Retreat update

As I mentioned a few days ago, much has happened around our house lately. Last weekend I was away for our Portland Metro Fall Retreat.

Overall, the quality of the weekend was high. Our speaker, Sam Osterloh, did an amazing job of bringing the Bible to life as he spoke about the book of Ruth. He spoke about how Naomi and Elimelech turned aside from their inheritance in Israel to pursue their own life in Moab, a lowly place. When Naomi and Ruth returned to Israel, they were redeemed from their wanderings by Boaz, and brought back into the family of God. Sam drew a beautiful image of sin, repentance, and redemption that will long stick with me.

Worship was good as well. Brian, a friend of Campus Crusade, led a simple but powerful worship set. When the worshipers sing louder than the worship leaders, that is a good thing.

The turnout was poor, however. This year is my first year as campus director, and I have been wondering what role this retreat plays in the overall ministry to the city. Students just did not respond well to our efforts to recruit (admittedly we could have done more, but that seems too much like manufacturing momentum). So, I head to the drawing board to determine if God is signalling a change for the next time around, or if we see this as an anamoly and continue to do business as usual.

Either way, the weekend was good. God was glorified, the Gospel was preached, and we learned a little more about how to do ministry better.