Show Notes
In this episode of Peaceable and Kind, Derek Vreeland welcomes his brother, Jeff Vreeland, for a conversation about The Peaceable Way, a nonprofit ministry dedicated to helping people cultivate a more prayerful, Scripture-shaped, and peaceable life. Together, they reflect on their shared spiritual journey, the vision behind the ministry, and the practical resources designed to help Christians slow down, pray, engage Scripture, and grow in the way of Jesus.
The conversation explores the heart behind The Peaceable Way and the spiritual needs it seeks to address in an anxious and distracted culture. Derek and Jeff discuss how resources like the Peaceable and Kind podcast, Psalm of the Day, The Prayer Wheel, and the Daily Office Lectionary app all work together to help people establish life-giving rhythms of prayer and Scripture. They conclude by sharing their hope that these resources will encourage believers to experience greater peace, compassion, and faithfulness in their everyday lives.
Key Takeaways
The Peaceable Way exists to help people live more prayerful, Scripture-shaped, and peaceable lives.
Spiritual formation happens through simple, consistent rhythms rather than dramatic moments.
Prayer and Scripture anchor us in the presence of God amid a distracted culture.
Healthy spiritual habits cultivate peace, compassion, and kindness.
The ministry offers practical tools that are accessible for people in every stage of their spiritual journey.
Even small, daily practices can lead to deep, lasting transformation.
Links to Resources Mentions
Psalm of the Day: https://www.psalmoftheday.org/
The Prayer Wheel: https://theprayerwheel.org/
Daily Office Lectionary App for iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/the-daily-office-lectionary/id6792119812
Daily Office Lectionary App for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thepeacableway.dailyofficelectionary&pcampaignid=web_share
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Support the work we are doing at thepeaceableway.com.
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Transcript
Derek Vreeland: Welcome back to another Episode of Peaceable and Kind. I am your host, Derek Vreeland, and I hope you are having a great summer. It is mid-August, summer is winding down, and I don’t know about you, but I love the fall season in particular because NFL football is back.
And so preseason games are happening and that always gets me excited but I am glad that you’ve joined me for this episode. This is a special episode. This is a conversation.
that has been long developing and I can’t wait to jump in. But before we start our conversation, let me encourage you to subscribe to Peaceable and Kind wherever you are listening to this podcast. And if you enjoy the kind of content we are creating, uh if you could leave us a rating or a review.
I got a text yesterday from a pastor friend. uh who has given me such great feedback, to which I said thank you, and I said leave a review. If you love the podcast, leaving reviews or a rating helps other people find what we’re doing here Well, my guest today uh deserves little introduction.
You’re gonna learn about him as we jump into our conversation, but I am happy I am proud to welcome my younger brother, Jeff Vreeland, to the podcast. Jeff, welcome to Peaceable and Kind.
Jeff Vreeland: Thanks for having me. I think that’s the most uh nicest words you’ve said to me our entire life.
Derek Vreeland: Well, I did not script out an introduction. I normally do that for guests, and in my brain I was like Do we go with the uh sort of jokey put you down? I’ve been teasing you our entire lives, but I thought, no, I’m gonna keep this professional.
Uh I want to get us started on a positive note. I’m happy to bring us down. No problems.
Who knows what might happen on this podcast? And Jeff’s seven years my younger. So for the first seven years of my life, I grew up as an only child.
And then here comes my baby brother. I remember telling um mom when you were a baby, like, mom, when is Jeff gonna grow up so so have someone to play with? And uh, but we could talk all about history.
But Jeff, I thought it’d be good if we start uh by just talking a little bit about our faith journeys, our spiritual journeys. Sure. It’s every person has their own story.
You know, we are the stories we we tell. So so just tell us a little bit about your faith journey, sort of where it started and where it’s at today.
Jeff Vreeland: Absolutely. I mean we grew up in the same house and so uh I always had an older brother uh to look up to and then obviously our parents we were raised in church in Baptist church and Um, and so as I as I got older, uh, my faith probably fell off. I, you know, the the the classic word of backslider.
I don’t know if I would go that far to use that word, but definitely wasn’t as active in my faith as I got into my teenage years and my young adult. Um I attended church, um, but I was not active. Um, and my faith was it was was definitely not an active faith.
Um I had a relationship with God. uh was was saved, was born again, all of those things. Um and I was, you know, hot and cold.
Especially, you know, during college, I was very hot uh around the the the the group of guys that uh my roommate and the guys that uh were my close friends are still some of my best friends today. Uh we were really active in our faith and then, you know, as got out of college and started a family and all of those things, slowed down. I still had a relationship, but I was, you know, my pastor uses the word cardboard Christian.
I think is really an active, active word of uh a great word of what I was when I um how I was participating in my faith. And then as I got a little bit older, got very career focused and was driving businesses and and and building and and all of those things. And my faith completely almost evaporated.
Uh but as I got older, um, you know, I started feeling the nudge of the Holy Spirit to to to get back into church and through some prayer. We moved, relocated from Alabama up to Indiana. Uh and then Christmas of 2023, we uh attended a, we were invited by some friends of ours, our neighbors actually, to church uh and went to the Christmas service because we were good Christians that went on Easter and Christmas.
And uh from there, uh, just uh came back to the faith and uh haven’t missed many Sundays since and uh really rededicated my life. um and got a lot closer in my walk with God um and uh to the point of you know now where you know it’s it’s a lot of what I do leading a um Bible study group and attending small group and church and volunteering to church and uh just more active. Like I’m very, very active in my uh my walk and uh it’s brought us closer together as well.
I think so. Yeah. Definitely.
We were not we were not close. But a lot of people have brothers that are close when they were younger, we were not until we were adults. Right.
Uh and we became much closer. Um done hiking and running and all kinds of things, the stories that you told here before. Uh and it’s brought us a lot closer in our faith.
And so all all leading up to, you know, kind of where we are today.
Derek Vreeland: Yeah, I will admit, Jeff, I was not the best big brother. Uh I I I really wasn’t. Um mom was always Now you need to include your brother. You need to include your brother.
You never did any of that stuff. And I and I didn’t. And I I I was not and I learned that. So having three boys, um, and then having a large gap between the my older two boys and my youngest, I was really mindful, like, hey, you have this age gap, but if you want your younger brother to have a relationship with you in the future, you need to invest in that before you go off to college.
And and Wesley for sure, my oldest, has done that and they have a great relationship. What changed for me in our relationship, the starting point of a real change, had nothing to do with our faith journeys. It had to do with sports.
And that was at my bachelor party, if you remember this. Um, I told this story at that campus ministry uh when you were at Troy. Um, but we uh so for my bachelor party because we were all Christians committed to the Lord, we weren’t out partying and drinking.
We went to play basketball. And, you know, my little brother had always been just my little brother. I grew up playing basketball and he was just always my little brother kind of around Um, but we kind of matched up.
All the guys that were there uh with the bachelor party kind of matched up and played like either five on five or four on four. And um and you had some type of fast break and you were you were headed towards the goal and I’m like, oh, I’m gonna shut this down. And you made some move on me.
And you you scored. You had a nice little layup. And I just was like in awe.
I was like My little brother just scored like I couldn’t stop him like this boy is becoming a man and I’ll remember.
Jeff Vreeland: the the the the yin and yang of our relationship, especially at that time, was how mad you got at me because we were on another fast break. We were on the same team this time. And we were on another fast break and I got the layup and I didn’t give it to you to try to dunk.
That’s the story I remember from that night. Oh man. Definitely fun times.
Derek Vreeland: Yeah, and so yeah, we have hiked together. Uh I r we r ran our first marathon together. You had already run um a half marathon.
And y and you had said, hey, if you’ll sign up for a half marathon um in the Kansas City area, I’ll flap and run up with you. We ran a half marathon. We ran the Kansas City Marathon in twenty fifteen together.
Lots of hiking trips. But yeah, I would say in the last few years as you’ve grown in your faith, um, I think that’s definitely brought our relationship uh to just a different place and uh I really, really enjoy it. Well, listen, we uh we have an announcement to make And uh this is something that has been worked on for months and months and months, all the logistics and plans and We we’ve had lots of conversation um about this.
And so we have something to announce on this podcast episode that I have not said a word about on social media. So we have a We have a big announcement and Jeff, I’m gonna let you make the announcement.
Jeff Vreeland: Sure. Um, even though I have urged you many times to tell people about this, you have kept your lips uh sealed, which is great. But no, we’re very excited to kind of formalize, as Derek said, a lot of what we have been working on in the behind the scenes into a formal nonprofit.
that’s going to support lots of different efforts that we’ll talk about. But the the Peaceable Way Foundation is a nonprofit that Derek and I have started with support of a couple donors. And we’re very excited to kind of bring this to this vision that we have had, and really it’s a lot of what Derek has had to the public.
Um and we have a few things uh a part of it, a few assets that we’re gonna talk about, but at the end of the day, um we really wanted to just kind of solidify a lot of the work that Derek was doing already and has been doing for years. um with some of the technology things that I have uh been working on and just really the to support the podcast, uh to support Derek’s ministry and some other things. But Um the peaceful way has uh it’s been a lot of work in the back end.
Um it’s not as easy to start a nonprofit as as one would think, uh one being me. I thought it was much easier to do, but lots of paperwork. But yeah, we’re very, very excited to announce the peaceful way.
Derek Vreeland: Yeah, this has been something developing uh for for quite a while, and I will give credit where credit is due. Uh Jeff, you are really the the visionary behind this. I uh and you had s you had s stated that you just kind of want to bring to the public, things I’ve been working on for years.
I am a pastor and an author. And so in this sphere, I see myself really as the the content creator. And that’s really where my heart is.
Um, whether I’m podcasting or teaching or preaching or writing a book or a Bible study series or writing small group curriculum, uh this is my heart. is is to create content that help people grow in their faith to know and understand the ways of Jesus and then live it out. You know, this is um this really goes back to the Baptist church that we were in uh here in Saint Joseph, Missouri.
So Frederick Boulevard Baptist Church. That’s where I was baptized. Were you baptized there?
That’s where I was baptized. Yep. I was baptized.
Yeah. Frederick Boulevard Baptist Church, St. Joseph, Missouri. And um, you know, what I so value about Growing up in a Baptist church.
When I say growing up, you know, we were kind of in and out of church. For me until high school, it was really when I got involved, but But the foundation I was given was so just laser focused on Jesus Um, I remember our pastor Jim Hardwick. Um, he loved the scriptures and would teach verse by verse, and that gave me such a love for the Bible that I still have today.
But what I remember as a teenager is just hearing a lot about Jesus and discipleship, following Jesus, doing what Jesus told us to do. And for me, I think peace and peaceableness is is one of the ways to sum up What it means to walk in the ways of Jesus. The ways of Jesus are the ways of peace.
And by peace I mean that in sort of the Old Testament Hebrew word shalom, which is a word that means well-being, flourishing, it’s the kind of society, because Shalom’s not just individual, but it’s the kind of society where Nothing is broken, nothing is missing, everything is working and flourishing. I believe that this is the primary message of Jesus. that when he said the thief comes um but to steal, kill and kill and destroy, but I have come that you might have life, that life is a is a shalom life, it’s a peaceable life where nothing’s broken, nothing’s missing, everything’s just thriving and and working well in a in a sort of harmonious way.
So peace has been a theme of mine for years. The books and Bible studies I’ve written, you see that theme all throughout. And so I thought that was a a great name.
You know, we went back and forth on the name. Um, I think the peaceable way, uh, it just it it brings joy to my heart. uh knowing that now we have this nonprofit that is going to continue to create resources to help people grow in that peace So let’s talk a little bit about uh what you mentioned is assets, that what we’re what we’re doing and what we’re going to do.
Let’s talk a little bit about those assets.
Jeff Vreeland: Yeah, I mean the foundational asset of the of the nonprofit is is the podcast, the podcast that you’re listening to right now, peaceable and kind. I mean, Derek has started this, what was it, June 24th? Yeah.
Um when we got it kicked off. And um so it’s been going for a little while and and had a lot of success and uh continues to build momentum. And so that’s really the foundation of the the nonprofit.
Um, this is an ad-free podcast, but you know, outside of you know plugging a couple books that Derek has written, uh, we’ll continue to be that. Uh we continue to uh to put it out and and work very hard to provide a quality podcast. Um the other thing out of it that we’re very excited about is uh we Derek and I had a lot of conversations about his um his book that he wrote, The Daily Office Lictionary.
uh because I don’t like physical goods. Um I wanted I wanted the Daily Office Lictionary in an app. And and and Derek has had multiple people uh talk to him about that and also request it.
And so I finally just Said we’re gonna do it and we did it. And so the book, the Daily Office Lictionary, um, which you can still find on Amazon and you can still purchase, and it’s not going anywhere. We’ve also made it into an app.
Um, and uh you can find the app on our website, the peaceableway. com. The show notes will have all of these links, but we have converted the book, which I use uh have used for a long time.
Now I’m on the app, which I love. Uh we also have a website for it as well, so you can get it on the web, you can get it on an app, but it has all of the verses from a daily reading of the the two-year plan. Also has the psalm in there as well.
And so that we’re very, very excited about. As part of that Uh we also built uh Psalm of the Day. And so we have a website that we built and spun up uh for that on psalm of the day.
org. And what it it it really is all it is, is what it sounds like. It’s a psalm of the day.
And the idea, and you’re the one who turned me on to this, and I’ve now incorporated it into my daily reading plan, is just to read one chapter, one psalm every single day. Um you more or less go through the the psalms and uh a couple times over the year, but that is the goal is just to read one a day. and to pray that out loud.
So we have the ability to go there. You can see it on a website. We can deliver it to you via email every day as well.
We’re working on bringing in text messaging to that. But another one of our assets. It’s also on Facebook where we post uh two or three times a day reflections of the psalm of the day.
Um, and so just trying to incorporate and again more spreading that piece. of of of of going through the practice of reading a psalm every single day. And the last asset we have that we want to talk about is the prayer wheel.
And the prayer wheel itself is uh an ability for you to come and spend sixty minutes or even thirty minutes if that’s all you have with God. It is A kind of organized ability for you to pray all different ways. You’re going to give praise to God.
You’re going to listen. You’re going to have confession. You’re going to read scripture.
You’re going to ask for help. Um, you’re gonna give Thanksgiving, you’re gonna sing, you’re gonna meditate, uh, and then at the end you’re gonna listen for what God is telling you. And so this is a digital asset.
online at dubprayerwheel. org and you can log in there and you can be completely hands-free if you want to. You can put on your AirPods, you can go for a walk.
And it will give you five-minute increments and tell you what to do, how to pray, or maybe just sit and listen or read scripture, and it will read the scripture to you. Um, but you don’t have to do it hands-free. You can do it at your computer and um, you know, put your hands headphones on.
I did a prayer roll yesterday morning. Uh, and it just is a very concentrated way to spend an hour with God that is guided. Um, because a lot of times, you know, thinking about praying for an hour can be overwhelming for some people.
I know for myself, the first time I thought about this uh in a in a Bible study I was doing, I was like, I can’t, that’s my mind races. But this is a guided prayer time. And so you can take 60 minutes to do it.
We also have a 30-minute version if you’re unable to do it for 30 minutes minutes. It just lessens your segments down to two and a half minutes. Um but it is a guided prayer time, uh which you can spend time with God.
You can you can you’re gonna be walked through lots of different segments like I said Um so yeah, that’s kind of where we are right now with all the assets of what we have. You can see all of these things at the website, the peaceableway. com, and you can access those.
And again, all of the links will be in the show notes.
Derek Vreeland: Hey friends, I want to pause this episode for just a moment to let you know that Resurrection, 8 Lessons on How God Restores Us, the third and final book in the God in the Neighborhood Bible study. series is out now. Go to the show notes for ordering information It’s so exciting.
And and let me connect this a little bit to the vision. Um because so the Peaceable Way Foundation, Sowing Seeds of Peace and Kindness, we talk about that on the podcast all the time. And so people may expect, oh, so you’re gonna You’re gonna create these like reconciliation, justice-oriented, uh peacemaking in the neighborhood type assets.
And you know, maybe in the future we develop those type of things. But for me, I think that Well, let me start with Jesus. Jesus said, Blessed are the peacemakers, not the peacekeepers.
So as followers of Jesus, I think we are bringing God’s shalom peace. into our neighborhood, schools, and workplaces. But what we’re creating in terms of resources are resources for our own spiritual formation.
Because if you’re going to be making peace in the world, you first have to experience the peace of God. Not just in a one-time experience, but we need it ongoing. Because the world is busy, it’s noisy, it’s chaotic, and we need ways, we need resources.
that help us to slow down and to be attentive to the presence of God. And whether it’s it’s through worship or prayer or scripture reading. All of these practices of the Christian faith are simply to put us in the presence of God.
And and for those who have walked with the Lord, you know, if you will spend time, particularly in the morning, I know that’s a challenge for some people, but in the morning, if you can spend time in God’s presence, it forms a a non-anxious, peaceable presence within you. And so that’s why, and also just because my heart is for spiritual formation, uh, this is what the peaceable way is offering. The podcast, the app, you were exactly right.
A number of people have asked me. Hey, I love your daily office lectionary with the the various readings, Old Testament epistles and gospel readings every day. Do you have an app?
And I have been so resistant to that. Um, you know, I got two grandkids. I’m I’m Deep Paw.
I’m a grandpa, and I just own being old. And so I’m like, none of those apps for you kids. You need a book and a Bible.
Now, personally, that is still my practice. Um I I like a real physical Bible. I still use a copy of my lectionary every morning.
It’s um looking to see if it’s with me. It’s not in my it’s down by my my reading chair. And uh but I I do know that you know, the tide has turned and we are so the our phones are so integrated into our lives.
And so I want to be a good missionary in that digital space. And uh Jeff, I love the way he said it’s like, I wanted to do this, and so I did it. Which is why we work we work well together.
Jeff Vreeland: Exactly. I think a a lot of people and a lot of listeners probably can connect with the idea that um uh a lot of the things that you do are to solve your own personal needs, and this is one of them, right? And and I think the The the Daily Office Lictionary app is probably a prime example.
Psalm of the Day is also one of those. I like it in my email every morning. And then the prayer wheel definitely was, right?
I needed that digital. There was a piece of paper I was following that I kept losing. Um, I would regularly text one of my small group uh friends and ask him if she would send me the picture on her phone because I would always lose it.
So it definitely it it it scratches that itches and solves that need for us. I think what you know, as we as we look forward in what we’re doing, right, the the goal for us is is to continue to uh allow your ministry Um and really to to as you said at the top, really uh invest in peace, right? And that is done through multiple tools, and everyone has a different tool.
And we’re You don’t have to use all of these, but like if you’re using one of them, it’s going to infuse joy. It’s going to infuse peace in your life every single day.
Derek Vreeland: Yeah, and I think it’s good that we have different resources that connect with different personality types. Yeah, the the Psalm for the Day is an interesting, uh it’s a local tradition that our church practices And it does get confusing because on January 1st you pray Psalm 1, January 2nd, you pray Psalm 2. And so that’s easy.
But then you get into February and March. And it gets a little bit more complicated. And there’s 365 days, but only 150 Psalms.
So on day 151, you start back over on Psalm 1. On day 301 you start back over on Psalm 1. So as you get later in the calendar year, it’s a lot of math if you if you lose your place.
And so I will admit uh that having that uh rem that psalm of the day in my inbox has helped me because there are times I’ll get off on what’s the psalm for today? Like what psalm was yesterday? Um, but in in getting it in my inbox, it has really, really helped me uh stay on track.
So yes, it is it is good to create lots of resources. for different kinds of people. And I think we do need guidance.
So I think the prayer wheel and and the lectionary for me is is always been guidance. So I always say that I don’t I don’t pray in the morning or I don’t read scripture in the morning based on what I’m looking for. I read what the lectionary gives me And that’s been a good practice for me.
Like I need to be told what to read and and what to pray. And so these resources offer all of that. And I also want to say before I forget, because we don’t we don’t talk about it, and you had mentioned the podcast is ad-free.
And except for some things about my books, but I I have to say so I don’t forget that it’s only ad free uh because we have donors um who have been giving um to make this possible. And of course we keep our donors anonymous, but I have to say thank you to those that have been supporting the peaceable way even before. We were officially a nonprofit.
They have found ways uh to support us financially, and I appreciate that. And so if you’ve been tracking along with this podcast, podcast and you like what we’re doing and you’re interested in becoming a donor, you can do that. Jeff tell them how can they become a donor?
Jeff Vreeland: Absolutely. Yeah. Just hit up peaceableway.
com. Uh there’s a donate button right in the footer. Uh we don’t make it We don’t we’re not gonna attack you with ads and and pop-ups and all that kind of stuff.
There’s a there’s a button right there at the bottom that says donate, uh take you to a stripe checkout. Uh you can definitely uh donate to us. Um, you know, we the foundation is brand new, the nonprofit is brand new, so we’re working through uh lots of of new things, the administrative side of things.
uh that Derek wants nothing to do and I have to take all of the uh burden, which is good. I’m here for. But yeah, as that’s the easiest way to do it.
If if if you want to in other ways. um involve yourself in the ministry or or what we’re doing. You can reach out to Derek or myself on social media.
Very easy to find both of us. Oh yeah. And we would love to have a conversation with you.
And there’s more coming. We talked about our donors, but we have other ideas and other things that we’re doing. Derek is not stopping writing.
Nope. Um, you know, and so we have lots of things to come. uh lots of things that we’re gonna be uh sharing as we move forward and uh as derek said he’s got a vision for this and uh we’re working to execute lots of uh lots of new ideas coming
Derek Vreeland: Well, I, you know, not only want to thank donors, but I do want to thank you, Jeff, because you are the spearhead behind all this. I’m I’m the content creator and I’ll keep creating content. Uh but people don’t know people who know me know how administratively deficient I am.
Like I’ve told people that I’ve never balanced a checkbook. When I was single uh before I was married in the in the 1990s, I was like cash only. I get my paycheck, I’d cash it.
I get money orders. Um, I put some money in the bank to pay like, I don’t know, the phone bill or something, but I never balance a checkbook. And even today Uh I I just don’t I don’t do anything with like you know spreadsheets and dollars and all that kind of stuff.
Jeff Vreeland: So unless it involves hiking. If it involves hiking and that is now our hike. Uh one of the classic arguments that Derek and I got into this was over ten years ago we were hiking on the AT is my Uh thought with his Excel file.
I’m like, I think this is crazy. He’s like, we’re just gonna do it. He’s like, I know, but I think we can go faster.
He goes, whatever This is what we’re gonna do. It’s in the file. My God, we’re taking this to the to the to V A T.
Derek Vreeland: You know, it it it’s funny, people uh at church When I say I don’t do spreadsheets, th there’s people at church are like, yeah, but when when you gotta plan out a trip, you usually have a spreadsheet. And that is true. Um, because when we were hiking on the AT, we did eight days hiking the Georgia section of the Appalachian Trail for my uh fortieth birthday and Yes.
Uh I had multiple spreadsheets with mileage distance, like how far we’re gonna go each day. I had all our meals all planned out and I had I had the calorie amount of each thing we were eating to make sure we weren’t calorie deficient. So yeah, very, very true.
I can I can’t pull up a spreadsheet if I have to. If you want to preference. If it’s a good thing, if I really want to, I can make it happen.
As as we as we kind of wrap up this episode making this exciting announcement of launching a foundation, which seems just crazy to me. um that we’re at this point, that it’s it’s a it’s a real 501c3 terrible organization. I never thought that that would happen.
But as we as we close out, what um as you as you forecast, what do you hope people receive or what benefits do you see them receiving from the work that we’re doing at the peaceable way?
Jeff Vreeland: That’s a great question. Um I to me uh I want everyone to have a closer walk with Jesus. I I just at the end of the day With anything that we’re doing, if it’s the podcast, uh Psalm of the Day, Prayer Wheel, um, any of the other projects that I know that we have, you know, behind the curtains haven’t released yet, all of it is just to bring people closer to Jesus and their walk.
Um, every single day. That’s the goal. Um, and because that has it’s what’s changed my life, my daily rhythms, uh, which you’ve influenced a lot, right?
And uh I remember texting you, how do I pray? Um, you know, I need help with that. And so Um we had those conversations, but it’s just having uh the ability to take time in the morning.
I really am a proponent of the morning. Um I know it’s not best for everyone, but taking that time and really uh slowing down, uh spending time with God every single morning. Uh and just having that that relationship.
Um, so you can discern what he wants you to do, you can discern what he’s asking you to do, uh, and you can discern of how he’s working through you to further his kingdom. Um and I think that is, you know, you and I agree on this. I know of what we want the foundation to be all about.
Derek Vreeland: Yeah, it it really is all about Jesus. I think both of us, you know, we are our products. I mean, we are who we are today in our work life, in our family life, as we think of ourselves as husbands and fathers, and now me as a as a grandpa.
Like all of the good in my life is because of Jesus. Sometimes I’ll I’ll I’ll think, or even with Jenny, I’ll sort of talk through like Man, if I try to imagine what my life would be like without Jesus, it it would not be good. Um, and I’ve had some longer conversations where I’ve really sort of tried to imagine the trajectory of my life to my own devices.
And it it it wouldn’t be good. So I am who I am because of Jesus. Um and you can say the same thing.
And so I share that deep, deep hope. that all of the work that we’re doing, um, we don’t do it, we don’t we we receive no compensation for the work that we’re doing. We don’t do it for that.
We do it because our lives have been transformed by Jesus and they are Continually being transformed, and uh we want that for other people. So I do have to um again say thank you to you, to our donors, and you know what? We really should shout out our wives.
Uh some people don’t know this, that we both married Jennifer’s. And uh and who go by Jenny. Yep. Uh your genny with a Y, my Jenny with an I. Uh so when we’re all together, it does make it complex.
And I have texted your wife. Or called by accident. Usually I’m using Siri.
I used to say, hey Siri, um uh uh text Jenny Vreeland ‘Cause I thought that that would connect, but then I saved her as in my phone as wife, so now say text my wife, but Yep.
Jeff Vreeland: That’s exactly how I had to prevent it because I Almost sent a couple texts to to Jen and uh yeah, it’s definitely difficult. They both will be very excited that we have shout them out on the podcast. That’s what they want.
Derek Vreeland: They want all they want that.
Jeff Vreeland: Yes, they want the attention. Both of them will allow it, but yes Um they they help keep us in line and uh are godly women that uh you know as I don’t know where my life would be without Jesus, I don’t know where my life would be without Jenny. Uh we both married high school sweethearts. Yep. Um and so it is uh it’s really transformational for for what we do and and and for our families for sure.
Derek Vreeland: Yeah, a hundred percent. Okay. That’s all I got. Jeff, you got anything else you want to add?
Jeff Vreeland: Nope, that’s it. Check the show notes for all of our links. And we appreciate each and every listener to the podcast.
I’m thankful for you and for you know being a big brother to me. uh being a great mentor for me, uh not only as uh you know a pastor, but it’s it’s very nice to have a big brother who is a pastor because Derek gets random texts from me all the time with I don’t understand what God is saying in this Bible verse. Can you please tell me But I appreciate your vision for this, and uh I’m very excited to be to be doing this with you and uh really giving people the opportunity to get closer to Jesus.
Derek Vreeland: Yeah, well I appreciate you, Jeff, as I’ve I’ve said on this episode. None of this would happen without you. So appreciate you.
Love you. Love our relationship. Love what we’re doing.
with a peaceable way. Well that’s all that we have for this episode. Thank you for joining us.
Go in peace and be kind.
This transcript was generated with AI and may contain errors.