Student Ministries Retreat
The last year has been difficult for so many, significantly so for our youth. Through this last year the options that are normally offered like camps, retreat and outings have not been as easily available. We were thrilled to be able to offer a spring “retreat” for our students this last month! Now, this didn’t look like a normal student ministry retreat, with overnights…but the student ministry team worked hard at providing the best experience possible within the limitations that exist. Let me say, wow what an awesome “retreat” we had!
Friday night we had students show up at the church where we ate dinner together, had “cabin times”, team competitions, top notch worship, and our guest speaker opened our “retreat” with laying the foundations for the rest of the time together. We then sent the students home to come back in the morning for an amazing breakfast where we then loaded up a school bus along with our church vehicles and headed up to Corbet for the day to continue the retreat with more sessions of worship and messages, cabin times and competitions, meals together, and lots of laughs.
Our theme for the retreat was rooted. This focus comes out of in John 15:5 Jesus says “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit”
To get to witness our students passionately worshiping Jesus, taking steps and making commitments to trust and follow Christ, was amazing! One of the most encouraging things that comes from these type of events is the unity and community that is formed. That these students can come along side of each other and as they are being more and more rooted into Christ, they can join together and stand strong with each other.
When we look at the roots of a plant, we know that they accomplish a couple of things. First, it’s through the roots where the plant will gather nutrients from the soil. Second, the roots are what anchors the organism and keeps it from being blown from the pressures of the environment around it. In this cultural moment we live in, it is vital that we all strive to be rooted into the right source. That we are finding our source of nutrients and are anchored deep into the truth found in a life walking with Jesus as well as putting our trust into him.
Continue to pray for our youth. Pray that they will hold strong in who God has created them to be, that they will stay rooted in the soil of Jesus and not let the corrosive soil of our post Christian culture contaminate them.
Josh Argubright,
Executive Pastor
