Gearing Up For Fall

Fall is in the air, and as churches, many of us are launching new or renewed ministry initiatives, but the question we need to ask is, are they effective? As a VCN staff and leadership, we have been asking that question and even more: how do we make sure we are helping churches be effective?…

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God Hasn’t Given Us a Spirit of Fear

In case you missed this encouragement from Venture Church Network President, Dave Whitaker, we wanted to highlight this timely message again.  We’re praying that you are encouraged as you take some time to remember what the Apostle Paul was reminding his protege Timothy. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of…

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Generation to Generation

As we head into Father’s Day weekend, I am reminded of the importance of passing the baton to the next generation. This blog post written by a friend of VCN reminds us of just that. I hope it encourages you as it has me. Dr. David Whitaker, VCN President Generation to Generation Christine Caine shared…

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A Godly Heritage

My father-in-law passed away this week. He faithfully preached the gospel for 77 of his 93 years on earth! He had a passionate love for Jesus and passed that love on to his son and three daughters. So, this week, as we approach Mother’s Day, I am reminded of the significance and deep need for…

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Biblically Faithful

A few years ago, I was visiting one of our WorldVenture missionaries in western Uganda. I spent the day encouraging and training pastors at their bible college. During our time together, it was obvious there was tension in the room. Something was going on. And so when I asked Dary about it at the break…

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Unity in the Gospel

Hi Venture Church Network. I’m in Eau Claire Wisconsin at one of our member churches, Calvary Church, getting ready to meet with our VCN leadership team here in the Midwest. It’s a privilege to get to meet with these leaders. I’ve gotten to meet with a number of our network leaders in different parts of…

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Lament

  Hey Venture Church Network. In our last video, we talked about prayer and the importance of being desperate. Paul Miller in his book, the Praying Life, says prayer is helplessness. And I hope you know you cannot do ministry without a sense of helplessness, without being desperate for God. But there’s a facet of…

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Helplessness and Prayer

  These continue to be challenging days in which to do ministry. What I’d like to know is – are you overwhelmed right now? I remember early on in my ministry when I was pastoring a church. It had a Christian school that we had to close, and many of the staff in the school…

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Jesus, My Ever-Present Comfort

Are you a pastor in need of advent messages? Use ours for free! Advent 1 Advent 2 Advent 3 Candle #4: Jesus, My Ever-Present Comfort The Prophet Jeremiah wrote a beautiful chapter about the day when God would fulfill His promise to Israel — to bring them back from their captivity, to settle them into…

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