Stewarding Your Children Towards a Heart for God

At the time these thousands of book orders were pouring into our Post Office box, we only had one full-time employee — me.

But because of this overwhelming and unexpected response to my book, we fell into such an “emergency mode” to fulfill orders that I quickly called my mother to come help me. Mother had been working at a doctor’s office for twenty years at that time. But on that day, I said, “Mother, can you please ask the doctor if you can be free to help me today? It’s urgent.”

 Within hours, Mother was in our one-room office behind our only desk to help me figure out how to process the mountain of orders that were piling up every day. At the end of that day, she said to me, “Rick, it looks like you need your mother full time. If it’s okay with you, I’m going to turn in my resignation and come work full time to help my son with his ministry!”

 That day my mother became our first full-time employee, besides me, and she stayed with us until the time of her retirement more than three decades later. In all those years, my mother corresponded with pastors, scheduled meetings, arranged the delivery of teaching materials, ministered to partners, and eventually led our entire Partner Care outreach as Rick Renner Ministries grew.

Think of it. My mother was instrumental in leading me to Jesus. She taught me the Bible and mentored me in the things of God in my childhood. She later became our first full-time employee, eventually leading our Partner Care ministry, working alongside Denise and me until the time of her retirement! What a gift from Heaven to my life, who brilliantly let her own light be lifted up to shine!

When Seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Demons hit the bookstores, everything in our ministry began to exponentially grow. Orders began to pile into our office for my tape and video series, and orders for my book kept coming and coming with no pause. Within a short period of time, we had received nine hundred invitations to minister in all kinds of church meetings, conferences, seminars, and other events.

Then another event happened that catapulted things even further. Grace Fellowship at that time was indisputably the leader in praise and worship in the nation. They annually hosted a Local Church Music Seminar that was led by Daniel Amstutz, the worship leader at Grace Fellowship, and Daniel asked me to be one of the speakers at the event. Several thousand ministers attended the event, and scores of them heard me minister at the conference. As a result, even more doors began to open as more invitations began to pour into our small office.

 Now rather than praying for opportunities to open up for us, we found ourselves in a new position where we were praying for wisdom about which opportunities to accept. Ministry was amassing, just as Jesus had spoken. It’s hard to fathom, but as we added up all the morning and evening services we were doing in multiple-day meetings and conferences, we were ministering in 450 services a year!

Ours Was Truly a Family Ministry

 When I arrived home from those meetings, I always did my best to focus on my family. Philip Renner recalled that time, saying, “We never had the understanding that it was Dad and Mom’s ministry — it was always the family’s ministry. And although Dad was gone on ministry assignments sometimes every week, I don’t have a memory of an absentee father. When Dad got home from a trip, we were his first priority. Even if he had to go to the office, we went to the office with him, and he tried to take us along to as many events as possible.”

It’s true that all three of our sons have worked in the ministry in some capacity from the time they were each old enough to do so. They helped me carry my Bible and study books, unpack boxes of books and teaching materials, set up and manage book tables, help distribute offering envelopes, straighten chairs, and work in the sound booth, etc. At every age and season, they grew in their skills and abilities, and they loaned those God-given talents, with a heart for service, to the Lord and His work — and, in particular, to Rick Renner Ministries.

Today each of our sons, Paul, Philip, and Joel, have callings from God on their lives for ministry, and they are each functioning at a high capacity in those roles. Denise and I didn’t call them; God called them. But their mother and I always included them in whatever we did for the Lord. They never resented the ministry — it was our ministry as a family, and we explained to them repeatedly that God had called all of us together. Instead of resenting the ministry, Paul, Philip and Joel all saw the value in our obeying God and serving Him to meet the needs of others.

We had fun together doing what God had called us to do as a family. We worked as a unit, not as individual parts. We shared victories together and lots of laughs! And in hard times, Denise and I always pointed our sons to Jesus and shared our faith with them that He would take care of us, giving us the wisdom we needed and meeting our every need. They saw our ministry in motion and our faith in action — and all the fruit that accompanied our obedience over the years. When it came time for each of them to begin stepping into their individual roles, they knew how to embrace the grace of God and how to walk with Him personally for themselves.

Denise and I take no glory for ourselves that our sons carried into their adult lives a fervent desire to serve and please the Lord. We simply endeavored to obey God and His Word concerning our ministry and our family so that His blessing could come upon our obedience in every way. No family is perfect, including ours. The blessing of God simply makes all the difference in a person’s life and in his or her family no matter who you are in the Kingdom!

Over the next few years, we moved from one office to the next to accommodate the needs of our growing ministry. Everything was growing at an exponential rate of speed — our number of meetings, our number of employees, and the distribution of our teaching materials.

 My books were selling so fast that I decided to start our own book company, which I called Pillar Books. In a relatively short period of time, the company began to take off and we were even publishing and distributing books for other authors. I wrote Life in the Combat Zone, and it seemed like we couldn’t print books fast enough to keep up with the orders that kept pouring into the office.

One day Charisma magazine sent me notice that Jamie Buckingham wanted to write a book review for my new book Life in the Combat Zone. At that time in the 1980s, there was no Christian Charismatic leader more respected widespread than Jamie Buckingham. Jamie was an internationally renowned best-selling author, columnist, and conference speaker, and he was a friend to nearly every significant Christian leader in the Charismatic Movement. He was author of more than forty-five books, and he was a regular columnist for Charisma and Christian Life magazines. He also served as senior editor for Ministries Today magazine until his death.

 When Jamie wrote that glowing book review that was published in several publications, things turned up a notch again. Over the years after that, Jamie wrote several reviews for my books, each one positive, and this was another encouragement to me to keep writing!

The Fulfillment of a Personal Heart’s Desire as We Were Growing

Denise and I were completely committed to building our U.S.-based teaching ministry. We had moved from an apartment to a rental house, but we dreamed to one day own our own home.

Soon an opportunity came along that enabled us to purchase our first home, a lovely two-story house near the Southern Hills Golf Course in Tulsa and just a few blocks from the homes of Kenneth E. Hagin and Buddy Harrison — also not too far from Oral Roberts.

 When we moved into that house, I reminded Denise of our crossing that bridge leading out of Arkansas into Oklahoma just a few years before — how we’d left a black-and-white world for a fresh, new life filled with color. God had given us such a supernatural turnaround. Just a few years before, we were living in an embarrassingly dilapidated, unfixable house — with no potential and little market value — but now God had given us a beautiful house we could truly call home.

 In fact, as we diligently sought, obeyed, and trusted the Lord, it looked like everything we touched was blessed. It was totally amazing. What was happening to us was like something you would read in a fairy tale. But this was no fairy tale — this was really happening in our lives and ministry!

While we lived in that beautiful house in Tulsa, another amazing event took place in our lives. Our third son, Joel, was born. We named him Joel Richard Daniel Renner. We named him Joel after the prophet Joel and also after a marketing executive in New York City, a dear friend who also was on the Board of Directors for the 700 Club. We gave our youngest son the second name of Richard after myself, my daddy, and my Grandpa Renner. We gave him his third name Daniel after Daniel Amstutz, who was the worship leader at Grace Fellowship and who had been a real comrade to me in ministry. When Joel was born, our family was finally complete! The Lord gave us our sons as gifts who would become instrumental partners with us later in the ministry.

Among all the marvelous blessing and excitement in our lives amidst this season of divine turnaround, a difficult season came for us as a married couple in the ministry. Paul and Philip needed to start school, and I understood that it was time for Denise to stay at home with our three sons while I traveled alone without them.

Although this was a logical decision, this was a first for us, and it was emotional and heartbreaking for Denise. Up until that time, we had done everything together — traveled together, ministered together, and prayed together at the altar for people who came forward for prayer. We literally did everything together. The mere thought of us not being together was heartbreaking for Denise, and it was also very hard for me.

 When I knew I had to talk to Denise about this change of season, it was difficult for me because I didn’t want to hurt her. But we got past it and grew through it. Because of that experience, Denise has been able to help many wives concerning the various “seasons” that come in their own lives. Many people resist new seasons that simply cannot be circumvented or sidestepped. But when these unavoidable seasons are resisted, it only makes our adjustments to them more difficult.

Denise said, “One day when I was home with the boys, the Holy Spirit told me I needed to embrace that particular season of our lives. He said, You have two different things you can embrace: You can embrace resentment, jealousy, anger, and depression because you’re not traveling with Rick — or you can embrace being thankful and proud of your husband, and you can have grace and a positive attitude.

“A choice had been put in front of me. So I said, ‘Okay, Lord, I’ll do my very best to turn from my struggles and embrace this season.’ I probably didn’t do it perfectly, but I knew God was asking me to make an attitude change in my heart, and He helped me do it as I agreed with Him.”

 Although welcoming that new season was hard for us, we both knew what we’d decided was the right thing to do. Denise accepted it by God’s grace and actually flourished in it. And because she had time on her hands while the boys were at school, she began to teach a ladies’ Bible study in our home every week. That Bible study for women became the seed for Denise’s future massive outreach to women that would later be developed in the lands of the former USSR!

 A Supernatural Visitation With Jesus Concerning My Family and Ministry

 I continued our ministry on the road alone, and God’s blessing continued to rest heavily on us. But at times, I became concerned about being away from my family.

Then one day while I was on a ministry trip in Canada, I awoke very early one morning to see Jesus standing at the foot of my bed! When I realized the Lord was standing right in front of me, I sat straight up in my bed and listened as Jesus began to speak to me once again about my life, my family, and our future ministry.

 Denise and I were young parents at the time, and because I was often away ministering, I found myself concerned at times about the negative effect my absence might have on our children. From time to time, I really felt tormented with thoughts that I was a poor father because I was gone so much of the time.

But as Jesus began to speak to me about our future, I suddenly saw Paul, our oldest son who was still very young at that time, appear in the vision. He ran to Jesus and jumped up into His arms. Right in front of me, I saw Jesus at the foot of my bed with my son Paul in His arms!

In that moment, the Lord looked at me with a smile in His eyes and said, “Don’t worry about your children. I’ll take care of them. I have all your children in My arms.” In one instant, I understood that our children were secure in the arms of Jesus, and I was comforted that our ministry would never negatively affect our sons. It gave me such peace.

Then in the vision, I heard the sounds of an airplane almost as if I was seated on a plane right above the engines.

 To be honest, at that point in my life, I had no desire to go “into all the world.” My dream was to reach the United States with my teaching ministry. But I heard Jesus say, “See, I’m sending you forth into the world.” And then He added, “And I will provide everything you need to do what I’ve called you to do.”

Then just as quickly as the Lord had appeared, He was gone.

This vision happened right in the thick of a burgeoning teaching ministry that was thriving and “busting at the seams” with growth and even greater possibility than we’d imagined. But what Jesus shared with me in that vision was intended to prepare me for yet another changing season that lay shortly ahead for Denise and me and our family.

A Seed That Would Come Back to Us in an Unlikely Way

 In the following years, a mission organization called Calvary International had become familiar with my teaching ministry. Some of their missionaries had gotten hold of my teaching tapes, and the organization wrote to ask if we would be willing to donate twenty-four thousand teaching tapes to their missionaries who would attend at their next annual convention in Florida.

 I believed in the Great Commission, but I was so focused on building our ministry in the United States that I didn’t have missions on my mind at all for Denise and me and our boys. But because I knew that God’s heart is for missions, I felt I needed to sow the twenty-four thousand cassette tapes into the lives of those missionaries at the convention in Florida.

 I thought, If I do this, I’ll be done with missions, and I can keep focusing on our U.S.-based ministry. But that obviously would not be the end of our commitment to missions at all! Those thousands of teaching tapes would be seed that would come back to us in the not-so-distant future as a harvest transcending nations, moving us from our comfort zone to answer our calling halfway around the world.

 After we sowed the twenty-four thousand teaching tapes into the lives of those missionaries, they wanted me to be one of their speakers at the following annual conference. I was so busy doing other meetings that I really didn’t want to do it, but how could I say no to a group of missionaries who were blessed by my ministry. So I reluctantly accepted the invitation and soon found myself agonizing in the suffocating humidity of Florida at that conference.

When I walked into the first meeting, my attitude couldn’t have been worse! I did not want to be there, but there I was — trapped for a whole weekend with a room full of missionaries I did not know. They were excited to see me, but I was not excited to see them.

 As the first service began, I sat with my head down, looking at the carpet during the whole worship portion of the service, asking God to please help me adjust my attitude so that I could minister to the people with a happy heart. As I was having this conversation with the Lord, I happened to look to my left, and I saw someone’s Bible on the pew next to me. I picked it up and flipped through the pages to see what kind of notes were scrawled in its margins. When I began looking through this Bible, I realized it was a Russian Bible.

Hmm…I had never seen a Russian Bible. But I was captivated because I could instantly phonetically read much of it. What were the chances of my phonetically reading Russian the first time I ever looked at it?

What I didn’t completely realize at the time was that the Cyrillic alphabet (the basis for the Slavic and Russian alphabets) originated in Greece. In the Ninth Century, two brothers, Saint Cyril and Methodius, born in Thessalonica, were sent as missionaries to the Slavs in the East. The two brothers began the task of devising an alphabet for the Slavs and for translating the Bible into their languages, and that alphabet became the basis for the Russian language.

Because Cyril and Methodius were Greek, the alphabet they devised had many characteristics that were similar to Greek. Since I could read New Testament Greek, this explained why I could phonetically pronounce a lot of the Russian words the very first time I saw them.

When I realized I could phonetically read the Russian Bible, I was mesmerized by it. When they called me to the platform to minister, I didn’t hear them call my name the first time because I was so engrossed in the fact that I was phonetically reading the Russian Bible.

When I finished ministering that night, I returned to the front row of seats to look at that Russian Bible again. Curiosity had gotten the best of me, so I casually slipped that Bible on top of mine and carried them both in my arms through a side door nearby. I saw no harm in “borrowing” it for the night — so I took it to my hotel room and read it voraciously for several hours before I finally fell asleep.

 I returned the Russian Bible the following morning to the same row of chairs where I’d found it. It belonged to a man named Peter Kulakevich, a native of Ukraine and Estonia most of his life before immigrating to the United States. He and his brother Nikolai were both a part of a small team that was planning to move to the Soviet Union in January 1991 to help train Russian-speaking people to fulfill their ministry callings. When I heard that these brothers had fled the USSR in 1988, only to be moving back with a small group to train young men and women for ministry, I thought, These must be some of the bravest people I’ve ever met in my life.

But while I was at that meeting in Florida, I was having an “accidental” encounter with people I would later work with half a world away. Certainly, I couldn’t have known at the time that Nikolai Kulakevich would one day become my interpreter and that he would work closely with me for many years in my own ministry in the former Soviet Union. (To be continued on page 389.)

Nikolai later said, “Russian is a very complicated language. Although we who are from the USSR learned it for ten years in school, even we have a tough time mastering it. Really the language is a challenge for any foreigner, but Rick was very determined, and his grasp on Greek gave him an amazing start at learning Russian.” I was dumbfounded by the bravery of that group of souls who were going to move to the lands of the USSR in January 1991 — just a few months from the date of that conference. To think that some of them had fled that region, and now they were returning! This was just amazing to me. It was such a tumultuous time in the Soviet Union, and there were deficits of every imaginable commodity. Plus, the USSR was the great enemy of the United States. I wondered what would happen to these brave missionaries.

 But God used that weekend to sit me on a pew next to a Russian Bible. And when I saw that I could phonetically read it, He set a hook in my heart! When I returned to Tulsa, I purchased a Russian textbook, and with no teacher to assist me, I began to devour the Russian language and to teach myself how to read it. Of course, I was not a master by any stretch of the imagination, but for a reason I couldn’t explain, I was obsessed with learning Russian vocabulary.

When I was at home in Tulsa between meetings, I would lie in bed at night before Denise and I fell asleep and would study my Russian vocabulary. One night I said to Denise, “Dobraye ootra.” Denise said, “Rick, please stop reading Russian and go to sleep.” But I kept saying out loud, “Do-braye Oo-tra!”

 Finally, Denise said, “What does ‘do-braye oo-tra’ mean?”

 I answered, “It’s Russian for ‘good morning.’” She responded, “Can you please learn to say ‘good night’ and go to sleep? Please turn out the light and go to sleep!” God knew I needed to know Greek so I could teach from the Greek New Testament. But in giving me Greek, He was also giving me a language so similar to Russian that making the leap when He later called us to move to the USSR would not be hard for me. I didn’t know it at the time, but God was helping me get a jump-start on Russian before I ever knew I would need to really learn this language.