justinvanrheenen.com
Here it is! The big news I have been talking. My good friend EJ Swanson will be joining Mark Matlock, The Skit Guys, and Dutton on Planet Wisom this year!! I am super excited for him and what God is g...
What a story of redemption even for the worst of sinners! What a story of redemption for a magnificent and holy God! :::This is why Jesus came:::This is why Jesus died:::This is why Jesus was raised...
Here it is! The big news I have been talking. My good friend EJ Swanson will be joining Mark Matlock, The Skit Guys, and Dutton on Planet Wisom this year!! I am super excited for him and what God is going to do through this next phase of EJ’s life. If you don’t follow him on Twitter, hit him up here. Or Facebook here
I think I’m pretty fed up with the trendiness of smartphones nowadays! Here’s why: THEY ARE TOOLS, NOT TOYS!! A smartphone is intended to be the replacement of what my dad use to carry around, the Franklin Planner. A smartphone is smaller, holds more information, and is way easier to carry around. The Blackberry and the Palm Pilot were the answer to this. With the rise of cell phones, people didn’t want to carry 2 devices around so Research In Motion (RIM) made the Blackberry and the cellphone into one! Ta-da! With the birthday of the PDA Cell Phone came a new paradigm on personal org...
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px} span.s1 {letter-spacing: 0.0px} 1) No matter the task, Christ first. I have found that the busier I am, the harder it is to stay close to Christ. I make excuse as to not to read my Bible but no matter how busy I am, the closer I have to be to Jesus. I don’t function well if I’m not. 2) Reaction is never an acceptable response when proactivity is always there. This and the next are very close in relation but the first deals with me. Pl...
“What would happen if the mature men and women of your church decided to hide the children and young people of your church in their hearts for a lifetime? What if each child had a lifelong prayer supporter, a lifetime cheerleader, a lifetime partner to call before walking out on a marriage or jumping out a window after a devastating financial loss? WHAT DIFFERENCE WOULD IT MAKE?” -Bobb Biehl What if every person in a church had someone that asked them “What are your priorities?” and “How can I help?” What if every person in a church had someone that had someone who ha...
Taken at Lake Ann Camp and Retreat Center
See the full gallery on Posterous Let me tell you about today. Last night I was writing my paper on “Who Moved My Cheese?” I looked outside and saw green grass and a clear driveway. At midnight there was 3 inches of snow. This morning, at least 8 inches of snow. Here’s a pic from outside the Welcome Center at camp and my driveway. Notice we were plowed out earlier today. Then we have about another 5-6 inches fall this afternoon and with wind, my driveway is now drifted shut. You can see the camp suburban on the side of the road because I wasn’t even going to try to get into...
A Leader is anyone who is moved to influence others to engage a problem or an opportunity for good. This book talks of being vulnerable and showing your weakness as a means of leading. So this post is going to be vulnerable. I am going to give you a glimpse into my last few years. I hope this doesn’t come across as a pity party for Justin but a true reflection of what God has been bringing my heart and life through. Things I mention in this post I believe have everything to do with me and not the people or circumstances I talk about. I have worked through this to be able to passively lead others t...
A Leader is anyone who is moved to influence others to engage a problem or an opportunity for good. This book talks of being vulnerable and showing your weakness as a means of leading. So this post is going to be vulnerable. I am going to give you a glimpse into my last few years. I hope this doesn’t come across as a pity party for Justin but a true reflection of what God has been bringing my heart and life through. Things I mention in this post I believe have everything to do with me and not the people or circumstances I talk about. I have worked through this to be able to passively lead others t...
So since my last post I have really been thinking through what kind of ministry God may be leading me towards. During that time, as part of my internship at Lake Ann Camp, we read Generation iY by Tim Elmore (http://twitter.com/TimElmore) and that opened my eyes to the type of students we are working with. This generation involves people born from 1984-2002. Generation Y, as they are known by most, actually has two distinct groups. The first is those born in the 80′s, early 90′s and the second, born from the early 90′s-2002. This group he calls Generation iY because this group has neve...
So today I put in a phone call to Sean Meade (http://www.twitter.com/seaninthemiddle) who leads a middle school ministry called Stuck In The Middle (http://www.stuckinthemiddle.com). I wanted to bounce some thoughts off of him and wanted to get his input regarding starting a parachurch ministry from scratch since he did that 6 years ago. What I took away is only the beginning of seeing God do something in my heart regarding the next phase in my life. I LOVE WORKING WITH MIDDLE SCHOOLERS! Ever since I was given the opportunity years ago and even working in a middle school for 4 years, many ideas have bee...
“We expect a leader to make tough decisions- to fire his close friend if necessary or to send troops into harm’s way- yet we want him to tear up over a sad story and be sentimental on Mother’s Day. What we want is an illusion and we know it. We prefer the illusion because we have a deep need to be buffered from reality. Setting up a leader to be our big daddy, our bright and shining knight, our perfect mother who will get up in the middle of the night and hold us until we feel safe makes leadership a nightmare that we inflict on a few while we comfort ourselves that we don’t have...
So I’ve finished Chapter 1. Here is my take away: Leadership is foolishness and any sane response to is to run far, far away from it! That’s encouraging…right?! But Allender points out so many people that God called to lead and the leader was just plain messed up! Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Moses, David, Jonah…their all whacked out of their gourd! They all doubted and all wanted to run. Allender says, “Doubt is the context for surrender. And Flight is the path for obedience. When we’re reluctant to lead, doubting ourselves and our call, we are ripe for growth as a leader&...
So tonight I have started chapter 1 in Dan Allender’s book Leading With A Limp. I still have a lot to grasp of the introduction, but this is my “take away” to this point. The “limp” that Allender wants us to lead with is having a transparent openness about our struggles and failures with those in which we have influence over. I’m going to keep chewing on that one. Chapter 1 has now started defining leadership and this is Allender’s definition: “Leadership is not about problems and decisions; it is a profoundly relational enterprise that seeks to motivate p...
So here is the letter that I wrote to myself yesterday and was referring to in my last post. Maybe this is a letter you need to write to yourself. I will leave blanks for you to fill in your name. Remember forgiving yourself for your mistakes and failures could be the step you need to take to be able to move forward and do HUGE things for God. ———————————————————— p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px ...
If you don’t know, I have really been searching God for His direction for the future. A part of that is having to wade through some personal baggage from the last few years. I have a post that I will put up here later that could actually be something that you may need to do. It is a letter that I wrote to myself today. It took me about 2 hours because I really had to search for what God was actually trying to tell me. I have grown up (well the last 15ish years) in a conservative circle, from my church, friends, and college. Part of that background is being taught an understanding of the depravity ...
Well there is 3 and a half months left in my internship at Lake Ann Camp (http://www.lakeanncamp.com). I am learning so much in regards to ministry and business tactics. Some things I have done this year: - programmed retreats for youth, college aged students, and adults (including age characteristic and spiritual needs research, budgeting, volunteer recruiting)- represented the camp at churches in camper recruiting.- represented the camp in recruiting staff on a college campus.- will help begin an English speaking camp in Germany (March).- writing of summer camp curriculum. That is just the beginning. ...
If you have missed my thoughts so far of my journey through Leading With A Limp by Dan Allender, go to http://drumdog00.posterous.com.—–Allender says, “I won’t be so naive as to say the long, dark valley of leadership can be avoided simply by learning to name your failures. In fact, new and, at times more difficult challenges will arise simply because you begin admitting your status as your organization’s head sinner and the normal challenges will remain whether you confess your flaws or try to hide them.” He goes on to say that by not admitting your failures and flaw...
I am beginning to use posterous more for my blogging purposes which may mean I will be changing up http://www.justinvanrheenen.com to be more of a streamed lined site. Especially with the ease of posting to posterous from my iPhone. For now there should hopefully be more action at http://www.justinvanrheenen.com!
I’m going through the bible study Remembering the Forgotten God by Francis Chan and I am a point in the study where I feel like I have reached a crossroad. Chan says, “…we typically develop stereotypes about the other camp [of doctrine on the Holy Spirit]…We’re afraid to move from our position because we don’t want to become ‘like them.’” This got me thinking. Do I view the Holy Spirit in light of my fears of the “other camp” or what scripture says? Or maybe my view of the Holy Spirit has to do with my taught Bible College theology and no...
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