Helping People Discover

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Brian Steenhoek

The slogan we use around VP3 is, “Helping You Discover.” It reminds us that we develop processes to help people discover answers to three of life’s most important questions, ‘Who is God?’, ‘Who am I?’, and ‘What does God desire to do through me?’ We believe we have developed some of the best resources available to help people pursue the answers to these questions through a biblical framework. However, we also know it is the good people who take our material–the ministry leaders, facilitators, and pastors, combined with the Holy Spirit, who make personal discovery and life transformation possible. And it is always fun to hear how churches and ministry leaders have taken our resources and creatively applied them in their context. Let me tell you a couple of recent examples. Continue reading →

Power and Friendship

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Randy Reese

I recently bumped into a few friends that made me wonder about the relationship between power and friendship. Here’s the deal…

Continue reading →

Saints in the Making

Posted on January 15, 2012 by Brian Steenhoek

A walloping great congregation is fine and fun, but what most communities really need is a couple of saints. The tragedy is that they may well be there in embryo, waiting to be discovered, waiting for sound training, waiting to be emancipated from the cult of the mediocre.

–Martin Thorton

This week is the third of four weeks in January, filled with “Block B” Facilitator Training Retreats. Randy and I will have the privilege of being with a group of facilitators at Faith Church in Dyer, Indiana, Monday and Tuesday.

In an effort to both prepare and support in the implementation of The Emerging Journey or The Equipping Experience, this facilitator preparation process is structured in two retreats: Retreat Block A (usually in June) and Retreat Block B (usually the following January). It is 4.5 days of training that seeks to do at least 4 things for those who participate: Continue reading →

Invitations To Die

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Randy Reese

To be honest, a theme I’ve noticed in my own walk lately has been dying. Now, although it sounds silly, I must confess that even letting you in on this will make me wonder if I’ve just entered my final days…a peculiar sort of superstition. But I have heard stories of people who said, “I’m ready to die!” And then two days later actually die. So, to set the record straight, although I love Jesus and look forward to meeting him I sure hope I don’t die two days from now.

What I have been wondering about is what it means for aspects of my life to die in order to bear more and better fruit. Jesus did say, and even with a verily, “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). Lately, three “deaths” have caused me to wonder what sort of fruit I am being invited to bear… Continue reading →

Moving Faithfully into 2012

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Brian Steenhoek

2012. A new year. Resolutions. Decisions. Choices to be made.

It helps to have a plan. And equally important, it helps to have guiding statements that inform that plan.

Whether you are making resolutions, new decisions, or reexamining your ministry, a clear understanding of who you are, who God is, and what God desires to do through you, is fundamental to making the kinds of decisions and plans that match your temperament, passion and values in service to God. Continue reading →

A Gift

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Randy Reese

We recently had a VP3 staff team day, complete with Christmas party. One of the things we did was share stories about the people we have encountered this past year through the ministry of VP3…people who have been gifts to us. They have given to us the gift of knowing a little more of their story of change toward becoming the person God has intended them to be…a person with new hope to live more incarnationally…becoming a gift to others in Jesus’ name.

Sometimes we sit back in amazement at how the Lord has used what seems like our “two-fish-and-five-loaves” to help deepen and empower so many good people in various communities across North America. Continue reading →

It’s a Wonderful Life

Posted on December 18, 2011 by Brian Steenhoek

In the classic movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey spends his entire life giving up his ‘big dreams’ for the good of his town, Bedford Falls.

But on Christmas Eve, he is broken and suicidal over the misplacing of an $8000 loan and the scheming of the evil millionaire, Mr. Potter. His guardian angel, Clarence, falls to Earth, literally, and shows him how his town, family, and friends would turn out if he had never been born. George realizes that he has touched many people in a positive way and that his life has truly been a wonderful one. Continue reading →

Managing vs. Receiving (Guest Contributor-Pamela Edwards)

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Rob Loane

This past Friday one of our board members Dr. Pamela Edwards opened our VP3 Board Conference call with a short Advent devotional on Mary. It set the tone so well for us as a staff that we wanted to share it with you.

Pam is on staff at Cedar Valley Community Church in Waterloo, Iowa where she serves in the areas of spiritual formation and adult ministries. We hope you find this as helpful as we have around the office. She writes,

My favorite bible character is Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Though she has many admirable qualities, the one that I find myself thinking about the most these days for those of us in ministry leadership is the way that this ordinary, Jewish woman RECEIVED the angel Gabriel’s news that she was going to be the mother of the Messiah.

She was initially confused and disturbed and asked some good questions about how this was all going to work out for her, which I appreciate. However, she RECEIVED her call and without knowing all the answers, she said, “I am the Lord’s servant, and I’m willing to do what you want.” Continue reading →

The boardwalk & Advent…

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Rob Loane

I loved going to the Ocean City, NJ boardwalk as a kid. The stores and amusement rides, the pizza places and popcorn shops, the balloons and cotton candy were all wonderful.

Sundays on the boardwalk, however, were something less than wonderful. When I was growing up there were the Blue laws in Ocean City. These New Jersey laws restricted a number of economic activities from taking place on Sundays. These laws meant one thing to me—all the shops on the boardwalk were closed every Sunday. And because of it, going to the boardwalk on Sundays was not so enchanting to me. It meant walking by one closed shop or ride after another.I can recall on a number of occasions taking long walks with my family on ‘the boards’, exercising off the flounder and shrimp and crab and fries we had for Sunday dinner.

(Sunday on the boards was actually my dad’s favorite day to ‘go shopping’ since one began and ended the excursion with the same amount of money in one’s pocket. On more than one occasion he stood up from Sunday dinner and teased with a smile, “Anyone want to go shopping on the boards? ” The older I got the funnier this little scene became. But as a young kid I did not find it so funny.) Continue reading →

Entering In…

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Brian Steenhoek

When someone is in a place of confusion, frustration, pain…a season of disorientation, will we have the courage to enter in?

Most of us are consumed with our own issues, our own agendas. We are often too busy, too important, or too insecure to concern ourselves with someone else’s pain, someone else’s story. What if we were to step out of ourselves for a moment? What if we were to enter the pain, confusion, or lostness of another? Would we find that our narcissistic obsession with ourselves might be put on hold, at least for a brief time? Would we realize we can become the kind of person we may be waiting, or longing for–a caring, understanding friend? Continue reading →