In 'redemptive story,' SLO City Church moves into former Arise Vineyard building

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Tuesday, September 01, 2026

In what Lead Pastor Brent Bramer describes as a “redemptive story,” SLO City Church is expected to host its grand opening at the former Arise Vineyard church campus at 1775 Calle Joaquin in San Luis Obispo, California, on Sept. 13, just months after it was shuttered following the resignation of two pastors.

SLO City Church will hold three services on Sept. 13 (9 a.m., 10:45 a.m. and 6 p.m.) to open its new location, according to the church website. The church will also offer full children's ministry and youth programming at the 9 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. services. 

“We could be a part of a redemptive story, a Jesus-centered people. That kind of sounds like that would rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated and renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations,” Bramer declared in an announcement in April about the then-potential move to the sprawling hilltop campus of Arise Vineyard, formerly Mountainbrook Church.

Rick Olmstead, senior pastor of Arise Vineyard Church, resigned in December 2025, after allegations resurfaced that he inappropriately photographed young women outside a local Trader Joe’s in 2020. The Trader Joe's incident occurred shortly after the church's previous pastor, Thom O’Leary, resigned for inappropriate behavior toward women and excessive drinking.

A month before Arise Vineyard announced its closure in May, Bramer said the church’s leadership approached him with a plan to sell the hilltop campus to SLO City Church at a time when they were on the hunt for a permanent home.

“A phone call in March, March 16th, shocked me, brought me to some wonder,” Bramer said in the April broadcast. “They [Arise Vineyard] had prayed, met with their stakeholders, their board, and … unanimously, they decided to dissolve their church in hopes of selling their building and their property to SLO City Church.”

At the time, his church was looking to raise about $12 million to acquire and develop about 5 acres of property in the county as his 7-year-old church’s permanent home. They had also raised only about $5 million toward their fundraising goal.

That amount turned out to be just enough to close the deal on the former Arise Vineyard property, as the church offered to sell their 65-acre property to SLO City Church for an amount “not to exceed $5 million,” Bramer said.

“God made a way in the midst of it so that we could potentially step into a piece of land 65 acres, a building, 30,000 square feet, all of the equipment there within. We could bless the city and step to phase three of developing a counseling center, an addiction recovery center, not in four years but in four months,” he continued.

“We feel like God is kind of making a way that only he could make. Like God kind of opened a door that only he could open. We consecrated. We sacrificed. We stepped forward. And my friend from Texas said, ‘Whatever comes in is whatever God will use to do what only God can do.’ And the Lord is doing wonders among us,” he said.