Summer Retreat 2017

This was our second year going to San Diego. Same house and same weekend, but honestly it still felt new. We had almost a completely new group with us this year and it was refreshing to see new relationships forming this weekend as we spent time together doing different activities. 

We started the weekend meeting in the gym at church at 9am. We spent some time packing up everyones things, and then we were off. 

We stopped at Chick-fil-a in La Mesa for lunch and then headed straight up to the house. 

We spent most of our time the first day in the house, hiding from the 100 degree heat outside. Some of us played games and others went swimming in the pool. The living room was pretty much the place to be throughout the weekend and where most of activities took place when we were in the house. 

On Saturday and Sunday we spent some time at the beach. The first day we went down to Torrey Pines State Reserve and hiked down about 20 minutes to the beach. There we heard a word from Jacob on Trusting God and he brought up story about his trip to Ireland to cement his point. The next day we went down to Mission Bay and spent some time soaking in the sun. We heard from Cam on how we must obey the Lord but not beat ourselves up if we don't find ourselves obeying every command that we hear from God. He brought up the life of Abraham to drive home his point. 

We also heard from Ryan every night of the trip, and every teaching went together with the devotionals of the day. God did mighty things and it was awesome to see. 

One of the most powerful times of the trip was the baptism we did on Saturday afternoon. Amber had talked to Ryan and truly wanted to dedicate her life to Christ by being baptized on the retreat, with her friends there to see. Rachel also wanted to be baptized with her friends present as well. It was incredible to hear their stories that describe what brought them to the moment they decided they wanted to take a stand to publicly proclaim their want of a personal, one on one relationship with God. 

Overall, I personally believe this retreat was a success. We spent time together in fellowship, we dug into Hebrews together as a group, and we got to eat some incredible food, all thanks to the planning of Ryan and Chellie. We pray that this retreat has a lasting effect on those who attended and we hope that next year will be even better!

"Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Hebrews 12:1-2