Highland Christian Church retreat weekend at Camp Cedar Cliff

What a weekend.

So I had been a bit “bummed” that I was not able to go out to Arizona with Wes for Jeff’s wedding this past weekend. Whined about it a bit. BUT was pleasantly surprised when I heard that Highland was going to have an all church retreat here in town on that same weekend. (*which made Wes a little bummed....so it evened out*)

I honestly LOVE the way that my church is not scared to be different. To try things “outside the box”. To seek the Lord and be adventurous. To just simply “Go for it”.
That was this weekend.

Friday night, 220 people (which I will brag is about 50% of our total church population) poured into Camp Cedar Cliff in the pouring rain to bond together in community. WOW! I have to say I was the most impressed with the families with small children. Seriously, it was amazing to watch them pile out of mini vans with strollers and highchairs and backpacks and all the paraphernalia needed to survive 24 hours away from home, and load the giant school bus to their cabin....in the pouring rain...And they were laughing and smiling...

It was truly a “sign” of commitment and community. It was beautiful. No excuses. And it spoke volumes to my heart.

We were placed into our sleeping cabins by ministry teams (I’ll explain more about that later), and quickly ushered to the dining hall for a night of worship, laughter, fellowship, prayer, forgiveness, healing...you name it, it happened Friday night. It was powerful.
And Fun...with smores, foosball, board games and a campfire to end...

I think churches forget the art of”fun”. I have to say that I have had more FUN in ministry in the past year and ½ that we have been attending Highland. They know how to do FUN. How to minister but have FUN in the process.

The overall concept for this weekend was brought about because: as is the case with ANY church, there is only about 10% of the church population that actually serves week to week. And as is always the case, those 10% burn out really fast. And Highland, as it has rapidly grown in the past year was experiencing this and needed a way to “open up” more opportunities for everyone to be able to serve.

I know about burnout, I was there. For 5 years I struggled with just “needing a break”, but not giving it to myself and not being shown how to take a break. I work 40 hours a week in a ministry. I was serving at my church on a weekly basis as well as additional bible studies and such I was leading...amongst other outside things. And I eventually reached a point of burn out. And I was just going through the motions. I truly lost the “heart” of ministry. I believed more in works than the reason for which I was serving. It wasn’t until I met Wes that he was able to truly look into my world a bit and call me out on it. And he was right. During our pre-marital counseling we started praying about this. And the Lord was very specific with us. After we were married, we knew we had to move on. We had to physically LEAVE in order for us to heal and in order to be able to be allowed to do so....

Anyways, *soapbox I could preach on for awhile...so I will spare you more gory details but it was a process*...But as we have finally gotten to a place of “being healthy” again, we have been ready to serve....in a very committed yet not overloaded way. And have found a place where we feel like we will be helped with those boundaries.

The title of this weekend was “Serve with Me”....So basically this was the plan in a nutshell... Our church, through the ministry of our small groups (Gel Groups) is divided into FOUR teams. Each “team” will “serve” one Sunday a month to “get the service done”. Each member of each team will have ONE task to do one Sunday a month for ONE service. Duties include: Set up, tear down, ushers, nursery, hospitality bar, information booth, communion, prayer, security, writing, trash, cleaning floors...You name it, and this weekend we devised a plan to make it happen. No task too great or too small....

And we did it. The most beautiful part about the body of Christ at Highland was that there wasn’t whining or complaining about it...there was a sharing of responsibility....and excitement and readiness to do this thing together. It was pretty cool to watch.

The staff had even devised a little competition of sorts to “practice” in our teams later in the day...again, the art of FUN. Each team was to go to the pavilion at a certain time where we were given the order and rules of our obstacle course. We were timed while the lovely staff of Highland were there to “booby trap” us along the course by giving us ‘real life’ scenarios of what could and HAS happened on a Sunday while you are serving. It was hilarious. And fun.

And competitive...and fun.

During our last session on Sat we were told who had the best time. Here is the most interesting and ironic part. The team that won was the team that appeared to be the weakest due to having the greatest number of kids overall on their team. Pretty amazing huh? They pretty much killed the rest of us.

So many times we allow excuses in our life to say that “we can’t”. When in reality, we really can. We just don’t want to have the “hassle” of getting over ourselves and just sucking it up and doing it. But the beauty of that team was that they allowed the kids to partake and serve. Teaching them how. Highland is one of the best churches I have ever been to that truly leads the next generation. There are no “age limits” to serve. And for that reason our youth are sitting on the front row every Sunday...the kids RUN down the isle for kid’s moment. There is no separate “kid’s church” to dump your kids off to so you can have an hour of babysitting. You, as the parent, are expected to be the teacher with the help of the church. . I am excited to “one day” be able to raise our own kids with a community of believers there to help us.

We ended our time together in worship and communion and foot washing. IT was beautiful. I loved every minute. I love where the Lord has us. And I love where the Lord is taking us.