Awanita 2009

What can I say...

This past weekend was one of the best retreats I have ever been a part of, even though it poured all weekend!

Friday night we stopped on the way at the World Famous Beacon! Thanks to my college buddy Wes Church, who called up there to let them know we were coming.  Everyone loved there food APLENTY!   And to conclude we had the Pig Feast Dessert, where my team won me a Beacon Trucker Hat and a JC Bobble Head!



Then we drove 45 minutes and arrived at Awanita.  We had a great night of worship with the Josh Ridings Band followed by a great talk by Jason Sansbury.

The next morning, equaled more rain, but it really didn't matter.  We had a great morning worship session, followed by fun in the rain.  A bunch of us went out onto the lake in the Paddle boats while it was raining buckets.  Then we had a couple of rides on the Awanita Hummer to the top of the mountain in the rain.  Then we followed that with some trips down the zipline into the freezing lake.

That night we had another great worship session followed by hanging out watching a Remember the Titans and also throwing the football and basketballs around.

We concluded on Sunday with a great final worship, followed by an early departure to beat the winter storm.

I would have never thought a Rain drenched  weekend would have been so great!   Our students didn't let the rain or no cell phone signals get in the way.  Instead they allowed themselves to let go, get to know each other better and grow with God.
I wish more retreats would run this great!

Thanks again to the Josh Ridings Band and Jason Sansbury for a great weekend!

Awanita 2009

What can I say...

This past weekend was one of the best retreats I have ever been a part of, even though it poured all weekend!

Friday night we stopped on the way at the World Famous Beacon! Thanks to my college buddy Wes Church, who called up there to let them know we were coming.  Everyone loved there food APLENTY!   And to conclude we had the Pig Feast Dessert, where my team won me a Beacon Trucker Hat and a JC Bobble Head!



Then we drove 45 minutes and arrived at Awanita.  We had a great night of worship with the Josh Ridings Band followed by a great talk by Jason Sansbury.

The next morning, equaled more rain, but it really didn't matter.  We had a great morning worship session, followed by fun in the rain.  A bunch of us went out onto the lake in the Paddle boats while it was raining buckets.  Then we had a couple of rides on the Awanita Hummer to the top of the mountain in the rain.  Then we followed that with some trips down the zipline into the freezing lake.

That night we had another great worship session followed by hanging out watching a Remember the Titans and also throwing the football and basketballs around.

We concluded on Sunday with a great final worship, followed by an early departure to beat the winter storm.

I would have never thought a Rain drenched  weekend would have been so great!   Our students didn't let the rain or no cell phone signals get in the way.  Instead they allowed themselves to let go, get to know each other better and grow with God.
I wish more retreats would run this great!

Thanks again to the Josh Ridings Band and Jason Sansbury for a great weekend!

Awanita

It's late on Thursday night/Friday morning and I'm washing clothes and packing for our Winter/Spring Retreat.

I'm really looking forward to going back to Awanita Valley Retreat Center.  I still remember the first time I went back in 1995, when Chip was the speaker.  It was the week before Marvin UMC interview him to be our Youth Director.  It as an awesome weekend.  And then for the next 2 years we went back with the Augusta UMC District retreat.  Those were the days...

And then in 1998-2001 I went back as a counselor for Marvin UMC and also helped with the skits.  And then in 2003 I took my youth from Tucker 1st UMC there for a retreat.

Looking back over a decade later, I can see how Awanita helped shaped me into the Youth Pastor I am today.  It is really cool to see that.

And now 14 years later, I'm going back with another group.  It is going to be a great weekend.  Jason Sansbury, a close friend, is coming from Nashville, TN to be the speaker for the weekend.  Jason and I go way back to the days of the Augusta District.  He has been a great brother in Christ.  I'm really looking forward to the messages he is bringing this weekend.  I'm also looking forward to our awesome worship band led by a college friend of mine Josh Ridings.  Josh led worship at USC FCA.  While I was going through my wild stages at USC and attending FCA, he asked me to join the worship team and play guitar.  That was a big part of me getting back into ministry.

Well I'm headed to bed...and looking forward to a great weekend back at Awanita!

Awanita

It's late on Thursday night/Friday morning and I'm washing clothes and packing for our Winter/Spring Retreat.

I'm really looking forward to going back to Awanita Valley Retreat Center.  I still remember the first time I went back in 1995, when Chip was the speaker.  It was the week before Marvin UMC interview him to be our Youth Director.  It as an awesome weekend.  And then for the next 2 years we went back with the Augusta UMC District retreat.  Those were the days...

And then in 1998-2001 I went back as a counselor for Marvin UMC and also helped with the skits.  And then in 2003 I took my youth from Tucker 1st UMC there for a retreat.

Looking back over a decade later, I can see how Awanita helped shaped me into the Youth Pastor I am today.  It is really cool to see that.

And now 14 years later, I'm going back with another group.  It is going to be a great weekend.  Jason Sansbury, a close friend, is coming from Nashville, TN to be the speaker for the weekend.  Jason and I go way back to the days of the Augusta District.  He has been a great brother in Christ.  I'm really looking forward to the messages he is bringing this weekend.  I'm also looking forward to our awesome worship band led by a college friend of mine Josh Ridings.  Josh led worship at USC FCA.  While I was going through my wild stages at USC and attending FCA, he asked me to join the worship team and play guitar.  That was a big part of me getting back into ministry.

Well I'm headed to bed...and looking forward to a great weekend back at Awanita!

So once again...

I had it set in my mind that I was going to blog daily....

and then once again instead of taking the 5-10 minutes i've just forgot about it..

But thats what happens when life gets really busy...

So once again I hope and will try to take care of my blogging duties and blog more than once a month.

Side note:  Since i read all the time for class...I have decided to use my drive time between school and work and erands to listen to audio books I've downloaded on itunes so I can finally read several books that have been on my to read list for a while.

So I am now listening to Chapter 5 of Crazy Love by Francis Chan



and also Chapter 2 of The Shack by: William P. Young



Both books are really amazing and really pushing me spiritually.