This history of the ministry of Intentional Filling
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2012
The Launch of Breething
Bree Blum began blogging at the encouragement of her therapist. As she continued to write, she bravely shared her thoughts with a few friends and family members, who told her that more people needed these words. Bree published her first public post, sharing about the things that kept her "breething", faith, family and fun.
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2013
Introducing The Imperfect Vessel
Once Bree became more established in blogging, she found that the more she wrote about her faith, the more she wanted to share the "messy middle" of it all, so the blog was rebranded as The Imperfect Vessel.
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2014
The birth of the Intentional Filling Community
In the fall of 2014, a faithful follower of Bree's blog asked if she would be willing to start an online book club for Christian women, to share more encouraging words with others. Bree was hesitant at first, admitting she didn't know if she had the following or help necessary for it to be a success. But God whispered to her heart that women need an "intentional filling" of His Word, instead of the many things in life that they try and use to fill up the God-shaped hole inside. So Bree invited her small community of followers to join her to study "Let's All Be Brave" by Annie F. Downs on August 28, 2014.
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2016
A new adventure
In the summer of 2016, Bree accepted a position as the Executive Director for an outreach ministry and retreat center, and the ministry of The Imperfect Vessel and online studies were put on hold.
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2017
A different direction
After a very challenging 11 months of full-time ministry, Bree took the leap of faith to leave her position without another job lined up to pursue a different direction. She took the dream of taking the vision she had for writing and leading ready-made retreats that she was unable to do in her full-time position and launched them online, to make them a reality.
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2018
Ready-Made to Reality
In April of 2018, Bree led a 4-session weekend retreat, Pour from the Saucer: Filling our lives with Christ and pouring into community, that she wrote for her church's women's ministry.
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2019
Dusting Off the Past
In October 2019, Bree got the itch to pick up the online community she had grown when leading online book studies and dust it off. With God's help, she resurrected and rebranded the blog as Intentional Filling: Finding our Fill in Christ.
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July 2020
Launching a Podcast
In wanting to provide a new avenue for sharing content with the growing Intentional Filling community, Bree launched a podcast called, "Let's Grow with Bree Blum". Episodes included personal testimony, an audio version of weekly blog posts, and conversations with authors.
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August 2020
Seeing things thru a different lens
To pursue a study to share with the community, and to help enhance Biblical literacy, Bree purchased the study, "Jesus & Women" by Kristi McLelland, a college professor, and Biblical culturalist. Bree and Intentional Filling ministry leader, Gloria Limann, reviewed the study and just knew that *this* was the book that would lead the ministry going forward.
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2021
Growing in Understanding
Inspired by the shift in perspective on reading the Bible through its context, through hosting the "Jesus & Women" study in the winter of 2021, Intentional Filling launched its first online course, Rooted in the Word - available for FREE on the Let's Grow with Bree podcast or video sessions.
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July 2021
Embracing a New Mission and Vision
A new mission statement is established as the ministry embraced the new vision of pursuing God's Word through its Biblical context -- Intentional Filling seeks to help women intentionally study the context of Scripture to become rooted in the Word of God.
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August 2021
Living out the Mission
In August of 2021, Bree and Gloria traveled from the Ohio valley to Franklin, TN to meet 3 members of the Intentional Filling community, from around the country, to attend Kristi McLelland's Bible weekend. Bree and several of the IF members got to hug it out with Kristi, after being recognized, in the women's restroom between sessions!
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December 2021
A Mary Christmas Party Online
Intentional Filling hosted an online Christmas party and invited IF community member and author of "Counting Up to Christmas", Jennifer Elwood, to share a message on Mary, the mother of Jesus.
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2022
A New Year of Study
Intentional Filling entered a new year of studying Scripture through its context and welcomed its 4th author of Biblical studies to the "Let's Grow with Bree" podcast. Authors include: Kristi McLelland, Lois Tverberg, Rebekah Joy, and Erin Davis
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August 2022
Clarifying the Message
To better clarify the message and type of content that Intentional Filling shares on its podcast, the name was changed to the Biblical Context Matters Podcast, to invite others to open their Bibles and come to find confidence in studying God's Word in this way.
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December 2022
The Context of Christmas
Intentional Filling hosted an online Christmas party where a message was shared on the context of Christmas, focusing on Matthew 1:1-17 and the genealogy of Jesus.
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March 2023
Holy Week in Context
Bree wrote and released a brand new Bible Study entitled, Holy Week in Context: Examining the Fulfillment of Biblical Prophecy. It is available in the Intentional Filling shop for purchase.
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September 2023
Back to the Bible Basics Online Course
A collaborative effort was made to launch Intentional Filling's second FREE online course, Back to the Bible Basics, which was designed to familiarize participants with studying Scripture through its context. It is designed in a way to encourage setting a solid foundation of understanding of the Bible upon which to grow in faith and find nourishment through a deep relationship with God. The course will also help bring participants up to speed and ensure they can contribute to the conversation in the Intentional Filling learning community and during our online discussions of Biblical studies.