Thawing Out!

We are back! After dedicating some quality time to sleep I think I can say that I am ready to roll once again. Before I say anything about the retreat I just want to say that it was a pleasure being able to take your teens up to Camp Berea last weekend. It was truly a great time for me and the other leaders to spend time getting to know the teens better. I am being honest when I say that I have been blessed with a great group of teens!
Instead of boring you all with lengthy paragraphs that you would skim (this coming from a grad student who is mastering the art of skimming!) I will give you little snapshots of what went down this past weekend!

FLASHPOINT!- Flashpoint was the theme for the weekend. We had the privilege of having Chap Clark (He teaches Youth Ministry at Fuller Seminary and had written a few books) come as our speaker. Chap was great with the teens. Chap took the weekend to speak out of Mark 10 and the story of Bartimaeus.(Check it out) Chap challenged the teens to understand that when Bartimaeus threw off his cloak he was placing complete trust in Jesus. Chap used the metaphor of the cloak to represent the things in our lives that we cling to or the things that hold us back from experiencing who Jesus really is. On Saturday evening, Chap offered a time for the teens to evaluate their cloaks and toss them aside placing complete trust in Jesus. Many teens chose to reevaluate their relationship with Jesus and threw off their cloaks. Other teens made first time decisions to follow and trust Jesus with their lives. To be honest, I am only briefly laying out what Chap spoke on. The Lord truly worked in the lives of many teens this weekend. It was exciting to see teens 12-14 years old make such a huge decision to follow Jesus! Awesome stuff!

Funniest Teen Moment- I have to be sure to note that this is the funniest teen moment that I personally experienced. I am sure there were many. You put 300 teens in a room and something is bound to happen! On Saturday many of us were out hitting the tubing hill. The freezing temps and trafic on the snow made for some slick walking at times. As I waited in line for my turn to risk my life going down this hill, I noticed that two of our teens seemed to be struggling getting up the hill to go tubing. It appeared that both Jenny Curly and Lisa Paecht had gone to battle with this hill. It was epic! The battle lasted all afternoon! Both Jenny and Lisa for some reason were unable to climb the hill without falling at least 20 times (I am not exaggerating!) The funny part is that the girls were hysterically laughing each time. Of course, seeing people slip climbing a hill is funny stuff on a Jr. High retreat and well I definitely joined in on the laughter. Good times!

Worship- We were blessed to have our very own Baird Lashley and his talented band lead us in worship during the retreat. It is always cool being able to yell from the audience "I know them!". I didn't actually do that, but I thought it! Baird and the band did a wonderful job in pointing our worship to God. Good stuff!

The Food- Not that great...just my opinion. Not Good Eats! (For all you Food Network fans out there!)

The Cabins- Cold (at least where I slept) and a little smelly. Of course I was in a room with 10 Jr. Highers. You do the math! I love my job!

I just realized that this entry is getting kind of long. If you are still reading...high five! I just want to say once again that I am so proud of all of the teens. It is not easy being in Jr. High and these teens are trying to figure a lot of life out. I am proud to be able to walk beside them on that journey. I know that I may not have answered all of your burning questions about the retreat. Feel free to drop me an email. I may be able to further answer any questions. Have a great weekend and I will be back very soon!