Robert's Introduction

This will be an exciting first time collaboration for me. In my other work, I have done all of the writing, research, and proofing/editing (or lack thereof), but this page will be a joint effort between my brother and I. We hope to cause the reader to think differently about a number of Bible, Religious, and Church topics. Both Tim and myself were raised in a staunchly Christian home by Bible following God-fearing parents, who worked in the ministry themselves. My father read the Bible to us almost nightly, when he was not deployed by the US Navy, if he were out working, my mother picked up the slack. Therefore, one could surmise that we have heard the Bible almost non-stop since our early childhood. As we grew, our parents both became increasingly involved in each church that we attended. At one point or another, Tim or I were students in either my mother's or father's formal schooling as my mother was a Christian School Teacher, and my father was a Christian School Principal. By the time we entered high school, Tim and I had moved around quite a lot, as a result of my father's Naval career, and seen how the majority of churches work in the United States both from being involved in church functions, as well as being the children of church workers. The next peak at the ministry we received was when my father was offered a position as the Director of the Christian Servicemen's Center in Norfolk, Virginia. Now, we became missionary kids, and experienced even more! But the time soon came to step out of our parent's shadow, so to speak, and we entered Pensacola Christian College for formal Christian ministry training. I finished a degree in History, and then earned a Master's degree in Bible. Tim, for his part earned a Ministerial degree, and by 2004 we both began our "Full-time" Christian Ministry. 

We had learned that the ministry is a tough path to enter, one that would require long hours, angry people, and little pay, but that never bothered us, as it seldom bothers any who are involved in ministry. Yet, we could only experience the harsh ministry reality through other's eyes until we entered it ourselves. Tim was hired as an Assistant Pastor in Orlando, and I became a History Teacher in Rockford, Illinois. Both positions held much promise and excitement for us young 20-somethings. But within that first year, as could be expected troubles began to show. Those troubles mounted with each passing week to month to year and so on, until a series of "crises" occurred. As most Christians know, those "crisis" times reveal much, and they do not allow for error to continue. It's God's refining process, as He so often illustrates throughout the Old and New Testaments. But for Tim and I, something was different. Our upbringing taught us to test everything against the Bible, let me clarify once again - EVERYTHING! 

We had seen so many styles and types of churches the world over, which offered us discerning viewpoints when the crises started arriving in our own respective ministries. Soon, to make a long story short, those exciting ministries turned into depressing traps, and we left. Tim left Orlando in 2007, and I left Rockford in 2008. It was during each instance that God began to teach us, as we begged Him for wisdom, while we attempted to "Prove all things, hold fast that which is good." as I Thessalonians. 5:21 states. We do not claim to know all things, nor do we claim to be able to know all things, if that were possible, then we would be God. What we do claim, is that the Bible will be our sole authority as we walk through many of the constant church-plaguing issues of our day and the past. I trust that as we build our blog library that you, reader, will see our sincere spirit and wholehearted attempt to rightly divide the Word of Truth, and goad you into the proper Biblical response, not because we or anyone else said so, but because the Bible is clear on each matter. May God Bless.

Maranatha!

Robert Van Ness.