Heartland K-10’s leadership team worked with Heartland Community Church to shift the Lawrence campus into an independent church plant that would no longer to be affiliated with Heartland Community Church—Vintage Church. More of this transitional story can be heard in an interview with Seth Davidson (former Heartland K-10 staff and founder of Vintage Church) conducted in 2010. After Vintage had gained stability in Lawrence, Seth Davidson brought Deacon Godsey into the leadership team. After co-pastoring for a while, Seth transitioned out of his leading role, where Deacon, then, became the Lead Pastor. This interview features Deacon Godsey and picks up where the 2010 interview with Seth Davidson leaves off. Questions cover the leadership transition from Seth to Deacon as well as current ‘forms & functions’ in the church. In other words, Emily and Deacon discuss how Vintage sets up and takes down (since they do not utilize their own church building), how they get congregants involved in church, what it’s like to be a younger church in a college town where there is a large population turnover each year and a large student population base, and some re-iterations about the vision for the church—why Vintage takes the form and goals that it does. This interview was conducted for the Religion in Kansas Project as part of a summer fieldwork internship funded by the Friends of the Department of Religious Studies.