Retreats
it’s coming…one of my favorite retreats of the year…
can i just tell you how excited i am about this? i feel like i’m going to explode…right now. as always, we’ll be getting away the weekend before christmas (dec 19-21) at harmony heart camp in jermyn, pa. this is a great chance to get away from the business that surrounds this time of year and start to breath and little bit.
my hope and prayer (outside of massive amounts of snow for tubing) is that you’ll come and be encouraged in your faith. it’s a retreat designed with sr highers in mind…not to kiddy, but a whole lot of fun. head to the download page for your registration form~
Posted by jimmyd in Retreats, iT on 08 Oct 2008 at 5:26 pm | No Comments »
so we got here…a little unorthodox, but we got here:)
cargo van got here late, bus got up late, and the band didn’t get here till about 930…an hour and a 1/2 later than our sesssion…
but the amazing thing is, God was in control of it all! i really think He had a plan in mind that was way better than what we put together. we started our week out with some amazing ideas and conversations about what it really means to live for Christ. we dove into Gal 2:20 and tried to explore what it means to be dead to ourselves but alive in Christ!
it was a great night…
today has been spent hanging out with God in our small groups and by ourselves, eating fantastic food, finding tiny farm animals dropped by the barnyard spaceship, and catching high speed water balloons without getting killed.
tonight we get to look into what it means to serve each other and explore what Jesus did with his disciples on the last night he was with them; foot washing….
i think the students will love it…
Posted by jimmyd in 24:7, Retreats on 22 Jul 2008 at 4:16 pm | No Comments »
so after such an amazing retreat with our jr higers i was honestly concerned about our sr high retreat. i didn’t want our jr highers to experience the Holy Spirit and our sr highers to wonder what the heck happened and why they missed out.
God is amazing. we left LHC @ 5pm friday and returned 3pm sunday overwhelmed by the person of the Holy Spirit. He met our group in a way i don’t think anyone was expecting.
oh man…it was awesome!
by saturday nite, the pump was primed and we were like buckets ready to receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
we broke into one giant small group right after the session and went to chat about what God was doing. when i asked the group what God was doing, it stayed silent for about 20 minutes before someone spoke up. i really think God was ministering in that silence…really allowing His Spirit to continue to move and minister in ways no person ever could. after the 1st couple kids spoke up, we had the opportunity to pray for kids who really wanted to be prayed for. i wanted them to tell the group what they wanted Jesus to do for them…just like bartimaeus…
God then used all our small group leaders to really PRAY FOR the students…it was an amazing picture~
here’s the WORD DOC from everyone who wanted to document what God was doing in them…
here’s a couple i pulled out for the web:
-God’s presence was so distinct; the Holy Spirit filled the room. I’m so glad God is in control, because I’d of lost it long ago.
I’ve been caught in the middle of a bizarre, self-destructive world. All weekend I waited for a dramatic message from God. I wasn’t surprised when it didn’t come at once because I’ve been so distant. Right when I was expecting to get nothing out of the trip, it came; I felt an incredible peace while the band played and people slowly went up to nail their confessions onto the cross.
I have decided today that my life does have a purpose. I have decided that I am not worthless. God loves me and he will be with me no matter what. I will not lower myself to the ways of the earth because that has left me nothing but dead inside. I want life so I AM, for the first time in my life, going, not try, but really be with no hesitation in love with the Creator who loves the sinner I am. I AM NOT WORTHLESS!!!! So the worth that I have that God has given me is now going to shine through me like the light that shone through a now empty tomb. He took my sin, and I have turned my back on that sin. I am God’s now.
Posted by jimmyd in Retreats, iT on 23 Apr 2008 at 4:02 pm | 1 Comment »
what a weekend we had at lake champion with our jr highers. i wish i could explain to you how amazing it was…but that would take a whole lot of typing~
so here’s the reader digest version:
our theme: The Four-Fold Gospel; Jesus is our Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King~
when we got to the session on Jesus as our healer a call was given for kids to come forward if they wanted to receive healing. it was set-up with scripture and bathed in prayer. needless to say, over 150 kids came forward to be prayed for and receive healing for physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual things going on in their lives. it was overwhelming!
when we broke into our small group, i had our student type out what they were thinking and feeling so you can get a sneak peak at what goes through a jr highers head after a service like that.
here’s the testimonies in a word document if you’d like to read them all. i wasn’t sure which to pic, but here’s a couple:
Before tonight I suffered from three eating disorders; anorexia, bulimia, and excessive eating. I also have cut myself out of anger of what has been going through my life. God has given me this great gift of life and i felt like i ruined it by doing that to myself. However, today I AM HEALED! I AM NO LONGER THE PERSON I WAS. I feel I have taken a huge leap towards God.
Before tonight, I felt like I was unimportant. I had told all of my friends of my religion and I respected their religion, but they feel like they shouldn’t talk to me and they ignore me. Sometimes I go into the bathroom and cry my eyes out hoping that they will except me for who I am. Knowing that God loves me unconditionally, it makes me feel important and makes me want to cry. I feel like I don’t deserve it. I am a sinner and I know I will sin in the future. Knowing that God loves me before and after I sin, and will always love me is overwhelming to me. My sister and brothers say I’m nothing and I should just go away. After tonight I feel like I connected to God and know that I am special and I am unique!
-What really hit me this weekend was how real God is in our lives. We totally take him for granted. It’s amazing how much he affects our daily lives and this week God has become so real to me! God is amazing!
thank you so much for all your prayers…and please pray for our sr highers as we go away this weekend~
Posted by jimmyd in 24:7, Retreats on 15 Apr 2008 at 9:31 am | 1 Comment »
what a great weekend. i wish i could’ve posted this a little earlier, but being sick throws a wrench in everything.
we arrived to HHC right on time (after an amazing White Castle stop) and pretty much went right into our first session. Josh showed the love by acting like David. Then we all went to bed…kind of…and woke up to a devotional by debbie was awesome. it was built around the topic of being a friend like david and jonathan were to each other. this was followed up by a sweet time with God in our highly anticipated “solo’s with God”. 50 minutes of uninterrupted time with God…soo needed by everyone.
great mornings are best when followed up by great nights! so it was!! to start out our night session we worshipped for a good 4 minutes…it was AMAZING!! we just relaxed in the presence of God and it was sweet…
the message that night revolved around living a life that could end with someone noting that you served the purpose God had for you…Acts 13:36…so we all made gravestones and had people write on them what they would say of us if we died. it was such a cool experience…i honestly believe almost all the students and leaders will keep those stones for YEARS~
then the storm hit and it took us forever and a day to get home…but we made it:)
thanks for a great weekend everyone
Posted by jimmyd in Retreats on 20 Dec 2007 at 10:20 am | No Comments »
