As a New Wine intern I have often had the task of answering the question: ‘what is New Wine?’ You too may still be asking yourself this question. Well, I have come up with many short, pithy explanations I offer on the subject. Such as, ‘New Wine is not just defined by what we do; it’s about what we cause people to do.’ And, ‘New Wine connects the theological abstract with the practical concrete.’ Nevertheless, these short statements also fail to fully 
draw a clear picture of New Wine. The truth is the lives that have been changed by New Wine make it known best. My life, among many others changed by NW, is one that helps explicate not only ‘what is New Wine, New Wineskins’ but, more importantly, ‘who is New Wine.’
Insecurities entrench us all. Mine extend to my adolescent years of humiliation at the hands of ruthless peers. Insecurity rooted in my young torment is what led me to cling to many false securities into adulthood. I didn’t know it at the time but academics, popularity, and even Christianity became a way for me to control my value and worth among my friends.
Like the Apostle Paul, my Christian resume was exquisite: a Christian of Christians; in regards to the law, bible reading and prayer daily; as for zeal, sharing my faith with strangers on the streets every weekend boldly. Along these lines, I came to Multnomah Seminary with high expectations of mastering biblical education and proving my worth to the Christian world, not to mention God.
During my first year of Seminary I became involved with New Wine, because I felt I shared its value for engaging culture. However, I learned overtime that my form of cultural engagement was an awkward, aggressive attempt to validate myself to culture, instead of loving those who don’t validate me. New Wine exposed my false securities as the brick and mortar of a fortress that had for so long imprisoned me from engaging both God and culture.
The community of New Wine has led me into a repeated discovery of what it feels like to be loved by God when our walls of security are stripped away—vulnerable yet secure. Through my trips with Dr. Metzger and other New Wine students to PSU, KPDQ, and OSU, I observed and experienced the possibility of engaging culture in the freedom of a new found security in God’s love. Such engagement looks much different than what I knew before being a part of New Wine. It is standing in front of a PSU psychology class and looking with love at a girl that just asked you, “do you think I am going to hell?” It is six Multnomah students sharing meals with six Buddhists and learning about their hurts and pains. It’s painful, beautiful, and simply life changing.
I am one of the many who have become forever changed through the theological extending and practical experiencing of New Wine. Another who has been changed, my roommate and good friend, Benjamin Malick, likes to say: 'we are not human-doings; we are human-beings'. Likewise, New Wine is more than the sum of its activities; we who have collectively been marked by the love of God in a way that frees us to engage culture are New Wine.
draw a clear picture of New Wine. The truth is the lives that have been changed by New Wine make it known best. My life, among many others changed by NW, is one that helps explicate not only ‘what is New Wine, New Wineskins’ but, more importantly, ‘who is New Wine.’Insecurities entrench us all. Mine extend to my adolescent years of humiliation at the hands of ruthless peers. Insecurity rooted in my young torment is what led me to cling to many false securities into adulthood. I didn’t know it at the time but academics, popularity, and even Christianity became a way for me to control my value and worth among my friends.
Like the Apostle Paul, my Christian resume was exquisite: a Christian of Christians; in regards to the law, bible reading and prayer daily; as for zeal, sharing my faith with strangers on the streets every weekend boldly. Along these lines, I came to Multnomah Seminary with high expectations of mastering biblical education and proving my worth to the Christian world, not to mention God.
During my first year of Seminary I became involved with New Wine, because I felt I shared its value for engaging culture. However, I learned overtime that my form of cultural engagement was an awkward, aggressive attempt to validate myself to culture, instead of loving those who don’t validate me. New Wine exposed my false securities as the brick and mortar of a fortress that had for so long imprisoned me from engaging both God and culture.
The community of New Wine has led me into a repeated discovery of what it feels like to be loved by God when our walls of security are stripped away—vulnerable yet secure. Through my trips with Dr. Metzger and other New Wine students to PSU, KPDQ, and OSU, I observed and experienced the possibility of engaging culture in the freedom of a new found security in God’s love. Such engagement looks much different than what I knew before being a part of New Wine. It is standing in front of a PSU psychology class and looking with love at a girl that just asked you, “do you think I am going to hell?” It is six Multnomah students sharing meals with six Buddhists and learning about their hurts and pains. It’s painful, beautiful, and simply life changing.
I am one of the many who have become forever changed through the theological extending and practical experiencing of New Wine. Another who has been changed, my roommate and good friend, Benjamin Malick, likes to say: 'we are not human-doings; we are human-beings'. Likewise, New Wine is more than the sum of its activities; we who have collectively been marked by the love of God in a way that frees us to engage culture are New Wine.
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