Rob Rienow - Never Too Late: Encouraging Faith in Your Adult Child

Rob Rienow provides hope and practical advice to troubled parents whose adult children have wandered away from God. This book guides parents through realistic, biblical steps that have great potential for reconnecting parents with their adult children, and vice versa. I highly recommend it.

Dr. Peter Menconi, author of The Intergenerational Church: Understanding Congregations from WWII to www.com

What a helpless feeling many Christian parents have when contemplating the faithor lack of itin their adult children. In a thoughtful, yet practical approach, Rob Rienow leads readers out of the desert of hopelessness. Filled with both grounding principles and practical helps, [this book] will lead you through refreshing discoveries about what you canand cantdo about this deeply personal situation.

Dr. Charles Arn, church consultant and author

Parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents will find practical help in this book to build closer relationships with their children. Through the Scriptures and illustrations, Rob reminds us we are not alone, its never too late, and we must hold fast to the goal of our children placing their full faith and trust in Christ. Serving together on the church staff has given me the opportunity to appreciate Robs character and devotion to Christ and his family. I can say, therefore, with unwavering assurance that you will richly benefit from reading this book.

John White, Maturing Adults Pastor, Wheaton Bible Church

Rob Rienow has written an incredibly necessary book that will not only inspire parents who have children that have turned from God but also provide practical things you can do to influence your wayward sons and daughters to give God another chance. If you have children who have turned away from God, this is a must read book!

Pastor Mark Holmen, Missionary to the

Rob Rienow brings help and hope to parents of adult children who have turned away from God. A seasoned pastor, he provides neither sweet words nor empty promises, but rather a caring message about the love of God. Each chapter moves through real life situations, relevant Scripture, practical self-examination questions, specific action plans, and positive ways parents can talk directly with sons and daughters about spirituality. His godly optimism shines brightly in this practical book of encouragement.

Dave Gallagher, DMin, Green Lake Conference Center

Rob Rienow has done an incredible job of capturing the burden that so many parents feel for their adult children. He provides practical and God-honoring advice to bring the hearts of your children back to God. I will pass this book to anyone who is bewildered by the fact that their children are not following after their faith.

Jim Burns, President, HomeWord, Author of Confident Parenting

In this hope-filled book, Rob captures the underlying pain of empty nesters; the pain of a wayward child. Each chapter is a personal and practical journey of what to do and what not to do to manifest the character of Christ to your son or daughter. This book is all about HOPE! Parents need a strategy, they need well crafted words to balance grace and truth, and they need to know God expects them to pursue and move toward their lost child. Without a doubt, this book will recover a lost generation!

Pastor Ron Brenning, Grace Chapel, Englewood, CO

Rob Rienow has done a fantastic job tackling a subject that millions of mid-life and older Christians are facing. This book empowers parents to win back the hearts of their adult children and ultimately lead them to Christ. Every Christian parent who longs to see their adult child walk with Christ should read this book and put the principles into practice.

Dr. Amy Hanson, speaker, consultant, adult ministry specialist and author of Baby Boomers and Beyond: Tapping the Ministry Talents and Passions of Adults over 50

Rienow shares from personal experience, years of pastoral ministry, and a passion for the home and grace-shaped people in this book for parents. Parents: read this book. If not for yourself you know some friends who are experiencing this very thing and need this book. Saturated with the Word, this book will encourage you in the intense battle for your childs soul.

Kim Davidson, Family Discipleship Director, Providence Baptist Church

Rob Rienow writes to all parents or grandparents that grieve over paths their adult children have taken. [He] tells what happened while we were safely cloistered at church and poses the question, is it too late for us to counter a secular cultures spiritual sway on our adult children? Rob says no, and pulls back the curtain on the lie that we no longer have influence in their lives.

Ward Tannenberg, Executive Director, CASA Network

[Never Too Late] is practical, biblical, simple, relevant.

Dr. Scott Turansky, National Center for Biblical Parenting

Never Too Late: Encouraging Faith In Your Adult Child

2011, 2017 by Rob Rienow

Published by Kregel Publications, a division of Kregel Inc., 2450 Oak Industrial Dr. NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49505.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwisewithout written permission of the publisher, except for brief quotations in printed reviews.

Previously published as When They Turn Away.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The persons and events portrayed in this book have been used with permission. To protect the privacy of these individuals, some names and identifying details have been changed.

ISBN 978-0-8254-4517-0

Printed in the United States of America
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To my father, Bill Rienow, who taught me that it is never too late to turn to God. I am eager to see you in heaven.

I HAVE NO GREATER joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth (3 John 4).

You are reading this book because you know that the opposite is also true. There is no greater sorrow for Christian parents than to know our children are not faithfully following Christ.

We desperately want our children to have deep faith and a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We want our families to have warm, close fellowship together throughout our lives. Most of all, we want to arrive safely home in heaven together with our children.

For many parents these seem like dreams that need to be abandoned. But there is hope, because God is still on His throne.

Before we begin, though, I need to address an elephant in the room. I do not have adult children yet. Amy and I have been blessed with six children ranging in age from one to thirteen years. So what am I doing writing a book about parenting adult children?

There are two reasons. First, I spent a decade of my pastoral life as a youth minister, working specifically with high school students and their families. I led a large youth ministry that had more than 350 active students involved each year. God did wonderful things in the lives of these young people. Im thankful that my relationships with many of these students did not end after they left high school. Ive lost track of the number of weddings Ive performed for students who grew up in the youth group, and now many of them have children of their own.