Fort Worth Public Market Building

About fifteen years ago a concept began to develop in my little pea brain. It wouldn't leave me alone. I ignored it... It wouldn't leave me alone...I ignored it - as best I could. Ten years ago an addendum to that concept began to bubble to the top. The addendum was a "book" compared to the part 1 "article" of this concept. On the canvas of my mind, some elusive brush kept painting this concept -- this "vision" in greater and greater detail.  This vision is now called The Vine. The Vine is a completely unique concept for a Christian Performing Arts and Entertainment ministry, venue and school.

Seven years ago I lived in beautiful downtown Ft. Worth. At that time, I was developing a ground-up company now known as Texas Power, a retail electric provider entering the market in the second year of deregulation. This was an exciting young industry, brand new to Texas and I was knee deep in the demands of birthing our little contribution to this new market. The electric provider was a company nestled in under the umbrella of my father's existing natural gas firm, which I helped launch shortly before I ran (for my life) to be a songwriter in Nashville in 1994. I was now back from Nashville with a new and very different passion and calling on my life.

Every morning I drove from my downtown apartment to our offices in Arlington. If you don't know this about me already, I am a believer in Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. I believe that the Holy Spirit still speaks and guides His people with His own voice in this modern day. I didn't always believe that but He had His way of proving it to me through a "cancer scare" in 1999. The Holy Spirit spoke up one morning on my way to work and pointed my eye to a downtown building and simply said "This is the building that will house this vision I am giving you."  No thunder. No lightning. No finger dangling from out of the clouds - just the simple, to-the-point, matter-of-fact "still small voice" of God. "Oh." I replied and sat in silence for a brief I'm-not-even-going-there moment.

"Do...do you realize I'm really busy right now with this other thing you've given me to do? ... and did I mention that I'm really a songwriter God, not an electric company developer? ... Yes, never mind that, we've been over that a thousand times! Anyway, so, what are you saying? What is it that you want me to do about this building, Lord?"

"Walk through the doors." 

After a month or so of finally working up the guts to do just that, I was met at the door by a female employee who exited her cubicle to assist me.  The interaction went something like this:

"Uuuuh ... do .. uh .. is there ... do you know if there is any... office space ...for lease in here?" …WHAT am I doing?

"Oh no honey,” she exclaimed, with a chuckle in her voice.  “We've been in here for 20 years and we aren't going anywhere! Sorry!"

"Oh no problem, thanks anyway!" …Just turn and walk away and go to work you idiot! "Nice Lord! Thanks! Thanks for that! …I've lost it! ...I'm losing it!" 

Two months later the building was completely empty and there was a big "For Lease" sign in the east window! And so, the adventure begins! To no avail, I made several attempts over the following months and years to approach the owners and share the vision. In the one and only meeting I was offered, which was actually held casually, during an art exhibit they hosted in the building, it seemed clear the owners had their own future vision and plan for the building. Their assistant finally encouraged me to move on with the vision and find another building. 

In August of this year, I was required to give a presentation of the vision the Lord had given me to our ministry’s overseeing organization, A.C.T. International. After my presentation, Dr. Lou Campbell, Executive Director of the Enclave for the Arts, wanted to meet and discuss the vision and take a look the building.  The group encouraged me not to give up hope on the building because, they shared, it seemed to be a real “God thing.”  I agreed to meet with Dr. Campbell and even offered to call the Frost Brothers to see if someone would be available to show Dr. Campbell the inside of the facility.  Edmund Frost invited us to his offices just down the street and suddenly we were miraculously having the sit-down meeting I had been waiting seven years to have.  Plans had shifted for the Frosts over the past couple of years and I now had their ears and the open door to fully share the vision with them. After all this time, it seemed I could now hear the “sound” of the walls coming down. Things just simply snapped into place. Edmund Frost seemed to grasp the vision and quickly became the biggest cheerleader of the vision to date. Our relationship immediately clicked and “synergy” became the word of the day. We have had several meetings with the Frost Brothers since, and continue to further develop our plans together.