POTENT

That's the word I use to describe our church's first Advance, aka Retreat. It was a full 3 days. No one felt they had information overload, but everyone said they felt very well "equipped" when we left. (That's because Greg is an amazing, experienced Retreat Put-er-on-er).

Greg and I arrived around 3:00 on Thursday and it was COLD! We were met with this beautiful dear walking through the front yard next door. After we turned on the hot water heater and the water main, I went upstairs and cranked up the thermostat. It was so cold it took your breath away, literally! We brought up all the supplies and I started dinner. Our team arrived at 4:30 to a warm house and the smell of lasagne. They got all settled in and we had our first meal of the Advance together. Afterwards, Greg welcomed us, explained what we were in store for, had me facilitate an ice breaker game, then we were off and running with a message.
We stopped around 9:00 and after some fellowship, we trickled off to bed.




A look at the book table we set up had a few people borrowing books to read after the Advance.

Here's Josh picking out his favorite worship songs for the next day.

Did I mention I started a raging sore throat, botherstome eardrums, a fever, body aches, and chills that afternoon/evening? Yep, that's how I started the Advance.

I had prepared the menu for all the meals and who was up for cooking and who was up for clean up. Everyone did a fantastic job and helped out really well. I was careful not to pair up couples and tried to give a balance between cooking, cleanup and who worked with whom. Here's Monica cleaning the waffle iron before breakfast. She has earned the name 'Tornado' because she's a cleaning whirlwind. She lightened everyone's load!

After a 7:30 breakfast, we were off to our morning quiet time in Joshua. Each day we read a chapter and answered questions. When we came together 45 minutes later, we had worship and a Bible study on Joshua. These beautful creatures graced us with their presence during the Bible study so Josh grabbed my camera and took a few shots.

Lunchtime came quickly, then a break of about 30 minutes to fellowship and play boggle and ladder golf.



and back together for worship and small group training. We had a late afternoon break before dinner which gave us time for fellowship, walks, ladder golf, reading, studying, or whatever. When Greg and I came back after our walk, Josh and Monica were taking pictures of each other outside, so we joined them, along with Dick and Mary.



Then some neighbors were out taking a walk and we met them and asked them to take a group shot. I don't think they realized there was a zoom button on the camera.

After dinner, we met for specific church business matters. Sometimes we brainstormed, sometimes we made decisions etc. There was always, I mean ALWAYS lots of laughter as Dick, Josh, and Loraine had us in stitches with their quick wit. Here's Monica sharing the two ministries she thought we should have, standing on a chair because she's a little 'vertically challenged' and because Greg set up the tri-pod and white board to his height.

That was pretty much our format for the Advance, with the exception of playing strength bombardment, which always makes me cry, and our first Sunday morning service. Usually Greg has everything prepared in advance. This time for training on Sunday morning, God told him Saturday night forget what he had planned and have a service. God even told him not to prepare it Saturday night, but to just spend time with everyone and that God would give him what he needed in the morning. Greg did just that. While we were having our quiet time in Joshua this morning, Greg wrote out the whole message, then gave it,
complete with Josh and Dick picking out our worship songs, me preparing communion, and Loraine taking the offering. Everything we off without a hitch and it was great!

Good-bye's are always difficult, especially when you're 6'4" and you're being hugged by a professional hugger that's a foot shorter than you. Here's Mary trying to break Greg's neck. (Just kidding)

Here's Loraine giving us a peek at the Croatian Hula. She went to Croatia and ate squid!

After the morning service, we decided to scrap the plan to have leftovers for lunch and go out for pizza. After cleaning the cabin us and our youth pastors headed up 108 for pizza. Our other members opted to head for home, as they had plans. It was a good opportunity to get feedback on how everyone was feeling and what they thought of the weekend.

Notice I wasn't in any of the pictures, because I was taking them. I think I'm in one that's on Loraine's camera. When I get those shots, I'll post them.

Afterwards Greg and I stopped at A Lovely Place to pick up a shirt we left there in November and share what God was doing with EQUIP.

It was a very full, and very fun Advance. We bonded extremely well, so well the Pastor had to tell Monica and I to be quiet at one point. Yikes! In trouble already!

BTW, one new thing that came out of the Advance was that we have our Christian Education Director. After praying about it, Dick Pritchard has decided he would like to oversee all the teachers. Yeah!!!!!

We are hoping to interview our candidate for Worship Director this week. Please keep praying about this and a building. The building will dictate when we launch.

Blessings to you on this cool, Sunday evening.