Fall Retreat — Oct 11-13 — Huntsville, AL — $65
Deadline is Sept. 28!!
The deadline for the Fall Retreat is approaching. If your teen is planning to go, you can:
Pay online HERE (choose UY in the dropdown menu $65)
A note about Wednesday Nights… Sorry for the length but I feel this is important!
If your teen participates in what we do on Wednesday nights I thought it may be helpful if I just took a minute to explain what it is we are doing with hopes that God creates space for you to engage with them and encourage them about it.
We are on a journey of transformation. Just like anything in life, if you want to advance yourself on any given path you have to be reminded of and engage in the fundamentals of what it is you are doing. So, for this semester we are exploring and challenging ourselves to not only gain knowledge of the fundamentals of our pursuit of God but also committing ourselves to participate in those fundamentals.
The first 2 weeks we were together we focused on prayer and what it looks like to pray differently while studying what the Bible says about prayer. Last night we began turning our focus to the inspired direction, teachings and word in scripture.
Each week when we conclude in gaining information, we will be challenged in some way to “participate” in it over the upcoming week. Basically, I will give them some sort of framework and guidelines and challenge them to see if they can incorporate it into their daily rhythm.
After taking an anonymous poll from them last night I learned two things:
- I would say that 3/4 of them actually engaged in the prayer challenge from last week. I would say this is a very good percentage with hopes of it growing as we continue.
- After asking them about their bible reading habits, I came to realize that most of the group rarely reads their bibles with any regularity with several admitting they literally never do. I am not shocked by this because I know in my own life, If I don’t take extreme measures to make it my number one priority each day, satan is very crafty in making me think other things are more important.
For this upcoming week (week meaning Wednesday to Wednesday) in bible reading, the framework included a specific passage out of Ephesians each day along with instructions to read, study and reflect using the ‘lectio Divina” method of absorbing God’s word and positioning yourself for Him to speak to you through it. This is a method that has been around a very very long time and I can attest it has some real power to allow you to hear God speak through His word.
So, why am I telling you all of this? Honestly, Ive just felt the Spirit telling me I should. I don’t have a kid, but if I did, maybe this info would be helpful in engaging in a conversation with them..…I don’t know. Or maybe even push me myself to leaning into these disciplines as well. Below is a link to the reading plan they are challenged to do over the next week and also a link to the Lectio Divina instructions on how to read it. If by some chance you want to participate, have at it.
My prayer is that our teens never stop pursuing a deeper relationship with God because I know the world will never stop pursuing a relationship with them.
