Workshop: October 6, 2010
Pastor Rob Rienow
Marriage and Family Pastor
Wheaton Bible Church
As Wheaton Bible Church's Family Pastor, Rob Rienow is known as a busy professional, a dynamic speaker, a caring pastor, and a devoted husband and father. So, we were very pleased to hear that he was willing to come and lead the Wednesday afternoon TWS Workshop on October 6th. Thank you Rob! During his time with the children, Pastor Rienow spoke about his childhood and how his loving and faithful mother guided him and how her faith in Jesus Christ was a positive and strong influence in his life. He told stories about many situations in which God's influence in his family's lives directed their path; stories that the kids were surprised and moved by and will not forget in the near future. Pastor Rienow shared that his mother prayed a verse for him while his was growing up. When asked about it, he said, "As far as the verse my mom prayed for me, it was Malachi 4:6, that I would grow up to "turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers." Amen! In addition to his responsibilities at Wheaton Bible Church, Rob is creator of www.visionaryparenting.com where he provides, among other things, award-winning parenting resources designed to inspire and equip parents to impress a love of God upon the hearts of their children. During his workshop, Pastor Rienow also shared how God placed an important mentor in his life – his youth pastor—to support him during the painful divorce of his parents when he was in high school, inspiring Rob to consider working in Christian ministry to support others going through difficult experiences.
After fielding many insightful questions from the students, Pastor Rienow and the children jumped into the hands-on portion of his workshop: preparing a short sermon or bible teaching. Rob encouraged our kids to think carefully about how one goes about preparing to teach a message from the bible because this is a skill that anyone (pastors, parents or children) can use daily as Christians. He outlined four actions the children should take to convey an effective biblical message: introduce, observe, interpret and apply. As part of the lesson, Rob had the children practice finding God's truth in the bible story of Jesus calming the storm. This is not as easy as it sounds. Pastor Rienow demonstrated how often we skip the interpretation step by pulling an application from a bible passage (in this instance, God will help us through the storms in our life) before accurately interpreting what truth God is trying to convey (here, Jesus is God). What a great reminder! Pastor Rienow's workshop was challenging, educational and very useful. Our children were very blessed.
