About Berean Insights

Where does the name "Berean Insights" come from?

The name I chose for the activities I am involved in is Berean Insights. The idea comes from the following verse from Acts 17:11.

And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.

This is a verse which greatly impacted my early life as a Christian. I realised that I needed to be like the Bereans both in checking what I heard against the Scriptures, the Word of God. But also to gain insight for myself from God’s Word by paying careful attention to the text of the Bible. The insights which come from reading the Bible deeply and using the Bible to interpret the Bible.  I believe the Bible to be the ultimate authority on matters of spiritual life and truth.   

The Logo

The Berean Insight logo depicts the B of Berean (the blue background) with the I of Insights represented by the lighthouse which shines His light on our life’s way.

As we search the Scriptures God lights the way ahead in accordance with the principle ‘Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

God taught me early in life as a disciple not to just read the Bible daily but use it to come to know Him. “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.” (John 5:39-40)

Everything I do comes under the banner of Berean Insights. The insights we gain when we search Scripture and apply it to our walk through this life with the insight of the Holy Spirit .  

Who is Ian Vail? 

I lived the first 23 years of my life as an atheist, reasoned and purpose from something which happened when I was nine. You will find the detailed accounts of major turning points in my life hidden in the Gems and Nuggets I have written over the years. Those personal stories can be found under Stories on this website. On August 19th 1973, I became a Christian, a follower of Jesus.

On June 8th 1981 God called us to work in Bible translation with Wycliffe Bible Translators.

We went to Bible College of NZ so I could learn Greek and Hebrew and were led to work among the Rongkong (Tae’) language group on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia.

All I have learned in the process of working with Wycliffe over almost forty years is what is applied to the postings on this website.

During my time with Wycliffe I have worked as a linguist, a translator, I worked in language surveys, taught linguistics in a University, have developed many seminars and training packages. I accepted the role of Director of Wycliffe New Zealand for eight years.

I have deep love for God’s Word, a high view of Scripture and a passion for passing on my knowledge to others.

I taught high school geography and social studies for eight years and I love meeting new people. I am left in awe and wonder of the depth of the Bible and love to pass on the Gems and Nuggets I find as a result of my study of the biblical text.

I have been trained in a very unique way which God himself arranged for me which you can read about in the stories. I was taught by my Greek Professor, Dr Basil Brown, to suck every verse like a sweetie. Basil Brown pointed out to us the places to dig to find gold. It is that passion and approach that I share with you in everything I have created in the context Berean Insights.

The Beginnings: God's Awesome Book

God’s Awesome Book is a 7-part seminar series I created to “Restore Faith and Confidence in the Word of God”.

In 1998 I travelled to numerous conferences in areas of the world where Wycliffe worked to discuss the need for new recruits at a time when enthusiasm for the Bible in the traditional sending countries was waning.

I headed back to Auckland on a flight from Europe and was pondering what to do. I concluded that “we” ought to address the elephant in the room. A decreasing confidence in the Bible as the Word of God. 

I listed features of the Bible which needed promoting. Then the LORD prompted me to be the one to do something about it. So I created the seminar series which has 17 hours of seminar content spread over 7 seminar sessions. It has been presented in multiple countries around the world and made into a video series for churches or homegroups to use to strengthen their faith and trust in the Bible.

Radio Rhema Stories: "What on earth is God doing?"

While Wycliffe NZ Director, I had the idea of sharing mission stories from the various mission agencies of what God was doing around the world. I had a dream of multiple missions sharing a building together and working in synergy.

I went to Rob Holding and Cathy Jenke of Radio Rhema and put the idea to them. Rob said, “Ok tell us a story.” I pulled one out of my head and told it in my way. They both liked it. Cathy said tell us another one. So I did with the same result.

Rob said “We like it but rather than each mission telling their own stories we want you to front the programme. You are a natural story teller.”

That series continued on Radio Rhema for three years. I met people all over New Zealand who followed those stories every Friday morning. Many would look at me puzzled trying to figure out where they had met me, only to realise it was the voice they recognised. Those stories will be loaded on to the website in future developments.

Developing Deeper Bible

At the same time as the Gems were conceived, Tania and I were looking for a new sponsor for our efforts in Indonesia. I approached Jeffrey Rachmat at JPCC to see if they could use our skills. Jeffrey said “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

He asked me to develop a training package to teach his leaders how to go deeper into the Bible so they in turn could teach others. Deeper Bible was conceived. 

Jeffrey asked if the plan could take the people down into the depths of the Bible layer by layer.

I prayed and felt God lead me to build the concept on three houses of Hebrew learning or approach to the TANAKH – the Law, the Prophets and the Writings.

• Beth Sepher – the House of the Book
• Beth Talmud – the House of Interpretation
• Beth Midrash – the House of Allusion 

Rather than just telling people a lot of information or content about the Bible, I wanted to teach people how to dig into the Bible for themselves. I had already developed two seminars for Wycliffe called Digging In and Digging for Hidden Treasure. Deeper Bible would be an extension of those with a different purpose.

The approach is to give you the tips on how to go deeper into the text of the Bible and give you the practice to apply the tips for yourself.

There are over 100 tips in Deeper Bible designed to show you how to make your understanding and interaction with the Bible more satisfying.