Tag: spiritual retreat

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Focus Friday: Let’s Focus on Teens Encountering Christ

(These are stock photo teens, but I’m sure they’d love TEC, too!)

Something exciting is happening in Platte this weekend.

Twenty high school students will be gathering at a church on Friday morning.

I’m sure most of them are excited. Some are probably pretty nervous. They’ve heard their friends talk about the fun, intense experience they had at TEC (Teens Encounter Christ) and they aren’t quite sure what to expect as they go through the weekend. (There are lots of surprises that are kept top secret by kids who have attended before.)

A team of adults and students will be working (mostly behind the scenes) to make it a great weekend for the candidates. I’m going to be an adult table leader this time.

I can’t wait to see how God works in the lives of everyone who is there this weekend.

We can grow spiritually as we go through our daily routines, but there’s something special about getting away for a special time where you focus even more on God.

If you get a chance to do something like that, make sure you take advantage of the opportunity (even if it’s a little bit scary).

Oh, and please pray for those twenty students when you think of them this weekend. Thanks!

I’ll close with the theme verse for TEC#18:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:5–6 ESV)

Have you ever gone on a spiritual retreat? How can focusing on God help you take advantage of opportunities like that?

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Focus Friday: Let’s Focus on Intense Experiences

I’m writing this on Thursday, right before I leave to work at a TEC (Teens Encounter Christ) weekend. To be honest, I’m a little nervous.

This is my first time working at one of these events, and I know from attending the closing several times and doing some of the prep work for this weekend that it’s going to be an intense spiritual experience.

About forty workers will toil behind the scenes to provide a meaningful retreat for eleven high school students. I can’t reveal all of the fun surprises that will happen throughout the weekend, but I will say that it can get pretty intense.

Intense for the students (the candidates), but also intense for the workers. I’m anticipating that God will have so much to say to me as I dive into this opportunity.

Spending time with God regularly in our daily lives is important, but we need intense experiences sometimes. It can boost us to new spiritual heights when we spend extended periods of time with other believers and learn from what God is doing in their lives (and ours!).

I can’t wait to see what God does in these students’ lives this weekend!

“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:3 NIV)

How long has it been since you had an intense experience with the LORD and other believers? How can focusing on God help you to be open to seeking out that type of adventure?