ABSTRACT
Elbert Eugene and Marsha Spriggs started a Bible study group in the early 1970s in their living room. The couple opened a sandwich shop in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where they offered free meals, conversations about Jesus, and “the fruit of the spirit” to the needy. Their home was open to all and their household began to expand as they began to live communally in a larger residence known as the Vine House. The group attended the First Presbyterian Church until it closed for Super Bowl Sunday. Disenchanted with mainstream Christianity and, eventually, with society in general, Spriggs began to preach and formed the Vine Christian Community.1 Expansion from Chattanooga began later, initially to Island Pond, Vermont, and then elsewhere.
