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Fall Retreat

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I’m excited for this weekend… It’s going to be awesome… There will be memories built there that we otherwise wouldn’t have if we didn’t do something like this.  This weekend is Detox.  This is our second year running a Fall Retreat for our Senior High Students.  It has been extremely profitable…

Here’s why I love it…

  1. We get away early in the school year so that we can remind students that God has called them to be a testimony to their school
  2. We spend time camping; which always allows for tons of fun, and builds memories that last a lifetime
  3. Students become vulnerable and are willing to share how God is leading them/working on them during weekends like this
  4. Leaders have some of their best conversations with students on a white water raft, a hiking trail, or sitting around a campfire (I love enabling these types of conversations)
  5. Camping is just all around fun
  6. Students who come away knowing that the night time low temperature is going to be somewhere around upper 30’s and definitely low 40’s definitely are ready to learn something
  7. Students who don’t normally associate with one another are given opportunities to do just that throughout a weekend like this
  8. Friendships are strengthened/formed
  9. Jesus is honored
  10. Singing under the stars around a fire unplugged reduces worship down to it’s core… Honoring God, declaring His worth, and that never gets old

So, if you remember, or God brings it to your attention, pray for us as we go away that these 10 things would happen… but not just these ten, but many more!

~Peter

 

Sr. High Fall '08 Retreat

 

 

Well as if life isn’t busy enough, it just gets crazier and crazier.  This past weekend, I had planned a fall retreat for our Senior High group.  We called it Detox.  We took a look 2 Kings 17, the fall of Israel.  We discussed and thought through what God wants for our lives.  More importantly the toxic things in our lives that we need to detoxify in order to have a right relationship with God.  This was great!  What a phenomenal weekend.  We left right after school let out on Friday and made it up to Hickory Run State Park to go camping.  We had great times around the fire, laughing, talking, singing, praising God, praying, and enjoying God’s nature.  On saturday we spent the day white water rafting!  What a blast…

Everyone enjoyed themselves…  Everyone that is except me!  I had a great time until say, midnight saturday evening when I got deathly sick!  There is nothing worse than being sick to your stomach…

Oh, wait, yes there is.  

It’s called being sick to your stomach while hanging your head out of a 6 man tent, only to return to the most uncomfortable section of God’s green earth, clutching your stomach.  There can’t be anything worse than that…

Oh wait, yes there is.

It’s called being sick to your stomach while hanging your head out of a 6 man tent, with 20 teenagers all within earshot of you, listening and carrying on, only to return to the most uncomfortable section of God’s green earth, clutching your stomach. Um… Yes, That is the worst thing.

UGH!  Anyhow, my poor wife, Noah was sick at the same time as me, 3 years old and all barfing all over the place.  She deserves accolade upon accolade!  I love that woman!

So, I get home, and one day later, I am off again.  This time for our pastoral staff retreat.  As a staff we needed time to just be together and plan, philosophy, dream, pray, and seek God’s face.  We are here in Beach Haven, NJ at IBC’s missions house.  Pray for us as we spend some great time with one another, bonding, praying, thinking, planning, praying, laughing, praying, and seeking after God’s will for First Baptist.  

I can’t wait to get home to my family for a while!  One of our elders said to my wife, He (being me) must feel like a stranger in his own house.  NOT GOOD!  I can’t wait to get on the floor and wrestle Noah till he is crying tears from laughter; play baby dolls with Grace, and cover her with kisses.  And Tiffany, well, she needs a few kisses herself!  

Kisses are coming Babe!  See you tomorrow…

~Peter