PETER VANDENBERG

We’re all Broken and We’re all in Need of Christ

Peter Vandenberg

Like many in the South, I grew up in church. In hindsight, looking back, I grew up “religious,” not in a purely Christian atmosphere. I was baptized as a baby in the church, I grew up in. It wasn’t until my wife Wendi and I got married in 1988 did I consider changing denominations.

When Wendi and I decided to stay in Boone and raise a family, we really struggled with the church, because I wasn’t comfortable with the Baptist church, and that’s where her background was.

All this time I had professed myself to be a Christian, but in my early twenties, I realized that I was far more religious than I was a Christian. I struggled with having to be baptized again because I felt like I was only being baptized again to join the church, and not to honor Christ. Eventually, I did get a full-submersion baptism in the mid 1990s, and joined Brushy Fork Baptist Church. ularly. It was a low point in my life, because I was making my own needs the priority and not putting God first.

In 2007, I felt like something was missing, and my life just did not feel complete. A friend of mine, Carla Propst, encouraged me to start teaching Sunday School. I hesitated at first, but Brushy Fork was growing at such a rapid rate that I decided to help fill the need.

Several years later, in 2012, I took a job with Templeton Tours. That job was life changing, because it gave me opportunities to visit the Holy Land. At the same time, Brushy Fork got a new pastor, Toby Oliver. I didn’t know it then, but God had put both those new things in my life at the same time to show me who I could be, and to demonstrate how I could help fulfill the Great Commission, in which Jesus commands his disciples to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I [Jesus] have commanded you.”

always thought that being a pastor was a job choice, but he showed me that it was a calling. Being a pastor wasn’t something he just did on Sunday morning, it was something he did all the time. Toby really showed me that the love of Christ could actively work in someone’s life. I never saw that love in a pastor before. That was just remarkable, for me to see that love in action.

That was when I really started to feel a calling to ministry. I shared that with Toby, and he and I talked it over. He asked if Wendi was feeling the call, because God wouldn’t call me without calling her. After we all talked it over, Wendi and I began to look for opportunities to minister. I didn’t realize that I was going to be a pastor, I envisioned myself as the “pseudo-assistant” at Brushy Fork.

However, when I first walked into Middle Fork Baptist Church in Blowing Rock, I felt the love and the call to preach. It was an easy choice when Middle Fork asked me to be their pastor, and I feel blessed to be there.

The Bible says you’re anew when you’re in Christ. Christ didn’t want a better Peter, he wanted a changed Peter, and I have absolutely changed. I used to worry about money and finances, and Jesus took all that away. He was there through those times, I just ignored him.

I think the problem with the church is that we’re not different enough from the rest of the world. It can be difficult to distinguish a Christian from a nonbeliever.

The biggest part of my walk with Christ was realizing we are all broken, and we’re all in need of Christ. I’m not better than a drug dealer or somebody behind bars, and thinking that I am would be a barrier to witnessing to that person. I need to have compassion for all people, and I need to love all people. That is our job, to show Christ to others.

I really respect and admire people who have come to the Lord from alcoholism, drug abuse and other horrific trials. I’ve always thought to myself, “Peter, you’ve got such a boring testimony.” The way I choose to look at it is this: I might just play a small role, and I might just be the punter, but I’m getting on the field! Written with Laine Isaacs ~

This story was originally written 7 months ago. Recently in May, Peter experienced a few strokes. The last one left him without use of his right side. He and his family appreciate prayers. They are thankful and give God all of the glory for the healing he has received and the healing still to come. His hope is that these present trials will draw him and his family closer to Jesus and point others to Him.