History We visited the San Luis Vineyard in 1991. It wasn’t long before Bob and Margie Craine invited us to join them on multiple overseas ministry trips, England, New Zealand and Albania. I’ve been in the Vineyard ever since! We served in the church, leading kinship, home or connect groups, teaching and occasionally preaching until the summer of 1998.

In September of 1998 I accepted a position with Vineyard Five Cities which made me a bi-vocational pastor. I was also operating Rivera’s Body & Paint Shop that I had started back in 1980. My plate was full.

In 2000 Terry Paige, then the senior Pastor, decided to move VFC to San Luis Obispo. On July 2nd, 2000 we were publicly commissioned as the senior pastors of VFC. On July 9th I preached my first sermon as Senior Pastor. I started a series on Psalm 103, one of my favorite Psalms! I felt I had heard a strong word during this season, “Don’t be a hurry to do anything, except to love these people.” Which we faithfully tried to do.

In the meantime, we renamed the church to Five Cities Vineyard Church. We met in local elementary schools until 2003. In 2004 we moved into a spacious building that we had raised funds for and successfully remodeled. Our landlord was gracious and loved having the church meet in his building. He even attended a few of our celebrations. The church grew rapidly, we eventually went to two services. Then in 2008 there was a downturn in our economy. Young families started relocating to find employment. We cut back on staff and the amount of space that we were leasing. We tightened up our belts. However, God was always faithful to supply for our needs!

In the aftermath of the downturn we were low on funds and were not looking to relocate again. Our focus was on rebuilding after the storm. But God had another plan. Out of the blue, we received a call from an old friend that asked if we might be interested in owning our own building. They were just getting ready to list their building but at the last minute felt they should call us to see if we were interested. One thing led to another. We visited the location, inspected the building, fasted and prayed for 90 days. The owner even gave us permission to do a trial run and have a service in the building since it had already been equipped as a church sanctuary. So, we did and there was agreement with the leadership and the congregation to begin negotiations on purchasing the building. In other words, we began doing our due diligence. Everyone was very excited!

In July of 2012 I called a meeting with the owner, we pulled up a couple of chairs in the patio area outside a small country store. I told him that after completing our due diligence we were all in agreement to move forward with the purchase. He was super happy about our decision.

I explained to him that there was only one major problem. He paused and intently looked at me for a moment. Then I dropped the bomb, I explained to him that we didn’t have any money to put down on the purchase of the building. He smiled at me and said, “Jose, that’s not a problem.” He continued, ‘When you guys get a few bucks together then give us a down payment.” We shook hands and agreed, eventually signed all the paperwork. 90 days later we gave him a reasonable down payment. We’re still occupying the building today! Since then we’ve made significant upgrades to the building and premises. It’s been a beautiful facility that we’re proud to call our church home.

In November of 2023, after almost 25 years of pastoring, we felt called to pass the baton to Daniel and Addie Wrage. It seemed good to us to bring them on as associates. Then they eventually became the senior pastors. We are still at the church and now serving in a supporting role as Pastor Emeritus. The Wrage’s are doing a wonderful job at Five Cities and we’re blessed to be able to be a part of what God is doing in the new season!

In January of 2025 we also assumed another new role as Vineyard AL’s. Vineyard Area Leaders of the Central Coast. We’ve named this new ministry The King’s Heart Ministries.

It’s and honor and privilege to be working with nine other Vineyard churches, Pastors and leaders from Salinas to Santa Barbara. Our vision is to listen, support and encourage. We pray and hope that this new leg of the race will be as adventurous and fruitful as the last 25 years have been!