Wednesday, 11 November 2009

A much different retreat

So I went back to Center Lake again.

And it was so different this time. Ordinarily, it goes something like this:

-Roll in. Find people.
-HEYYYY!!!!
-Don gives us our instructions, hot chocolate, youth groups roll in, staff meeting, chapel, Taco Bell, and sleep
-Staff meeting, eat breakfast, chapel, hang out, eat lunch, Taco Bell/Caddy run, more hang out, eat dinner, chapel, sleep
-Eat breakfast, chapel, go home exhausted

Not this time. I got to go to Cadillac, sure. But not to hang out with other staffers or to Taco Bell. I didn't get any except as my lunch with N-Sto on our way out of Ludington. This time, the fall retreat was leadership/service-centric.

And I liked it. It was the smallest of Center Lake staff: Duane, Don, Jeff, Penny, D-Wag, Kris, N-Sto, Monika, and me, plus a rotation of staff in the kitchen. And instead of getting to hang out with Kris, N-Sto, and Monika (which I did to some degree), we worked. A lot more than I have on past retreats.

Friday was spent serving root beer floats after chapel. Saturday we were in the staff meeting, working serving breakfast and then getting lunch ready, followed by placements with the different youth groups (the kids from Mona Shores are a blast), and a short break before working in the kitchen again at dinner. And after chapel, N-Sto, Monika, and I were the staff on call for the evening, so... no Taco Bell run again. But it was okay. It was still fun to just hang out with the kids and goof around playing Apples to Apples or pretending to watch television. And Sunday, we helped once again with breakfast (and found our newly-finished screen printed retreat shirts!).

Was I a little surprised by how this retreat looked as a staffer? Oh yes. I had much less down time to play or do what I want, which is what I've been used to. Much more work/getting down and jumping to it, like camp in the summer.

But it's okay. The youth pastors and Pastor Ryan wanted this to be a leadership/service retreat, and I think it was for us all. And I enjoyed it just as much.

Currently Mighty to Save By Hillsong Live From the Inside Out see related

Comments(1)

Major General Music. I miss you. That is all.

Casey