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The RCA is pleased to announce the filling of two executive leadership positions this summer.

The RCA is pleased to announce the filling of two executive leadership positions this summer. Jill Ver Steeg stepped into her role as chief ministry officer in mid-July, and Randy Weener will begin his responsibilities as director of Church Multiplication on September 1.

Ver Steeg, formerly the director of transformational engagement, will now oversee the work of Transformed & Transforming, the RCA’s 15-year vision for ministry, working closely with all initiative leaders.

“Transformed & Transforming is the church’s vision, the emerging reality of where we believe God is taking us. I’m eager to get after the work of stewarding all of those initiatives,” she says. “I’m thrilled to help our team discover their core contribution and to lean into that—to flourish in their calling. That’s what gets me up in the morning.”

Ver Steeg brings much leadership experience to this role, previously serving as a chaplain at Hope College and a teaching pastor at Meredith Drive Reformed Church in Des Moines, Iowa. In addition to receiving her master of divinity from Western Theological Seminary in 2003, she completed her doctorate of ministry in adaptive leadership and spiritual formation at Fuller Theological Seminary in 2017.

But it’s not just leadership and experience that Ver Steeg carries. With these new responsibilities come joy, passion, and curiosity.

“We’re six years into this vision, so I see it now as Transformed & Transforming 2.0—imagining new strategies and inviting congregations into a story larger than themselves,” she says. “I’m excited to engage new RCA congregations, wherever they’re planted.”

Weener’s part-time role as coordinator of Church Multiplication is expanding to that of director of Church Multiplication. This larger role is the result of a vision of the RCA: plant 1,000 churches in the coming 20 years.

“That’s one church plant every week for the next 20 years,” Weener says. “We’re doubling a denomination that is 400 years old.”

The aim is to establish 500 stand-alone church plants in Canada and the United States, 200 global church plants, 200 micro churches (led by a volunteer or bi-vocational pastor to reach a specific subgroup of the community), and 100 multi-sites. Churches will be planted in Brazil, Nepal, Kenya, India, Hungary, and other countries where the denomination already has partners.

“I’m excited to learn from the global church,” Weener says. “We have to be at the feet of where things are happening and then see what we can learn.”

Weener holds a bachelor of music education from Hope College, a master of divinity from Western Theological Seminary, and a doctorate of ministry from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. His experience includes camp ministry, youth ministry, music ministry, and Christian education. In addition, he served as the senior pastor at Standale Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and planted Spring Valley Church (RCA) in Allendale, Michigan. He has also been the classis leader for the Great Lakes City Classis since 2008.

His focus on church multiplication began in 2000.

“It’s a calling to bring people who don’t know God into relationship with him. My greatest joy and vitality in ministry is when I’m in a position over my head, when I cannot depend on my own skills, knowledge, or best practices. It has to be a God-thing, and I do what I can to set the stage. That’s what makes my faith soar.”

The vision is large, but at its core is people.

“We plant churches to introduce people to Christ and to expand the kingdom of God,” Weener says. “If we can reach 100 people with one church, we’re talking 100,000 people. It’s less about the 1,000 churches and more about the 100,000 disciples.”