Men's Retreat

For the past few years, the women of our church have had an annual retreat, bringing in a guest speaker and growing and building up our community of women. This year was no different, as Aimee and Kirstin pulled their resources to put together yet another great retreat (from what I hear).

This year, both John and a few of our older guys decided that a Men's Retreat is something they wanted to push for. Two weeks out, two separate ideas for a retreat showed up. I found myself a part of a team to help develop the vision and strutcture of the retreat. For this to go well, we had to make some real progress in a hurry. So, in our conference room from 9pm to almost midnight on a Tuesday, five of us hammered out the concept of the retreat.

We called it "Stepping Up" as an invitation for the men in our church to claim ownership of the Gospel, growing as men of God and living that out in our world. The "-ing" came from an invitation from the older guys and an understanding that we're all in this together. Some of us need a hand up to take the next step in our faith something. My design for the flier came straight from this idea.

It went so well. 40 of us traveled an hour north to a lakehouse we rented. Because of the recent snowstorm, we were confined to the cabin the whole time. I got to co-teach with Andrew on a "Call to Anguish" based on my recent convictions and sermons I've been listening to. We had two other talks, lead by older guys, each accompanied by small group discussions. And of course we had fun, playing cards, fooseball, ping-pong, and eating lots of food.

At the end of the retreat we opened the time up for confession. The Lord met us in a huge way, bringing deep convictions to the surface and past hurts, some of which had never been shared before. I was floored with the honesty of guys confessing sins and sharing some vulnerable stuff. A few of the situations even called for the staff men to discuss how to further help these men heal.

Please be praying for our men and that our church would follow suit in being honest and real before each other. Pray that we submit to the Lord in our sins, our convictions and that we trust him to restore us to him.

anonymous gift

I received an anonymous gift in my account last month for a large amount. I wish so much that I knew who to thank so in case you read this, thank you so much.

Special gifts and recurring financial partnerships are what keep me on campus sharing the gospel with students, helping them grow in their faith and, by God's will send them out as disciple makers. This is what my life, my job, my calling. I can't say it enough how honored I am to have you all labor with me.