At VantagePoint3, we have been cultivating the art of seeing others for 23 years . Close friends know that we call this “particularizing a person.” As our lives and the communities we lead continue to re-calibrate and lean into what matters most in 2024, the importance of relationships is front and center. As a team, we have […]
I have been reflecting a good bit recently on one of my favorite stories, Little Walker’s night at the boardwalk. Little Walker’s favorite place on earth is the boardwalk in Ocean City, New Jersey. If you have ever been to this boardwalk in the summer you know the extent of the crowds of […]
I pin my hopes to quiet processes and small circles, in which vital and transforming events take place. Rufus Jones (1863-1948) VP3’s The Journey is a person-centered process. It sets the table for the development of people, not the mastery of the material. This does not mean that the wisdom of the content is unimportant. Rather, it […]
I woke up early this morning because I’m worried about Heather. I’ve been reaching out to her for months. I call her my “precious one” and she calls me “her angel.” Heather was in a hard place before COVID. Then she lost her job. And her husband’s work transitioned home. Then her husband was furloughed […]
During times of trouble, the church has historically run toward the fire. As you navigate this pandemic and the trials it brings to your everyday life, what does it look like for you to run toward the fire? As a ministry working with Christian leaders, we see it as running toward people. And running toward […]
In early April I repeatedly heard the word “pivot” to describe what we as leaders and organizations needed to be doing to adjust and survive in this global pandemic. I resisted the word. The metaphor is one I understand. I played basketball and could pivot with the best of my teammates. Redirect. Turn. Pass. And […]
As we come alongside others, we are invited by God to become living reminders of this startling reality––their story is unique and it matters deeply to God and us. I have been reminded recently that meaningful conversation with another must be rooted in a sense of wonder or reverence for the person. Few things are worse […]
This week I had the opportunity to join Lori Walsh on her South Dakota Public Broadcasting Radio show “In the Moment.” The topic broadly was the Future of Faith; the conversation turned out to be about a childhood memory, VantagePoint3 and the deepening of God’s people, a mentoring way in “a culture of do and […]
Thankful for the opportunity to spend our morning with some wonderful leaders within the Sioux Falls area at the God as CEO breakfast. GOD AS CEO is a movement to inspire and equip people to make Christ the cornerstone of their business. By way of summary, I thought I would include some of my notes […]
I have been thinking a good bit this afternoon about “the why” of mentoring and spiritual friendship in the Christian life. And as I let my mind go with this question once again, I found myself circling back to an essay I read years ago by Annie Dillard entitled “An Expedition to the Pole” (not […]
A central feature of our culture is that we are relentlessly talked at––rarely listened to. Consequently, we have an aching hunger to be heard and noticed. Among the men and women with whom we meet, do we recognize their thirst to be heard and known and loved personally? Almost two decades after first planting the church […]