Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Senior High Winter Retreat Day 2

We have a four-fold purpose to our Camps/Retreats:
  1. Get Away: Hit the pause button on all the stuff happening at home/school/socially and simply step away.  This is a major reason why we ask students to leave the cell phones at home.
  2. Connect with Each Other: It's exciting to watch new friendships form through our time together.
  3. Allow God to Change Us: Wherever we're at, we hope to see every student allow God to show us that next step in the journey with Him.
  4. Have a ton of fun: We want to create memories, laugh, and have as much fun as is legally possible!

Yesterday I saw all these purposes taking place through our various activities.

Our morning was spent in Time Alone With God (TAWG) where students had the opportunity to read scripture about what Intimacy with God looks like.  They also were able to work on their PVC pipe (read this post for more info on that).

We then went into a time of youth Group sharing.  Our morning session does not feature our speaker.  Instead it features our students sharing what God has been doing and what God wants to do in their life.  We simply circle the students up and ask them if they'd be willing to share.  It was a powerful time of praise, singing, prayers, tears and laughter.  God was with us as we connected with each other and were challenged through each other's stories.

The afternoon was a virtual cornucopia of activities. Tubing, horseback riding, swimming, table games, knockout, broomball, and just sitting around the fire talking were all ways students were able to connect with each other.

In our evening session, Caleb focused in on Vision, and more specifically God-given vision.  He talked about three ways God has given him Vision for what He wants Caleb to do.

Impressions:  That strange picture, thought, name, place or moment where it seems God is speaking.
Whispers:  Those moments where the still small voice of God tells us to do or not do something.
Burdens:  The things that keep us up at night because we care or hurt so much.

We closed our time with an exercise of simply giving the Holy Spirit to speak to individuals and give them His Vision for their lives.  God did speak to many in simple and profound ways.  Some dealt with sin struggles.  Some wrestled through life callings.  It was a great time.

We finished our evening all together on the tubing hill having a blast.

Looking forward to another great day that is focused on COURAGE!

Keep Praying. God has been good.

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