Retreats and such...

Retreats - one of the staples of youth ministry, are an incredible opportunity to get our students away from the noise of life to just experience, build community, and find time and space to spend with our Lord together.

This past weekend we had a gaggle of middle schoolers (at times in our group, affectionately known as the pig pen gang) up at our retreat center studying John 8:32: "Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free". So many people today get wrapped up with things going on in their life that we (and that's me included) forget about the truth of the saving grace of Jesus Christ. This weekend was a good reminder for our students and adults. Steve Able, a friend from Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) came and spoke to our students during the weekend. Steve did a fantastic job not only speaking truth into their lives in a relevant and challenging way, but he also is committed to the relational side, and was not afraid to hang out and play with our students too. I really appreciate all that FCA does in partnering with churches and connecting with students at schools, and even more so I appreciate Steve's friendship and all that he stands for.

We also had Bradley Rhodes leading worship for us. Bradley is a former student in my youth ministry who is now leading worship on one of our campuses. I've always said that Bradley is incredibly talented and gifted in not only his musical ability, but his ability to lead others in worship. I'm looking forward to seeing how God continues to work in Bradley's life as he grows and pursues his ministry.

Outside of our large group times, there was some manhunt, runnin around the center, a couple of team activities like making commercials for spam, cheesewhiz, clam juice, and beenie weenies, and just some fun hangin out. It was awesome seeing one student who has a high functioning autism and doesn't like physical touch most times, get in on a game of tackle whoever has the football. At one point he said to me "give me the ball so you all can dogpile me!". I almost cried seeing him take such a huge step relationally with the rest of our group.

Ultimately what brings me the most joy about weekends like this is hearing stories about some of our students wanting to pursue their faith with Christ at an even deeper level. Many of our youth go through some tough stuff, and its incredible seeing them see through that and wanting to lay their life at the foot of the cross, and the impact it has on their life.

So what does this mean for our ministry? There will always be another retreat around the corner :).