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 he...

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....

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 ...

“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 ou...

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 outsi...

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 co...

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 co...

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. Th...

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 s...

“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...

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, Mose...

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 failu...

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...

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 ...

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 spir...

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, ne...

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....

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 fro...