fall retreat
11.16.12
It's here! Last year we had our first annual Rich Pond Fall Youth Retreat where the theme "Invert" shaped our conversations about the fact that we are to be less and HE is to be more. John 3:30 was our key verse and we talked all weekend about how we can elevate Christ and take the focus off ourselves.
Now, we've made it a full year and we're gearing up for the second annual fall retreat! Our theme has yet to be revealed to the students so on the off chance that any of them will be reading this I will hold off on saying what it is for this year. I can say though how excited I am for this weekend! Our leaders have been preparing and diligently working to make sure that this weekend is not only fun and engaging for our students, but a time for them to soak in truths from God's Word and walk away different. I believe our topic, wisely chosen by our youth pastor, is relevant and will make our students think. I am so much looking forward to seeing how the Lord will work in our students and leaders this weekend. Plus, a new and exciting element to our retreat is the invovlement of the youth parents. There is a parent session this year on Saturday, which will be lead by our youth pastor, Bruce. I am so excited to see our youth parents come, watch their students interact with one another, and sit under the same teaching. It is our hope that this will be the beginning of some much needed conversations.
So, students if you are reading this...be excited! We are! Pray for your leaders, that God will continue to prepare us to share our lives and hearts with you this weekend. Pray for Bruce as he has the heavy responsibility of preaching and teaching God's Word. Pray for Meredith and all her helpers, that they will have what they need, be organized and efficient with our meals - they're feeding a lot of people! Pray for yourselves and your friends, that your hearts will be opened to what God has for you this weekend. We love you all and love watching God work in each of you!
11.18.12
Wow. What a weekend with our students! Our sessions were great - lead by our youth pastor, Bruce. He preached three main sessions. The first was focused on the story of Adam and Eve. Their fall and was full of secrecy and shame. God questioning them to elicity a confession. Lots of things to learn from this situation. The second was about the story of David and Bathsheeba. It took one look to start a downward spiral toward secrecy and murder. I believe this really hit home with our students. The third wrapped up our weekend by focusing on the fact that if we have Christ we are meant to be lights in a dark place - from Matthew 5 (sermon on the mount). That we shouldn't allow something (secret sin) to dim our lights.
We also had breakout sessions with the students that discussed the way God reveals our sin. Lucas lead a talk on suffering and how that reveals sin in our lives, Justin lead the same talk from the angle of how God's Word does that for us, and Andrea, Jessie and myself discussed the importance of accountability and the fact that people help reveal sin in our lives.
We had an incredible band who lead us in worship all weekend. The band consisted of members of our church and several who are youth leaders. It was wonderful to see them use their talents to worship and lead us in that way. Such a talented group of people! Grateful for their hard work and planning in this way.
The amazing-race-like game that Justin planned for our students was well thought, challenging, and a good time. Some enjoyed it more than others, but he did a fabulous job! It sent them running all around the retreat center grounds finding clues and eating crazy things to eventually come to the end and put together all their clues in order to solve a final puzzle. The puzzle read "your sin will find you out".
THE FOOD, oh the food! Meredith and several of her close friends jumped in and prepared all our food for the entire weekend. It was delicious! They did such a wonderful job keeping us fed all weekend. The planning that went in to the was significant and after what very little bit of experience I have in planning food for a large group I am unbelievably grateful for people who do it well. Thank you for serving us in that way.
A group of parents joined us on Saturday afternoon around lunch time and stayed for a parent session that from everything I've heard went very well. It was lead by Bruce and a parent of two of our students Brian Watkins, who is also an elder in our church. I believe that it was the perfect opportunity for the parents to talk openly about what's going on with their kids and hopefully for us to all get on the same page about how we're going to guide these young men and women through this part of their lives.
Lastly, and probably my favorite part of the entire weekend was our time together as ladies. There was time for all the girls to be together - middle & high school - and then there was time for just our older girls to be together. We talked about everything and when I say that, I do mean EVERYTHING. They had some great questions and comments about things that they're really dealing with. It was great to hear some of them and their honesty about what's going on in their lives. It was also great to see them stand firm, committed to the faith they have and their love for Christ. To see them desiring to honor God with their words, bodies, purity, and relationships was uplifting and exciting.
All in all, the retreat was a success! Looking forward to the conversations that will be had due to the topics covered. Praying that this was the beginning of a trend in our youth group of openness and transparency, good choices and honoring God, and dumping our secret sin...trading it in for the abundance that is life in Christ! We love these students and are thrilled to have the privilege of being in their lives.
It's here! Last year we had our first annual Rich Pond Fall Youth Retreat where the theme "Invert" shaped our conversations about the fact that we are to be less and HE is to be more. John 3:30 was our key verse and we talked all weekend about how we can elevate Christ and take the focus off ourselves.
Now, we've made it a full year and we're gearing up for the second annual fall retreat! Our theme has yet to be revealed to the students so on the off chance that any of them will be reading this I will hold off on saying what it is for this year. I can say though how excited I am for this weekend! Our leaders have been preparing and diligently working to make sure that this weekend is not only fun and engaging for our students, but a time for them to soak in truths from God's Word and walk away different. I believe our topic, wisely chosen by our youth pastor, is relevant and will make our students think. I am so much looking forward to seeing how the Lord will work in our students and leaders this weekend. Plus, a new and exciting element to our retreat is the invovlement of the youth parents. There is a parent session this year on Saturday, which will be lead by our youth pastor, Bruce. I am so excited to see our youth parents come, watch their students interact with one another, and sit under the same teaching. It is our hope that this will be the beginning of some much needed conversations.
So, students if you are reading this...be excited! We are! Pray for your leaders, that God will continue to prepare us to share our lives and hearts with you this weekend. Pray for Bruce as he has the heavy responsibility of preaching and teaching God's Word. Pray for Meredith and all her helpers, that they will have what they need, be organized and efficient with our meals - they're feeding a lot of people! Pray for yourselves and your friends, that your hearts will be opened to what God has for you this weekend. We love you all and love watching God work in each of you!
11.18.12
Wow. What a weekend with our students! Our sessions were great - lead by our youth pastor, Bruce. He preached three main sessions. The first was focused on the story of Adam and Eve. Their fall and was full of secrecy and shame. God questioning them to elicity a confession. Lots of things to learn from this situation. The second was about the story of David and Bathsheeba. It took one look to start a downward spiral toward secrecy and murder. I believe this really hit home with our students. The third wrapped up our weekend by focusing on the fact that if we have Christ we are meant to be lights in a dark place - from Matthew 5 (sermon on the mount). That we shouldn't allow something (secret sin) to dim our lights.
We also had breakout sessions with the students that discussed the way God reveals our sin. Lucas lead a talk on suffering and how that reveals sin in our lives, Justin lead the same talk from the angle of how God's Word does that for us, and Andrea, Jessie and myself discussed the importance of accountability and the fact that people help reveal sin in our lives.
We had an incredible band who lead us in worship all weekend. The band consisted of members of our church and several who are youth leaders. It was wonderful to see them use their talents to worship and lead us in that way. Such a talented group of people! Grateful for their hard work and planning in this way.
The amazing-race-like game that Justin planned for our students was well thought, challenging, and a good time. Some enjoyed it more than others, but he did a fabulous job! It sent them running all around the retreat center grounds finding clues and eating crazy things to eventually come to the end and put together all their clues in order to solve a final puzzle. The puzzle read "your sin will find you out".
THE FOOD, oh the food! Meredith and several of her close friends jumped in and prepared all our food for the entire weekend. It was delicious! They did such a wonderful job keeping us fed all weekend. The planning that went in to the was significant and after what very little bit of experience I have in planning food for a large group I am unbelievably grateful for people who do it well. Thank you for serving us in that way.
A group of parents joined us on Saturday afternoon around lunch time and stayed for a parent session that from everything I've heard went very well. It was lead by Bruce and a parent of two of our students Brian Watkins, who is also an elder in our church. I believe that it was the perfect opportunity for the parents to talk openly about what's going on with their kids and hopefully for us to all get on the same page about how we're going to guide these young men and women through this part of their lives.
Lastly, and probably my favorite part of the entire weekend was our time together as ladies. There was time for all the girls to be together - middle & high school - and then there was time for just our older girls to be together. We talked about everything and when I say that, I do mean EVERYTHING. They had some great questions and comments about things that they're really dealing with. It was great to hear some of them and their honesty about what's going on in their lives. It was also great to see them stand firm, committed to the faith they have and their love for Christ. To see them desiring to honor God with their words, bodies, purity, and relationships was uplifting and exciting.
All in all, the retreat was a success! Looking forward to the conversations that will be had due to the topics covered. Praying that this was the beginning of a trend in our youth group of openness and transparency, good choices and honoring God, and dumping our secret sin...trading it in for the abundance that is life in Christ! We love these students and are thrilled to have the privilege of being in their lives.
 |
| Kickin' off the second annual Fall Youth Retreat |
Here is a slideshow of the few pictures from our retreat.
Almost all are from the Mission RP game - especially the
"Brown Bag Special"...enjoy!
Almost all are from the Mission RP game - especially the
"Brown Bag Special"...enjoy!
Comments
Post a Comment