This past weekend was good for our hearts!
We spent the weekend with members from different house churches in our annual all church retreat. Over the years the shared retreat has provided a great opportunity for fellowship, focused teaching, vision sharing, and seed sowing with visitors. We believe the annual retreat is one of several important practices that help the smaller bands of disciples continue their focus on fleshing out Christ in their own neighborhoods while also sensing that they are part of a larger fellowship of Christ followers.
As usual we had lots of fun together.
We began arriving at the campsite—about 45 minutes outside of the city—around 6 or 7 on Friday night. Then, for the next 45 hours or so we played together, prayed and sang together, laughed and cried together, ate together, and studied and discussed Jesus’ teaching from the Sermon on the Mount together. In all of this, we were especially focused on listening for God’s Word to us as individuals and as a group.
We arrived home late Sunday afternoon tired, but very happy to experience God’s work in and around us.
One of the things that was especially encouraging to me was the evidence of maturity and leadership I saw among my Mexican brothers and sisters. So many people worked together, each adding their part, to make the weekend a great experience. It was cool to watch several of my Mexican brothers—Gerardo, Martín, Jose Luis and Arturo—facilitate times of discussion and listening to God together around Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount—to see their expectation that God really would give us a clear word that requires obedience. I was touched to watch and listen in as people paired off in the last few hours together on Sunday to articulate to one another what they had heard from God and how they planned to respond in obedience.
We also loved watching the kids and youth play together. We’ve noticed that over the past few months it seems that God has drawn the youth from the different churches together. It was fun to see their unity and love for one another so clearly this past weekend.
I was also very encouraged by the father of a visiting family who spent the weekend with us. On Saturday afternoon, with tears Jesús told the group how he and his family were seeing Christ expressed so beautifully in the love in our group—how this was something that he had not seen very often in his life—and how important it was for him.
I already knew that was true. But it was good for my heart to hear that he saw it too.
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