Over the weekend, I took several of our teens to the Winter Retreat at Rock Garden Christian Camp.
This was a weekend that a few other area youth ministers and I have been planning since back in September.
In my opinion, it was a huge success!
We took a bit of a different approach this year rather than how we had been doing it. We brought in a different type of speaker, not your normal local guy, and used a band we’d never worked with before for the worship. Again, it was hugely successful.
We asked John Luzadder to speak to our teens. John is a former youth minister who now works with CIY, overseeing Wilderness, a youth minister’s retreat that I attend every fall.
I was a bit unsure just how all our teens would relate to John. John deals more with youth leaders in his current position, and while he was in the youth ministry trenches in the past, I wasn’t sure how our students would take to him.
He knocked it out of the park!
Our theme for the weekend was “@God: More Than A Facebook Friend“. Over the course of the weekend, we examined each aspect of the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and then wrapped it up with a “What does this mean to me?” session.
On top of the excellent preaching John brought about God, here are a few of the things I took away from the weekend:
A confirmation of my call to youth ministry.
I turned 40 last November, and as a result, I’ve been wondering just what that means for my ministry. I’ve been struggling with whether or not I’m getting “too old” to do youth ministry. The problem is that I have no desire to do anything else.
This weekend reaffirmed to me that youth ministry is my calling, regardless of the fact that I may feel a bit old now and then. And though the age bothers me a little bit, I guess it’s something I’m just going to have to do my best to get over.
The future of youth ministry looks bright.
One of the biggest battles i believe that we face in youth ministry is the increasing level of apathy among teens. It is certainly a problem, and one that will become more and more of a challenge in American society. But the teens we spent the weekend with refreshed my faith in our ability to pass the torch on to the next generation.
Much of the youth culture is infused with apathy, and this weekend was no exception. But I felt that the teens at Rock Garden did not represent most of American youth. I saw teens who were not afraid to express their faith, regardless of whether or not their peers thought it might be cool or uncool.
That was refreshing.
Relationships were built and renewed.
Many of the faces at the retreat this weekend were familiar. Most of them I knew, and they knew each other. But there was a large portion of new people there as well. The weekend enabled me, and others, to refresh friendships with teens I only get to see a few times a year, and adults that I see just as infrequently.
I am truly blessed. I have several significant relationships among these people, both teens and adults, and it was great to spend the weekend with them, sharing life together.
It was somewhat bittersweet.
Right off the bat, my daughter asked me if I could bend the rules and allow her to attend the weekend a year early. I said no. While I am excited that she will be old enough to attend next winter, that thought also saddens me, because it sounds a warning bell of the coming end of this phase of life with my daughter.
The weekend served to reinforce in my mind the need to spend as much intentional time with my daughter, as well as with all of my children, as I possibly can. I want my children to always remember me as a very involved parent in their lives, no matter what their age.
Though sad, the changes coming down the road are very exciting as well. I look forward to seeing just what God does in the lives of each of my children. I’m sure it will blow my mind.
As I mentioned above, the Winter Retreat was an enormous success, in my opinion. Spending the weekend away refreshed and refocused my faith, just as we intended it to do for the teens who attended. God was present and active. Lives were changed.
And that’s exactly what we were praying for.
What helps you refresh and refocus your faith? You can share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Jeff, great post. I’ve always been a bit awed by youth pastors. They always seem so hip and in touch with their audience. Love that. Sounds like your weekend was exactly what God desired.
As one who usually does women’s ministry, I’m preparing to speak to a group of high school girls at their annual retreat on the topic of Purity and Legacy. I’m praying like mad and finding God is faithful to give me the words to speak to them.
God bless you.
“Hip.” That made me laugh. I’m 40, so I’m the age of, and older, than most of the parents of our teens. So, to most of them, I’m decidedly uncool. But they know that I love them.
Prayers for your speaking engagement with the high school girls. You will do great! Sounds like your priorities are in order, so I’m sure God will do great things. Looking forward to hearing about it on your blog (which I read, even though I’m a guy. With 5 kids at home, my wife doesn’t have time to browse through blogs, so I give her links to great stuff. She’s had the opportunity to read several of yours. We both really like the HeBrews series.)