Redeemed

What does it mean to you to be redeemed?
Can't wait to hear what you have to say!

Just saying thank you!

I must say, I am certainly excited and encouraged by how God has been moving in our services. God is favoring us with a unique outpouring of His Spirit. It has been amazing to experience and to see God renovating lives! The last couple weeks as I preached, God completely took over and changed the plans, giving fresh revelation which has been exactly what has been needed. Then, what can I say about how God used Lady Camille yesterday. In short, I guess I just wanted to stop by here to say, thank you Lord for what you're doing in our midst. Feel free to join in on my praise or add something new that you're thankful for! For us, thanksgiving is more than a day; it's a way of life!

Consecration 2011 updates.

We have completed week one of the Consecration - how do you feel about it at this point? I certainly sense God's presence through the process. It is great to see our church unified around a common goal. We're drawing closer to God; we're praying for one another; we're growing in faith; we're identifying and overcoming issues!

Talk to me about your journey... your challenges and your victories through our time of Consecration!

Restored & Consecrated

God is blessing Victory Life. We had a phenomenal time with Pastor Robert Hogans, Jr. and his guests on Sunday. Many confirming prophecies, healing manifested, awesome praise and worship. This all led us to a wonderful start to our time of Consecration. Today is the first of 21 days of Consecration for all of those WITH Victory Life! No meat (including fish) and no sweets (candy/pop/sugary basked items). Juice should be 100% juice. Increased prayer, bible and personal worship time is key to the Consecration. This time will end after November 6. Send questions to victorylife@victorybr.com.

God is taking us places and this is a wonderful part of the process.

Church on the Move - Spread Light!

Sunday was a great day! We had an abbreviated service, as the "I am Light" series was continued with the message "Flashing Lights" - then we took the light to the community. We got together in groups of 3 and spread out through the houses and apartments surrounding the church and gave free light bulbs to all who would receive with no strings attached.

August is Outreach month at Victory Life and this was a part of our demonstration of God's love for the community. It was so much fun to see people's reaction to a free gift - many didn't quite know how to take it - others were amazingly appreciative - all were impacted!

We endeavored to give a free gift... like God's love; it was a small way for us to show God's love in a tangible way. In the end, we hope we brought some light into someone's day; it certainly did that for each of us who participated in the operation! We gave natural light and hopefully a little spiritual light as well.

For those of you who participated, we would love to hear some of your takeaways, some of your interactions and how it felt for you as the giver - please share - and keep on 'Flashing'!

The Journey: The Harvest Is Beginning

Last Sunday, July 24, 2011, God announced to His people that "The Harvest is Beginning!" To the ear of the sower this is good news. God not only informed us that a harvest is taking place but also what will occur before you will see the manifestation of the harvest. The message was pulled from the book of Ruth 1:14-18, 22. We learned that when seasons are completed (10), we move into transition (11) for the purpose of achieving order (12)! In the transition period, you will have some Orpah's and you will have some Ruth's; decisions will have to be made to either stay comfortable or go to the unknown where God is, and you must be fully persuaded and committed to your destiny. God truly spoke to me through this Word and I receive it! Tell me, what did God speak to you about?

The Journey Reflections

As a pastor, I must say that I'm tremendously enjoying The Journey. It has been a great time to hear from some of the internal speakers at V-Life. We are abundantly blessed with great people. Brother Cedric did a fantastic job yesterday as he preached from the subject, "Keep it Real". We will forever be mindful of our Spiritual GPS... and, the statement of the day, "My actions verify or condemn my words." We are receiving tips for our life journey!

Join us for 2 more weeks of The Journey:

Sunday, July 24 - Sister Jessica Robinson
Sunday, July 31 - Minister Darius Ganzie

The Journey Continues

Great Word from Mom Gant Sunday. How much more can a conquerer be? It's encouraging to know that we've been built to be more than conquerers. All I do is win!

Three more weeks of the journey left - don't miss your moment. Join us on the journey - you never know where we may go.

Sunday, July 17 - Bro. Cedric Wicks
Sunday, July 24 - Sis. Jessica Robinson
Sunday, July 31 - Min. Darius Ganzie

The Journey

The Journey has begun! Join us for July services with internal speakers taking us on a journey through the Word of God. Pastor Razel started this Sunday with a message entitled, "Set me free from me." We enjoyed having the high school Jr.'s and Sr.'s in high school from around the country and the world with us who are participating in the Calvin College Entrada program. It was a full, full house and a good kickoff to The Journey. The song is still ringing: I don't do what I want to do, but I do, do what I don't want to do... But, I will do what He helps me to, when I really wanna do what He's called me to!

Upcoming schedule:

The Journey

• Sunday, July 10 - Sister Vedra (Mom) Gant
• Sunday, July 17 - Brother Cedric Wicks
• Sunday, July 24 - Sister Jessica Robinson
• Sunday, July 31 - Minister Darius Ganzie

Romans 7 at Connect

I just have to say, if you're able to come to Connect and just aren't coming, you are missing an amazing time in the Word.

For those of you who were there last night, I'd love to post a lot of the revelation understanding we came to last night.

Share your takeaways!

Caleb? Where are you?

It has been a while since we've done this, but I wanted to take some time to get your feedback and takeaways from Sunday's message and start of the new series, Well Able!

We talked about Caleb's report to Moses about the Promised Land and his affirmation as he stated, we are well able to overcome! Indeed, that is the Word for you in the situations that you're facing; you are well able to overcome and to possess your promise!

I look forward to hearing what you took away from Sunday's message. It was fun to deliver it to you all - now, allow me the fun of hearing what you got out of it! Leave a comment, you're well able to do so!

Summertime

It may not feel like it, but we have arrived at another summer break and we're shifting into a new season at Victory Life. Being a largely FSU populated church presents a unique challenge in the summer. While several of our key students have decided to stay in Big Rapids for the summer, many of our students go home for the summer break. While some could see this as an issue, I see it as an opportunity. The summer at V-Life is a great time to focus more on the surrounding community of Big Rapids as well as developing the ministries of Victory Life. This summer we have several activities lined up to connect with the Big Rapids community.

Along with our Sunday and Wednesday services, we're planning a Block Party in August, our annual Chill & Grill in July, and several Outreach activities to connect us with our neighbors in Big Rapids. We are blessed to have residents of Big Rapids, Grand Rapids, Baldwin, Bitely, White Cloud, Mt. Pleasant, Muskegon, Detroit, Evart, Reed City, Remus, and Cadillac worshiping with us at Victory Life.

We're also looking forward to hearing from several of our Overcomers who are gifted in preaching, teaching, and challenging and exhorting the people of God. I'm excited about how God is blessing us and I'm looking forward to a great summer full of exciting activities at V-Life!

Singles: Recent FB Posts by Prophetess Kelly Crews

If you attended Single's Strategy I'm sure you remember the great discussions we had as a group, as well as the awesome keynote given by Prophetess Kelly Crews.
She has been posting some thought provoking Facebook statuses this month. Check them out:

May 4, 2011
Singles frustrations....you have a reasonable opinion of yourself. You know you're certainly not the most perfect person in the world, but do know that you have a lot to offer. You think you present yourself well and know that you don’t have body odor. LOL What's the problem? I wanted to encourage you and let you know to stop over analyzing yourself...You can't settle and God's timing is perfect!!!!

May 10, 2011
Relationships (singles)..never cry more than you smile and if you are... it's NOT worth it!! A relationship should not be about a lot of pain, strain, agony, defeat...a good connection should fit like a missing puzzle piece that you've been waiting for...and they should bring you JOY!!!

Flow!

What can be better than favor? Favor AND Flow! Tell us how the favor + flow is revealing itself in your life this week.

Favor!

The Favor is flowing - share your victory report about how the favor of God is moving in your life this week!

Connected! Strengths, Purpose, Destiny...

Connect last night was insane. God gave a lot of revelation. I don't like coming on here and talking about what I talked about. So, I need your help. Help me recap what came out of the discussion on Strengths last night. It's your turn to talk - share the insights!

Strategies for Purity

This is our second session on purity this month. Wow, we really added to our strategies for purity! We received a purity checklist which we encouraged the youth to post somewhere where they could see it everyday. The checklist came from a program by Christine St. George. You can find it online. To paraphrase a few strategies:

• We will stay pure today & pray for our future husbands/wives. We learned to focus on inward qualities when praying for our future mates, not just physical characteristics :-)
• We will avoid putting ourselves in situations where we can be tempted. We learned to be in groups and/or have a chaperon.
  
• If we date, we will only date those who share a commitment to purity. The students decided that you should be friends first and discuss your commitment to purity. They decided if your friend couldn't honor your commitment that you show them the door to the relationship :-) These are some feisty students!
• We will be an example. We will be a light to other youth regarding purity. We will show the world what we stand for by our stand on purity. This may give other young people the courage to be pure!
• We will dress appropriately so that others won't lust. We decided that we didn't want to wear shirts that were too low cut, pants/skirts that showed our backside or bellies, or clothes that were too tight or short. We talked about how young men are sexually excited by what they see and young women are excited by feeling close to others.
  
• We will take impure thought and temptations to God in prayer. We talked about the images, lyrics that we may see/hear/read about on television, movies, songs, magazines, books and the internet.

It was a great session! Our youth are great leaders who are learning God's plan for their lives. Encourage them! We'd love to hear more from you!

Single's Strategy

We had a phenomenal time with the single people at Single's Strategy on Saturday. Prophetess Kelly Crews blessed us and we had a great discussion in the session led by Lady Camille and myself. So many topics were covered; so much was said. Now, I want to hear from you - what were your takeaways? What did you get out of the day? What would you like to continue to discuss?

Blessings,

Pastor Razel

Purity

Youth discussed purity this week. What a relevant issue for the pressures that our youth are faced with, including pressures to have sex before marriage, pornography and sexting to name a few. We talked about three Bible truths:

• God wants us to attain purity as a mark of his presence in us. 1 Thessalonians 4: 3, 7, 8
• Gaining purity is not a one-time event, but a process. 1 Thessalonians 4: 1, 2
• Purity keeps us from abusing one another. 1 Thessalonians 4: 4-6

We talked about strategies that help us in this process including:

• Avoiding being alone with members of the opposite sex.
  
• Surround yourself with other young people who value purity.
  
• Wait until you are old enough to date.
  
• Listen to your parents advice regarding your relationships.
  

Any other advice for our youth? Post so we can share with them!

Connect - In His Image, In His Strength

We had a great discussion at Connect last night. This month I'm talking about our strengths. We entered the month last night discussing the fact that we were created in the image of an omnipotent God. Each of us reflects God in some way. We have some traits, characteristics, mannerisms, abilities and strengths that reflect God and identify our connection to Him.

We learned that a strength is:

• a developed talent
• a recognized and appreciated gift
• an opportunity capitalized upon
• actualized potential

God gave us some great insight and revelation into Romans 8:28-37 (King James Version). Below I've listed 3 of the verses; tell me what you get out of these and how this relates to our Strengths!

²⁸And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

²⁹For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

³⁰Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Beauty For Ashes: A Night Of Healing Featuring Bishop Alfred Knight Jr.

Saturday night (March 26), as part of Victory 4U's Recovery 2011 conference, the very special guest at Victory Life Christian Ministries was Bishop Alfred Knight Jr., a Ferris State University alumnus, who returned to Big Rapids.

"Beauty for Ashes: A Night of Healing" was the title of the program featuring Bishop Knight.

Here are some photographic images shot during the powerful Word he delivered on Saturday night at the church.

Bishop Alfred Knight Jr. offers blessings at Victory 4U's Beauty for Ashes: A Night of Healing.

Bishop Knight offers blessings to Sister Vedra Saturday night.

Here is Bishop Knight prior to his introduction from Pastor Razel.

Bishop Knight and Minister Darius are shown here in this photo.

Brothers Darius, Cedric and Terrance assist Bishop Knight during Beauty for Ashes.

Pastor Razel introduced Bishop Knight to those in attendance at Beauty for Ashes.

Here is Bishop Knight near the end of the word he delivered on Saturday (March 27) evening at Victory Life Christian Ministries.

It was a powerful Knight at Victory Life Christian Ministries.

Hats Off To Victory 4U For Pulling Off A Great Conference

Saturday night (March 26) was the culmination of Victory 4U's Recovery 2011 conference. The event, sponsored by the Ferris State University student organization (an extension of Victory Life Christian Ministries), featured Bishop Alfred Knight Jr., a Ferris alumnus, who returned to Big Rapids.

Here are some members of the group of dedicated young people from Victory 4U.

Check out this powerful clip of Pastor Razel Jones delivering a word at Lighthouse Battle Creek entitled "From Ex to nEXt." This powerful life changing message will help you prepare for your promise for tomorrow, while you are in the process in your now.

Victorious Revolution Reflections

Sunday was an amazing day! What do you get when you put Victory Life together with Revolution Christian Ministries? Answer: A Victorious Revolution! Combined music departments, shadowing opportunities for many of the Overcomers, an intense worship experience, like-minded believers, a round stage and impressive sanctuary, great fellowship, Pastor Jermone and Lady Erica Glenn, Pastor Razel and Lady Camille Jones, topped off with an amazing Word presented by Pastor Tim Dilena of Highland Park, Michigan.

Share your take-aways! What did you get from the Victorious Revolution?

Missed the Victorious Revolution? For immediate viewing, everyone can log into the Revolution website at www.revolutioncm.com and go to Cyber Church. From there you can select the On Demand portal and view Sunday's Victorious Revolution Worship Experience (this week only). For actual CD/DVD purchases of the Victorious Revolution, email Revolution's media team at media360@revolutioncm.com.

Want to know what we talked about during Mission Marriage?

So, several of you have shown curiosity to know more about what we talked about during Mission Marriage. I'm not about to spill the beans, but I'll give you a small peak into the day.

Married and engaged couples came together to talk about marriage - some of the topics covered were:

• What does it really mean to submit?
• How do we effectively submit to one another?
• Customizable roles in marriage.
• What do your intentions have to do with it?
• Keeping the passion alive.
• How to recover from a breach of trust.
• What makes her a good thing?
• Having a vision for the home and for the family.
• To be the head means you need to be heading somewhere!
• God must be first and He gives the vision!
• How do 2 become 1?
• Removing walls.
• Being a healer to your spouse in 3 dimensions.
• Sacrifice - what am I willing to give up?
• and more...

Exodus

In our discussion of Exodus this week in Connect, we tried to answer several questions. We had great responses with life changing applications for our own lives. Questions and responses are highlighted below. Add your responses and comment on our responses!

What can we learn about leadership from Moses' example?

• Anyone can be a leader. God enables us.
  
• Leaders follow God's instructions/obey God.
  
• Leaders respect God.
• Leaders lead by example and do what is right.
  
• Leaders respect and care for the people they are leading.
  
• Leaders pray for their people/advocate for their people.
  
• Leaders are persistent and persevere.
  
• Leaders are sometimes isolated.
  
• Leaders are content in serving others and serving God regardless of other people's opinions.
  
• Leaders don't compromise what God told them to do.
  
• Leaders realize their role and function effectively within that role.
  
• Leaders surround themselves with people who will hold them up as Aaron held up Moses' arms/staff when he became week.
  
• Leaders can't be everything to everyone.
  
• Leaders are humble.
  
• Leaders are responsible for the people they lead.
  
• Leaders must be totally dependent on God.
  
• Leaders are anointed.

What have we learned about God's nature toward His people while reading Exodus?

• God is patient and long suffering.
  
• God leads by loving example.
  
• God has emotions.
  
• God has high expectations for his people.
  
• God will never call you to do something that you cannot do.
• God desires intimacy with his people.
  
• God speaks to us.
  
• God can/will change his mind for us.
  
• God honors his promises and we need to remind him of his promises to us.
  
• God is faithful.
  

How are we like the children of Israel? What lessons can we learn from them?

• We don't take heed right away.
  
• We often don't internalize God's instructions so that they guide our decisions.
  
• We need deliverance.
  
• Many of us don't know our own identity.
  
• Many of us are living beneath our privilege.
• Many of us have a slave mentality.
  
• Many of us believe the labels that are put on us and consequently live out those labels.
  
• Many of our prolong our process/"How long will you make your process?"

What did we learn about the Holy Spirit in Exodus?

• The Holy Spirit guides leaders around the other leaders with special anointing to meet needs.
  
• The Holy Spirit gives us gifts that may not be common.
  
• The gifts that the Holy Spirit gives us may be the first time that we have seen that gift seen. Your anointing may be the FIRST.
  

We also discussed wisdom as it is discussed in the first five chapter of Proverbs, but we'll have to hold off on that discussion for a future blog. We have plenty to meditate on already! Looking forward to reading your posts and revelations! Don't miss Connect next week. We will continue with our plan of reading the Bible in the year. See the website for our reading plan and jump on the bandwagon. It's not too late to start!

Victory Life Christian Ministries Offers Many Ways To Get Involved

Are you ready to get involved now that you've had your Overcomer's meeting with Pastor Razel and Lady Camille?

Victory Life Christian Ministries has many ways areas of the ministry that might be of interest to you:

Kid's Konnection Leader (ages 6 months - 8 years)

email: christianed@victorybr.com

Ministry Attending (greeting, assistance during service)

email: inreach@victorybr.com

Clean Team (church cleaning on Sundays and Thursdays)

email: inreach@victorybr.com

Music & Fine Arts (music, audio visual, performance)

email: victorylife@victorybr.com

Victory 4U (FSU student organization)

email: v4u@victorybr.com

Victory Life Ferris State University Student Carpool

Carpool for FSU Students

To sign up for a ride to church on Sundays or special events visit www.victorybr.com or email fsucarpool@victorybr.com or call 231.796.VLIF (8543) and leave a message with the following information:

• 1. Name
• 2. Phone number
• 3. Pick up location (West Campus Community Center or Rankin Circle Drive)
• 4. Date the ride is needed

Please adhere to the following carpool guidelines:

1. Rides must be requested at least 24 hours before the service.
2. Drivers pick up from West Campus Community Center and the Rankin Center Circle Drive.
3. A church representative will call you to make arrangements the evening before the service.
4. Drivers do not make additional stops.
5. Please be timely and considerate!

Thoughts on Resilient (S-T-R-E-T-C-H)

This Sunday we looked at the story of Jesus using the 2 fish and 5 loaves to feed 5000 (John 6:1-13 The Message). Isn't it interesting how little becomes much when you place it in the Master's hands? First we see Jesus go through a process to stretch Philip's faith - after stretching faith, He stretches the little boy's lunch - after stretching the lunch, He stretched the people and put them to work gathering the leftovers.

We are resilient! We are fireproof! We are stretchy!

God is up to something among us - He's stretching our faith, stretching our resources, and stretching us! I received the first report today - just a day after the message, an overcomer contacted me and let me know that he had experienced the stretch in resources. He had an old bill that was $646 and was able to settle for $400. This individual made a conscious faith shift and mindset shift in his finances.

God stretched His faith - stretched His resources - and, is stretching him. I encourage you all to stretch your faith and watch God stretch your resources and yourself!

Images From A Sunday At Victory Life Christian Ministries

Here are images shot from our extra-special Sunday (Jan. 9) afternoon service at Victory Life Christian Ministries in Big Rapids, Michigan.

Sunday was home to yet another powerful service that kicked off Affirm 2011 and featured Prophetess Doriane Parker from Kingdom Life Ministries in Grand Rapids. Sunday's service was nothing short of amazing. And, best of all, it was just the start of Affirm 2011.

If you were not there you missed something special.

With that, check out these images from Sunday service at V-Life:



















Prophetess Doriane Parker was amazing at Victory Life Christian Ministries on Sunday afternoon (Jan. 9) in Big Rapids to kick off Affirm 2011.

















Pastor Razel speaks to the congregation during Sunday's service at Victory Life Christian Ministries.

















It was impossible not to feel God's presence in His house at Victory Life on Sunday afternoon.

















Minister Mike Sears was on hand at Victory Life.

















The vocals were amazing and had the Victory Life house rocking on Sunday.

















The Overcomers were feeling his presence at Victory Life.

Affirm 2011

Affirm 2011 (January 9, 10, 11)

Join us as we celebrate two years as Victory Life, two years of pastoral ministry for Pastor and Lady Jones and as we enter year 3 and celebrate this season of Affirmation!

We are excited to have a dynamic lineup of speakers for all three days - Prophetess Doriane Parker from Kingdom Life Ministries in Grand Rapids, Pastor Eric Tolbert of Lighthouse Battle Creek and Pastor Jermone Glenn of Revolution Christian Ministries in Grand Rapids.

The celebration will be a great time in the presence of the Lord! You don't want to miss any of Affirm 2011! Hosted by Pastor Razel and Lady Camille Jones!

Read The Bible In A Year (2011)

Victory Life Christian Ministries has a challenge that will prove to be a journey that is both powerful and rewarding.

As discussed in Connect, and again by Pastor Razel during our Jan. 2 service in Big Rapids, the challenge has been issued to read the Bible during the year 2011.

Victory Life has offered several reading guides, including: bible gateway, bible study tools, or navpress (as handed out in Connect).

Strengthen your connection with His word.