Life in God’s Vineyard

Cindy Steinbeck, MA ’02, and Steve Schedler ’84 both spent years serving as Directors of Christian Education (DCE)以各种方式支持康科迪亚，并度过了巨大的个人困难时期. Now, as spouses and partners in the Voice in the Vineyard Ministry, they are creating ways to support ministers with teaching, renewal retreats, and the healing power of relationship.

“我们的热情是关心和支持教会工作者和教会领袖，”史蒂夫说. “Our ministry provides a place of rest, encouragement, and growth for DCEs and other church leaders and educators.”

This mostly takes place on a storied, 450-acre vineyard in north San Luis Obispo County, 在那里，辛迪开着她那辆生锈的1958年威利斯吉普车带着游客进行教学之旅——这辆车甚至吸引了基督教作家和演说家贝丝·摩尔, who featured Cindy in a video series accompanying one of her books.

The Steinbeck vineyard has been in Cindy’s family for seven generations and, under her leadership, launched its own winery and tasting room. It is the place she came home to after 15 years serving as a DCE, and it has provided fertile soil for the growth of her ministry as a speaker, author, and host.

在人生的大部分时间里，辛迪和史蒂夫走着平行的、偶尔相交的道路. 辛迪于1980年来到康考迪亚(当时被称为基督学院欧文分校)，然后转到波特兰康考迪亚大学从事正规博彩网站排名亚洲体育博彩平台(康考迪亚欧文分校当时没有女子体育项目)。. Steve, a San Diego native, enrolled at CCI six months later.

“It was a much different place—150 students and four buildings,” he says. “我开玩笑说，我上的大学比我的路德教会小学还小. It was a great experience at Irvine with friends and professors.”

The land was calling me home.

Both became DCEs. Steve served at Peace Lutheran in Camarillo, then Redeemer Lutheran in Ontario for 10 years, before coming home to St. Paul’s in San Diego, where he has served ever since.

“Being a DCE means lots of great ministry,” he says. “You get to hang out with kids, share life with them, lead and guide, talk about Jesus, and be a servant in the kingdom.”

辛蒂曾在俄勒冈州波特兰市和加州兰开斯特市附近的教堂担任主祭. 但她的心被家族的帕索罗伯斯(Paso Robles)葡萄园所吸引，该葡萄园自1884年以来一直维持着他们的生计.

“The land was calling me home through my son,” she says. “He was his grandpa’s sidekick from birth and always wanted to farm. 生意越来越好，我儿子也上七年级了，他很想经营葡萄园.”

In 1997, she moved back to Paso Robles and began working the vineyard, driving a tractor, and doing “all the work that the men carry out on the ranch now,” she says with a laugh. “I fell right into it because I’d had lots of experience growing up doing that.” 

Steinbeck Vineyards supplies grapes—mainly cabernets—to large wineries. 但当我一天开10个小时的拖拉机时，“我的事工开始发挥作用了，”辛迪说. “我起得很早，学习圣经，尤其是约翰福音第15章. I had time to meditate as I watched my dad work as a vine dresser.”

The words of Jesus came alive to her: “I am the vine, you are the branches.” In Revelation 22 he called himself “the root of Jesse.” The images corresponded to what she saw daily in the vineyard.

她说:“我观察嫁接，他们在葡萄藤的果肉上深深地切了一片。. “藤蔓就是我们所说的根茎——由苗圃繁殖的不结果实的葡萄藤. We use it because it’s not susceptible to disease. We take a bud-wood from Cabernet Sauvignon and graft it in.”

In the same way, Christians are branches connected to the one True Vine by grafting, which in the Lutheran understanding is baptism, she says.

“旧的走了，新的来了，砧木不容易生病，”她说. “Christ is not susceptible to sin, death, Satan, or temptation. We abide in his holy life. Romans 11:16 says, ’if the root is holy, the branches are holy.’”

当她做日常的照料工作时，这些和其他的教训变得生动起来, watering, and harvesting.

她说:“虽然我喜欢户外活动、拖拉机和农业，但我内心深处仍然是一名DCE。. “The call home turned into ministry, even on this land.”

辛迪经常把她的想法写在博客上，这引起了康科迪亚出版社的注意. They asked her to write three books. Eventually, Cindy started Jeep tours to educate people about sustainable farming, and to teach the gospel through the visual example of the vineyard.

“’Sustainable’ is a very en vogue word,” she says. “Sustainable farming means every decision we make—water use, growing grapes, and so on—all looks to the future and sustainability. We have to have profitability, use chemicals safely for our workers and families, and never over-use the environment.”

The other tour—called Sustainable Life or, more informally, “my John 15 Jesus Jeep ride”—gained traction as well.

“我们上了吉普车，看到耶稣说‘我是葡萄树，你们是枝子’,’ in the vineyard,” she says.

On the business side, visitors kept asking where they could taste the Steinbecks’ wines, and Cindy tired of sending them to wineries that purchased their grapes.

“就在那时，我很清楚地意识到，是时候创立斯坦贝克葡萄酒品牌了,” she says. “走出去，制作一款带有我们自己名字的产品，这是非常可怕的, but I knew in my heart that it was right.”

I pray every moment and ask God to work through this place.

斯坦贝克家族于2006年推出了自己的葡萄酒品牌，并于2009年开设了一家葡萄酒品酒室. They completed a processing facility in 2017, allowing them to cask and bottle their own vintages on site.

然而，就在葡萄酒生意和事工蒸蒸日上的时候，辛迪的婚姻却走到了尽头.

“I had to wake up to [the fact that it was] domestic violence. I could not see the mistreatment,” she says. “我非常确信上帝希望我结婚，所以我没有给上帝其他的选择. 20年来，我一直在为家里的和平祈祷，从来没有想到离婚会是上帝为我的家带来和平的方式.”

Meanwhile, Steve had walked a similarly painful road. 他的第一次婚姻以离婚告终，他的第二任妻子乔伊斯(Joyce)在2016年死于白血病. “It’s been anything but a smooth and easy ride, 但神在供应我和我们的家庭方面是非常信实的,” Steve says.

Widowed, 史蒂夫保持着每年春天前往北部帕索罗伯斯参加葡萄酒节的传统, as he and Joyce had done for years. There, he visited Cindy at her vineyard. The couples had known each other well in ministry. “乔伊斯去世的时候，辛迪也很伤心，因为我们都是朋友，”史蒂夫说.

史蒂夫和辛迪在葡萄园里散步，谈论生活中的艰辛和胜利, and how they saw the hand of God working through it all.

“She helped me through in so many ways,” Steve says. “It’s been a huge part of my healing process. Jesus says, ‘Abide in me.’ When you wander around the vineyard, you see those grafts and the times of the season, the different growth, the sap flow. It’s a very spiritual place.” Cindy reflects the same sentiment.

起初，两人都没有想过要发展一段新的关系，但随着时间的推移，他们有了新的想法. They were married in 2021 and just celebrated their first anniversary. “It’s totally a God thing,” Steve says.

他们之间的部分联系是分享对康考迪亚大学欧文分校的巨大兴奋, where Cindy has served twice on the board of regents, Steve served as president of the alumni board, and both have guest lectured. Cindy earned her master’s degree in history and theology from Concordia in 2002, and Steve earned his bachelor's degree in Religious Studies in 1984.

“我对康科迪亚的人们产生了极大的喜爱，”她说. “随着我不仅与管理团队，而且与摄政同事成为好朋友，我的热情与日俱增. Professors invited me to come speak on marketing or in a business class or theology class. I was able to integrate myself as a regent into the school setting.”

She recently spoke to Townsend Institute 在最近为新一代学生举行的开学仪式上，学生们带头奉献. John Townsend, who made her a Fellow of the Institute in Leadership/Executive Coaching, says Cindy’s contributions are “highly valuable for our Organizational Leadership and Executive Coaching and Consulting students.”

Cindy says her love for her alma mater has grown over the years. “Being able to donate wine for the Gala of Stars 有这么多忠实的人来牧场拜访我，体验耶稣吉普车之旅真是太棒了,” she says. “Dr. Michael Thomas is an astounding leader—not only personable but visionary. He gets it done. He sees a vision and is going to carry that out. The cabinet he has placed around him is a dynamic force, and he has given them the tools to carry out his vision. He sets the course and then turns the work to them without micromanaging them. He’s a great leader. There is a tremendous synergy taking place.”

她称之为“成功的多米诺骨牌效应”，比如建筑项目, fundraising, and the establishing of new programs happen together.

“God has been so good,” she says. “We’re enhancing our campus. We have faithful donors who are tremendously active and very generous. The long-term strategic plan is phenomenal.”

史蒂夫很高兴能成为“康考迪亚使命和事工这么多酷的事情的一部分”,” he says. “It’s a bright future.”

这段旅程绝非一帆风顺，但上帝一直非常信实.

今天，Steve也为太平洋西南地区的dce提供领导和指导.

“史蒂夫和辛迪都通过他们的不同部门产生了强大的影响,” says Tim Jaeger, Concordia’s Vice President for University Advancement, Marketing, and Communications. “It’s wonderful to see God bringing these two special people together.”

史提夫正准备北上到葡萄园与辛蒂会合，并全力投入他们共同的事工中, Voice in the Vineyard. In addition to Cindy’s Jesus Jeep Tours and speaking engagements, 这对夫妇正在改造他们房产上一个长满橡树的公园，并在那里安装拖车，让人们可以住在葡萄园里, enjoying group dinners and wine, conversation, and encouragement.

“We are coming together to support and care for people we love,” Steve says.“我们将通过热情好客、学习圣经和与人交谈来支持和关心他们. We help those who are strong, but tired, to rest and get renewed.”

Cindy’s son now runs Steinbeck’s agriculture operations, and her son-in-law is their assistant winemaker. Cindy recently self-published a fourth book about her experience with divorce, and she still works the land.

“In a few minutes, I’m going to jump on a tractor and mow some weeds that are bugging me badly,” she said toward the close of an interview with CUI magazine.

The Steinbeck tasting room welcomes guests seven days a week, and its winery produces 1,500 cases annually, selling the other 99 percent of harvested grapes to larger wineries. Her mother and father, who also have a history of supporting Concordia, are healthy and strong in their early eighties. Her father, “a true farmer at heart,” loves hosting the sustainable farming tours and is a visitor favorite.

What continues to sustain Cindy and Steve together is prayer. “I pray every moment,” she says. “我经常坐在车道顶上，祈求上帝在这个地方做工. It’s his land; I’m a steward.”

她说，他们的旅程，无论是分开还是现在在一起，“一直都是上帝的眷顾”.