I just noticed that I forgot to post on the TFB Women's Retreat we had last week at Pinecrest(probably because there was too much insanity at work this week). I mentioned last fall that we were doing Group's Chocolate Boutique: Where Women Taste and See That the Lord Is Good. This retreat-in-a-box format was new for us -normally, we have a speaker at a program camp like Forest Home or every other year we plan our own hotel retreat. This year we were unable to go to Forest Home and so we had to scramble to come up with our own in less than 5 months.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was the Director of the retreat which meant recruiting the various leaders of the breakout sessions -the boutiques, crafts, worship, Big Group sessions and small groups. That turned out to be easy since we had an incredible team that volunteered for everything without me asking them. The facility was great, especially the food and I know that the ladies had a wonderful time. Our Worship Team of Karla, Casie and Laura did an excellent job all weekend. I liked how it spread the tasks out among so many different women -we had 14 total on the Design Team and it allowed for a variety of women to exercise their talents and spiritual gifts. Most of the women in attendance preferred the small group format to a lecture-style speaker although some thought it was a bit too light on Bible teaching. A couple of them thought I should've assigned a mandatory one hour quiet time before free-time (I guess 20 minutes of prayer and meditation by yourself in the prayer boutique was not enough.) Some complained it was too much like a Children's VBS (probably because we do Group's curriculum for our VBS too). Of course, they all liked eating chocolate. Whether or not this will have lasting spiritual impact, it is to early to see.
I posted a picture of the ladies here. You can see more down on my flickr banner at the right margin.
8 comments:
Update!
How did the music go over? Was it too contemporary for some of the "older" women or women who like more traditional music (hymns)? We are doing this retreat in Feb.
In our church, we have separate services for contemporary and traditional music. Some from the contemporary thought the music was not contemporary enough (we had our female worship team members lead with guitar, keyboard and vocals, but no bass or drums). The traditional crowd liked that there were some hymns but wished there were more. You can't please everyone with the music, but the focus should be on worshiping God anyway. As director, I reminded them of that.
Are you using the CD for worship or will you be leading your own?
I am desperate to find this retreat kit. My church borrowed it from another church nearby few years ago. I am a part of a planning committee for a state retreat for the women of our Missionary Baptist Churches in the state of Georgia. Is there anyone who would be willing to let me use their kit. I have received permission to copy the books.
I am desperate to find this retreat kit. My church borrowed it from another church nearby few years ago. I am a part of a planning committee for a state retreat for the women of our Missionary Baptist Churches in the state of Georgia. Is there anyone who would be willing to let me use their kit. I have received permission to copy the books.
The problem with just having the kit and not the crafts or the prayer boxes is that the instructions are geared towards you actually having to use them. Group makes it hard for you to do their curricula without purchasing their accessories from them. I have the books but not much else anymore.
Would you be willing to sell the used retreat kit?
As I replied to someone who previously inquired about getting our used kit, it really isn't that helpful if you can't get all the craft and prayer boxes to go along with the book. We used Group's original Chocolate Retreat; I think they have come out with a new and completely different version.
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