Vineyard Christian Fellowship New Haven

Bill and Lainie Elander started the Vineyard Christian Fellowship here in New Haven. A native of the New Haven area, Bill moved to California in 1977 to work with Campus Crusade for Christ. Soon after his arrival God gave him a call and vision to return to New Haven and minister in a relevant, non-religious way to his friends. He then spent the next nine years being trained; first under the teaching and ministry of Chuck Smith and Calvary Chapel and then under John Wimber and the Vineyard. During that time, Bill met Lainie, a native Californian, at Talbot Theological Seminary in La Mirada, California, where they were both students. Lainie was preparing to teach on the mission field. They were married in January of 1984, and in June of 1986, Bill and Lainie were sent from the Vineyard in Yorba Linda, California to start a new work in the New Haven area. They have two children, Sara, 24, and John, 18.