We have been planning our Life Groups Winter Retreat. I’m really excited for the direction that we are going with the theme of the retreat. The following is the outline and direction I sent off to our camp speakers so they can begin to prepare their messages. I am trying something new this year and having different speakers for each session but staying on the common theme. I gave all the speakers a deadline for their notes so they can turn it back into me so I can create a devotional for each of the sessions for our leaders to talk with their students later that night. I thought I would share the direction we are going.

Theme- Let Go, Grab On

Let go of everything day problems students face everyday that hold back their faith in Jesus and grab onto spiritual things that matter most.

Saturday PM (Kurt Johnston, Student Ministries Pastor @ Saddleback)-

Let go of Distractions, Grab onto Jesus:

  • Having this be the kick-off, we want to challenge students to get rid of any distractions and grab onto Jesus. A retreat is not an escape of problems, but a retreat is to retreat to God to take comfort. Keep your eyes on Him this weekend, not anything else.

Sunday AM (Jen Goulard, Women Ministries Teacher)-

Let go of ghosts, Grab onto grace:

  • What is haunting you back home? A person? place? Situation? Something you did? Something someone did/doing to you? Let go of your ghosts and grab onto the redeeming, amazing grace that Jesus offers us everyday. You don’t need to have a bad past to need grace, we need it every day.

Sunday PM (Steve Gladen, Adult Small Group Pastor @ Saddleback)-

Let go of selfishness, Grab onto servanthood:

  • We are going to be talking about how natural it is for us to be selfish but God calls us to serve, which is not so natural. When we serve, we are the hands and feet of Jesus and it makes all the difference.

Monday AM (Justin, myself)-

Let go of this experience, Grab on to experiencing Jesus:

  • Students tend to be addicted to an experience at camp and strive to get that feeling back. They are addicted to the experience and not addicted to the God who revealed Himself to them at camp. We want to let go of the camp experience but grab onto the experience of life change Jesus brings us everyday.