Jack De Vries was hired on by the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia and began his work as Ministry Training Coordinator in January 2008. In 2012 this role shifted to that of Ministry Development Coach.
Jack came from Canada where he pastored three Christian Reformed churches: Alliston CRC, Alliston, Ontario(1983-87), a church plant:...
Jack De Vries was hired on by the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia and began his work as Ministry Training Coordinator in January 2008. In 2012 this role shifted to that of Ministry Development Coach.
Jack came from Canada where he pastored three Christian Reformed churches: Alliston CRC, Alliston, Ontario(1983-87), a church plant: New Life Community Church, Pickering, Ontario(1987-95), and Bethel CRC, Listowel, Ontario (1995-2007). Jack is a graduate of Calvin Theological Seminary (Master of Divinity - 1983) and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Doctor of Ministry - 2003) Jack and his wife Jeannie currently live in Petrie, a northern suburb of Brisbane in Queensland. They attend and are members of Bray Park Community Church. They have four adult children and seven grandchildren living in the USA and Canada.
In Isaiah 58:11 we read: "The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." Australia has seen times of drought and floods. There is another type of drought in Australia; there is a spiritual drought. But God promises to provide refreshing rain, a never ending supply of refreshing water. The water he provides will satisfy the needs of all Australians. As we take up the missional vision God has given us we extend the life changing invitation of Jesus: "Come! Whoever is thirsty, come, and take the free gift of the water of life!" (Revelation 22:17)
The Australian cultural landscape is changing, and changing rapidly. More than 20% of Australians speak a language other than English at home. 1 out of 4 Australians were born overseas. 50% of Australians have an overseas parent. Australians identify with over 270 ancestral backgrounds. And all of this in a country is home to the world's oldest continuous cultures. Visit the downtown of any major city or travel to specific...
God found a young man who refused to miss a prayer meeting as he cried to the Lord: "Bend me!" This young man, Evan Roberts, was used by God as an instrument to see the gospel spread like wild fire during the Welsh revival in the early 1900's. Roberts began asking God for a 100,000 lost to be found and brought to faith. Not only did God answer Robert's prayer for 100,000 souls...
I did a dirt experiment. I wanted to grow some spinach seedlings to transplant into our veggie patch. I picked up the cheapest bag of dirt at the local garden supply store - $2.99. The dirt looked clumpy, full of bits and pieces of who knows what. I dropped the seeds into the individual pods of 'cheap' dirt. It took a long time for the seeds to germinate, and I kept losing...
Growing up I never was really good at catching fish! Perhaps I lacked the patience required. Perhaps it was because I grew up in the city away from easy access to rivers and lakes. Whatever the reason, when I put a line and hook in the water, I did not catch fish. Until I met my wife. She grew up right beside a river. She knew how to fish. And she...
A challenge in full-time gospel work is to free up time. There is just so much that can and needs to be done. As we seek to grow healthy churches and plant new churches, as a denomination our GROW strategy includes encouraging full time ordained ministers to re-evaluate their timetable and responsibilities to free up time (for example, at least one day a fortnight) to review existing initiatives and develop new initiatives in the local...
