Center for Excellence in Preaching Releases Anniversary Video

As a way to mark its 10th anniversary, the Center for Excellence in Preaching at Calvin Theological Seminary has released a five-minute video that expresses the vision of the center and specifically how it has touched one church in the Grand Rapids, Mich. area.

Soft music plays in the background and, interspersed with scenes of a young man building a fire on a beach, the pastor and members of Encounter Church, a CRC congregation in Kentwood, discuss the  value of the center and how it has impacted the church.

Rev.  Dirk VanEyk, founding pastor of Encounter, says in the video that the overall “church has changed, but the central part of church continues in the preaching of the word of God.

“It is through resources like the Center for Excellence in Preaching that allow us to keep what is important -- that critical, biblically authentic message in a culturally relevant way.”

Two members of his church also speak in the video, expressing gratitude to the center for the ways in which it helped shape VanEyk and his preaching. One member says the friendly faces and upbeat music bring her in, but the solid preaching is what allows for her “soul being nourished.”

Rev. Scott Hoezee, director of the center for all of its 10 years, also speaks, talking about the significance of preaching.

First, he says, there is the universal story of God being the creator of the universe. And then preaching “gets to tell that story and locate us in that story today.”

He also says the center, with its range of resources, has had a broad reach, providing materials to many denominations, large and small.

Looking back, Hoezee says starting the center came out of trying to meet two needs expressed in a pair of questions.

“How could we help preaching in the church be better and what could Calvin Seminary specifically do to put itself on the map to support excellence in preaching?”