Updates

A Leadership Reflection for Pastors and Ministry Leaders in Venture Church Network.From VCN Midwest Director Brad Little. In leadership, especially pastoral leadership, there is constant pressure to make decisions quickly. Sometimes that pressure is justified. Urgency can be real. Crises happen. Windows of opportunity open and close. But more often than not, the pressure we…

By Dave Whitaker & Jason Lehman(Venture Church Network + Keenly) In a recent conversation between us (Dave Whitaker from Venture Church Network and Jason Lehman from Keenly) we found ourselves naming the same pattern we’ve both been observing while working with churches across the country. Different contexts. Different denominations. Different sizes of churches. Same issue.…

A Story of Church Planting, Partnership, and Gospel Impact in Goodyear Arizona.From VCN Southwest Director Steve Engram. Sometimes the most powerful stories in ministry don’t begin with strategy documents or master plans. They begin with prayer, obedience, and a willingness to step into what God is already doing. That was the case for Desert Springs…

Why would we use the phrase relationally connected and make that a value of Venture Church Network? Over the years, we’ve seen that even though there’s often a nod given to relationships, we haven’t always been very good at practicing them. We tend to focus on the central office or denominational leadership becoming the core…

This is a short article leadership for pastors and leadership teams within Venture Church Network. We want to talk about fatigue. One thing I’ve discovered, and you’ve probably experienced this too, is that we often carry many things that people around us are completely unaware of. Demands feel higher. Expectations can be unclear. And the…

A recent Barna study (2023) found that nearly one in four pastors hope to retire by 2030. For many, that transition opens the door to new questions about calling, purpose, and how their experience might continue to serve the Church. One path some pastors are beginning to explore is interim ministry. Coming alongside churches during…

Twenty-four years ago today, we woke up to the evil of the mass murder of thousands of our fellow countrymen on 9/11/2001. Yesterday, we saw the murder of a young man on a college campus.  In the last few weeks, we learned of the brutal murder of a young woman on a train and heard…

Standing Together in Prayer Dear VCN Family, We are deeply grieved by the tragic school and church shooting in Minneapolis. Violence of this kind, especially against children, is both horrific and heartbreaking. In moments like these, it is natural to ask why. Yet even when answers do not come, we know where to turn: to…

Here are 7 reasons why they shouldn’t: 1. It can short-circuit closure.If the possibility exists of hiring the interim pastor, the closure process from the exit of the previous pastor may not go deep enough or last long enough. One church leader put it this way: “The churches I work with that ignored the stage…

Written by Jason Lehman You know that feeling when a smell, sound, or sight instantly takes you back in time?It happened to me just a couple of weeks ago. I was in a small store that must’ve used the exact same cleaning supplies as my fifth-grade classroom. One whiff, and I was right back there……