Cementing Faith Steps with Action

As I mentioned on Friday, I went on our high school ministries Men’s Retreat. 70 dudes went out to the desert of Imperial County to share life, eat meat, blow things up, and connect with God.

Brian Berry makes this trip look easy. It’s not. Merely surviving in rustic conditions like that is tough enough. (This year we had gusty winds, sometimes exceeding 40 miles per hour.)

But Danny Bowers & Brian also add components to the weekend so the participants can engage with God. This is truly a gift I am thankful to witness.

The things they add in intentionally takes what has happened in participants heads and hearts and cements it with a physical memory.

Obviously, not much of this trip is transferrable to any culture. As I mentioned on Friday, this thing is an exhibition of cultural exegesis, it works because young men raised in East County San Diego go to the desert with their dad’s and friends. But there are elements which make this not just a fun experience but a faith building memory making machine.

Some of these “types of things” are very transferrable into just about any ministry context. So yes, adapt these and add them into your next retreat! 

Our first activity involved making a survivor bracelet, this was a great way to introduce the general concept of the weekend theme that’d be repeated over and over again… knots.

Sunday morning the students were asked to go find a place to be alone and listen to God. I love this picture because it’s taken on top of the ridge where you can see 7 young men scattered along the ridge, each in their own space overlooking the camp.

Saturday morning the young men broke into groups to hear from 6 “sages.” Each sage shared wisdom they’ve learned and gave each a dog tag. Later, the dog tags became prayer prompts.

Sunday afternoon we closed our time with a time of communion. Arm in arm men, young and old, shared a common cup and remembered Christ’s sacrifice for us to live a life of freedom from sin.

We built a rope bridge during the weekend across a small gorge. On Sunday afternoon we asked students making decisions (for a variety of things) to cement their decision by taking a walk of faith across the gorge on the rope bridge while their peers cheered them along and prayed for them on both sides.