Pastoral Leadership

David Stark was born and raised in Topeka, Kansas, where he met and married his lovely wife, Debi. He grew up in church and encountered Jesus personally in grade school, but by the time he reached his teen years describes his life as, “out of control.” When he was 16 he had a very long late night talk with his older brother which resulted in him fully yielding his life to Christ. This radically changed the direction of his life. He knew about a year later that he wanted to become a pastor but was very unclear on how that would take place – he started with leading a Bible study in his home when he was 17 and then leading in the churches that he and Debi were a part of. In 1990, they moved to intern at the Palo Alto Vineyard in California for more training and he became a staff pastor there for 5 years. In 1996, He and his wife Debi, their two girls (who are now grown and have kids of their own), along with a team of 7 adults and 3 children moved to St. Louis to plant our Vineyard.

When David isn’t engaging in the church he loves early mornings with great coffee, finding deals at garage sales, photography, deep conversations, hanging out with family, and being a grandfather.

Emily began attending our church as a new Christian shortly after graduating college in 2001 and quickly knew this was where God was planting her to grow and learn to trust Him with her life. In 2006, she accepted God’s invitation to trust Him with her career and joined our full time staff as the church’s Administrator. She’s never looked back. After marriage in 2008 to her wonderful husband, Ben, and two awesome kids later, Emily was commissioned as VCC’s Pastor of Equipping & Operations in May of 2021. She spends most of her part-time work week in the details of running the church, as well as coaching members who feel drawn to be involved in what God is doing at VCC. When she’s not at church, Emily loves to read to her kids, spend time resting with Jesus, hang out with friends, and try to convince her husband to give her more hugs.