Jeff Vanderstelt is a pastor at Soma Communities, an A29 church in Tacoma, WA. He is leader of leaders and a coach and trainer for church planters. His background includes music, business management, working with youth, training youth workers in North America and Europe and starting new churches. Jeff moved to Tacoma from Chicago with his wife Jayne to begin planting Soma. Jeff leads a Missional Community and the Downtown Expression, and he serves all of Soma in the areas of vision and teaching. Jeff is also on the Board of Acts 29, a church planting network. Jeff and Jayne have been married over 15 years and have 3 kids: Haylee, Caleb and Maggie. He loves watching movies that make you reconsider your worldview.

Jeff’s Thoughts

Anytime you put your hope, your sense of significance, your sense of purpose, is in anything other than God and what He has done, you are choosing the world over God.

What if we start looking at our neighbors as the lost children of God?

What if you start loving other kids like you love your own kids?

We want the world to know what our Father is like. He is the father to the fatherless.

Most of our lack of love for other people is our lack of understanding of God’s love for us. Do you truly understand the depth of God’s love? You can rest, you don’t have to hide, you don’t have to perform. His love is unfailing.

We are called to be advocates for the voiceless, like Jesus was an advocate for us. Stand in the gap. Exercise advocacy. But don’t do it out of a need for advocates. Do it because some advocated for you.

Don’t let need motivate you. Let the Gospel motivate you. We are not called to be replacement saviors for the world. They aren’t going to get any help if they don’t get Jesus.

You are never going to be ready. You don’t have what it takes. He never calls you to do what you can do. He calls you to do what He can do. So that afterwards you can say,”I don’t know how we did it. But I know God was in it. May He have all the glory.”

You will never properly care for the least of these unless you realize you were the least of these.

Don’t hold onto your life. Don’t be motivated by guilt or shame. Don’t ever think that you don’t have everything you need. Love in the same manner in which you have been loved.

Let love be our motivator. And Love be our method.

Dan oversees Together for Adoption and provides thought-leadership on the theology of adoption as a team member of ABBA Fund. Before co-founding and directing Together for Adoption, Dan was a college professor of Bible and Theology. He has also served as a pastor of family ministries. As one who has been adopted by God and has adopted two children, Dan founded Together for Adoption to equip churches and educate Christians theologically about orphan care and horizontal adoption. Dan regularly writes and speaks about the Gospel and its implications for solutions to the global orphan crisis. He is the editor and primary author of Reclaiming Adoption: Missional Living Through the Rediscovery of Abba Father, wrote the foreword to Heirs with Christ: The Puritans on Adoption by Dr. Joel Beeke and is a regular contributor to The Gospel Coalition Blog.

What does God really want from you?

Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Psalm 82:3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
Isaiah 1:17 learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.
James 1:26-27 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. [27] Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Isn’t there something much more fundamental about what He wants from us?

Matthew 22:37 And [Jesus] said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

The question should actually be, who is God? God is the fountain of life.

John 7:37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.”

We can’t live the Christian life well, if we think of God as primarily wanting from us.

To serve the orphan well, we must think of God primarily as a giver.

Psalm 36:1-12 Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes. [2] For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated. [3] The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely and do good. [4] He plots trouble while on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject evil. [5] Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. [6] Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O LORD.[7] How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.[8] They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.[9] For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.[10] Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart! [11] Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away. [12] There the evildoers lie fallen; they are thrust down, unable to rise.

Why this Psalm at an orphan care on adoption? 

1. There is a strong connection in this Psalm to what Scripture calls sonship.
2. Drinking from the fountain of the Father’s lavish delight in us actually empowers us to live on the razor sharp edge of the world’s profound brokenness.
3. Orphans need Christians who feast on the abundance of God’s house and whom God causes to drink from the river of his delights (Psalm 36:8).
4. Christians who experience God the Giver are much better equipped to love the child who comes from or lives in the hard place.

What orphans need is Christians, who by the grace of God, drink the spirit that is “the Niagara” of Jesus. 

STORY is a conference for the creative class. The theme for 2011 is IMAGINE NATION which speaks to the power of spiritual imagination. In Exodus 35, the artist of Israel came together to build a dwelling place for God. They carved poles, fashioned gold, and constructed curtains “with cherubim woven into them by expert hands.” The job of these artists was to envision the kindgom and use their gifts to heighten peoples spiritual imaginations. An Imagine Nation.

Join a tribe of creative artists attempting to learn more about their craft, story telling, and imagination. One of the story tellers at STORY this year is Daniel Bashta. I first heard Daniel’s name associated with his popular worship song, “Like a Lion.” And I had no idea that Daniel and I had so much in common. We both have attended Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama. And we both have a heart for adoption. You won’t want to miss this short interview of Daniel.

1. What is your best personal definition of a STORY? 

For me a story is all about the struggle and the fight. It’s a personal journey to pioneer the unchartered. From something that was once dead we see fierce life and hope breathed into desolate dreams and made beautiful full of miracles!

2. What is one way you have found to grow or engage your imagination? 

I don’t want to limit myself just to what I am comfortable with. I believe we should always be evolving. If we are not evolving in our story then we are dying. For me dead creativity points back to a dead God. I want my expression to hold a huge spotlight on this roaring Jesus. Usually I will push myself to find new displays of something artistic to help spark something. I will also put myself in uncomfortable situations in order to start fresh conversations. I like to surround myself with other creative people that maybe don’t have the same theology or beliefs as me, but we both have an appreciation for the spirt of creativity . I believe throwing some tension  in the pot is a healthy thing. It forces us to fight for what we believe and for why we create.

3. In your experience what is the best nontraditional form or STORY telling you have seen, heard, or experienced? 

My wife and I have just gone through the miraculous adventure of adoption. There is a time in the process after the baby is born that the birth mom has to sign away her rights forever. When that day came I’ve never seen a signature tell a more selfless story. There are always two sides of every story. For the birth mother she was being so bold in wanting a better life for the baby. For my wife and I the signature meant that the story of our lives would forever be changed and that our son would have a name change and that there is nothing that can ever be done to change that. One signature told a story so reckless in love. The story of the Gospel was awakened in me like never before.

 4. If you could encourage a creative person with one tip on being imaginative what would you tell them? 

Be Unique, Be bold. For me the most stunning art is not flawless. For me true beauty comes from the grit, guts and blood within. Our culture has somehow dictated that we take all the flaws out, the very thing that sets us apart. My encouragement for every creative person is to unlock each unique calling that God himself has breathed into each of us. I believe the world will take notice when we represent the real creative story of who Jesus, the creator is, not some colored in the lines fairy tale.

5. What is one thing you are excited about sharing with the tribes attending STORY 2011? 

I don’t want to get too spiritual, but I am expectant that God will unleash dreamers out of the STORY conference. I believe He will awaken the dreams that have been dead for so long and we will stir up commotions in our cities from the beauty we create out of the reflection of who He is.

I’m also really excited that there are no late late night sessions…:)

If you’re a writer, filmmaker, artist, performer, entrepreneur, church leader, communicator, or other type of creative, you won’t want to miss STORY 2011. To register visit the STORY eventbrite page or if you need a little more information visit the STORY site.

Okay, time for Part 5 of my Drafting Blueprints series. In case you missed the first 4 parts, here is a brief recap:

My “Blueprint” series is essentially a mechanism for me to start thinking through my life goals. And as hard humiliating as it is to admit some of the things I want to achieve in life, I am trying to be painfully honest because (for some crazy reason) I feel like I need to put them “out there.”

Part 1 – I want to get married.

Part 2 – I want to get fit.

Part 3 – I want to get my hands dirty.

Part 4 - I want to cultivate deep and authentic friendships.

And today I am tackling a biggie….

I want to have kids.

(Please remember I am not a whiny girl who is unhappy with her life, with the cards she’s been dealt. Nothing could be further from the truth. My life is full. But if I am honest, before it is all said and done, I want to raise kids, to have a family of my own.) (more…)