Winter Retreat 2011

Camp Eder ~ Frozen creek crossing on the way to lunch

I spent this past weekend on DCF's Winter Retreat at Camp Eder. It was incredible. It was my fourth time (first as a non-student), and while my first retreat will always hold a special place in my heart as where I first really began to get to know some of the people who ended up being my closest friends, I have to say that this retreat was the best I have been to in terms of God really speaking to and impacting everyone who came.


Our speaker was Pastor Tim Keller from Carlisle Alliance Church. The topic for the weekend- picked by the student leadership team- was the Kingdom of God. Pastor Tim did an excellent job speaking to us on this rather broad and (in my mind) intimidating topic. He gave three talks over the weekend, one on Friday and two on Saturday. In the first talk he spoke about the authority of kings, how there can only be one king at a time (which Herod recognized, hence why he sought to kill baby Jesus) and that Jesus wants to be the authority and influence in our lives. His second talk was on the beatitudes, helping us to really understand them by defining key words and then expanding on their meanings. He referred to the beatitudes as "kingdom values" that tend to be rather counter-cultural. In his third talk he focused on three parables about the kingdom of heaven, challenging us with different elements of each.

In honor of it being Valentine's Day Monday, the guys worked with the staff and surprised us with chocolate covered strawberries after dinner on Saturday, bringing them out while singing "Lean on Me". Pastor Tim participated. 

After each talk, we had quiet individual time with God to reflect followed by small group discussion. Pastor Tim had provided us with follow-up questions from his talks that we used for these times. I really loved my small group. Everyone contributed and was open. Some shared very personally about difficult circumstances they were currently facing and how God spoke to them regarding what they were experiencing. I personally was most convicted during and after the talk on the beatitudes. Through Pastor Tim's teaching I gained a fuller understanding of what each of them meant. This combined with the idea of them being kingdom values had a big impact on me and caused me to examine my life and whether I was living these out or not. 
Needless to say, I have a lot to work on.


Sunday morning, since we had no speaker, each small group was assigned a role in our own type of Sunday morning worship, the basis being the parable of the banquet from Luke 14:15-24. My small group had Worship. The other three roles were Prayer, Creative Acting Out of the Scripture/Sermon and Outreach Application. Each group did a great job, and it was a really cool and unique "service".  One of my favorite parts was the Sermon section. The banquet parable was one of the ones Pastor Tim touched on in his third talk, so the small group- after a rather funny acting out of the Scripture passage- decided rather than trying to expound further to instead open it up for sharing on how we were convicted throughout the weekend and action steps we plan on taking as a result. A lot of people shared, it was really great. It was clear that God had touched every heart throughout the weekend in a powerful and special way.

Small group leading the sharing time after acting out Luke 14:15-24 

It is also clear that DCF this year is composed of a group of students who are real with each other and feel comfortable being that way even in a large group setting. Besides the sharing time mentioned above and the amount of people who prayed during the prayer part of our "service," there was also a moment during our last FNF- a special prayer night- where  Morgan, our prayer coordinator, opened it up for general prayer requests. I was shocked at the amount of people who shared requests, many of them pretty intense and personal. One girl who shared was in attendance for only the second time. 

The fact that she and so many others were willing to share in this way says that DCF is a place where people feel that they can be real and open, and has created an atmosphere of trust. This combined with the special outreach push and number of new students who are passionate about it- which was brought out during the Outreach Application part of our service- makes me excited to see where God is taking us.

More pictures :)