CrossCurrent Activities

The CrossCurrent Fall Retreat 1998!

The retreat this weekend was totally awesome...I don't even know where to begin to try and describe it. I knew beforehand that the focus was going to be community, but as I told the group in my cabin during our hang time, I thought we would be helping out in the community (painting, cleaning, handing out food, etc.) This turned out to be way better and exactly what I needed; to connect with other members of the CrossCurrent group and realize that we are all a community with the focus of serving God.

Keith and Bill just blew the entire place away (and yes, after six months of going to CrossCurrent, I finally know some of the cool hand signs to the songs we sing during worship). They were funny, inspiring, and just an overall blessing to everyone there...(even the Sesame Street song brought everyone to their feet).

Normally it takes a while for me to warm up to people. But the atmosphere of friendship, the relaxing environment, and the lack of a watch, cell phone, or pager, left me with no choice but to go out, meet people, and have a good time (and with people like Laura or John, Jason and Holly, Jessica, Jerry, and Selina encouraging me, or in isolated instances, leaving me asleep on a rock overlooking the cliff, you really can't help but have fun). From the campfires to the hiking, from the rallies to locking our female counterparts in the cabin...the entire weekend was a blast.

It would take quite a while to list all the blessings that I received from going on this retreat. God just blessed and revealed much to me; even as we were preparing to return from the retreat God continued to reveal things to me through the testimony of another person.

-- Floyd Hughes

When I went on this retreat I didn't know what to expect, but I knew it would be a learning experience. At the time I didn't realize it but I learned a lot about God and myself. Being up on that mountain without a watch or any time-keeping device helped me learn that God has his own schedule. It also helped me learn that everything God wants to happen to us will...when he wants it to happen. Being up there on that mountain also helped me to realize that community is important to everyday life, and you don't always have to have something in common with people to be part of a community. I also learned about forgiving. No matter what someone has done to you, it's never worth not forgiving them. After all, God forgave me for what I have done, why should I not forgive them? Little did I know when I left for this weekend it would end up being the best weekend of my life.

-- Anonymous

First of all I want to say that the Fall Retreat '98 made me believe God truly exists. I had always thought I needed a tangible sign from the Lord above to make it all real. I was wrong. God works through people and people are tangible. The feelings and emotions I felt during worship were undeniable. I guess that's what happens when you get a bunch of Christians together and open up your heart and mind to the Lord.

I had never been very good at expressing myself in a large group (those darn otters-never let you get a word in). That is why the focus on small groups was so powerful to me. Not only did I get to know new people, I got a chance to bond with people I had known for quite some time. More importantly, the retreat brought me closer to God-and that is awesome.

-- Bryan Stafford

What the fall retreat meant to me? Wow! When asked this question so many things came to mind. Well, the most important thing about the retreat was that many changes occurred in my heart. I became closer to God than I have been in a very long time. Developing relationships with all of the people in the group meant so much to me, but I realized that if my relationship was not right with God, my other relationships were not worth anything. So on the retreat when the changes occurred, and I became right with God, the community, and the relationships just fell right into place.

Well, as you can see I learned a great deal, but most importantly I changed even more than I ever thought possible. Anyway I'm sure that you have gathered from this that the retreat was something that truly changed my life.

-- Melanie Moore

Version 1.00, Revised 01/28/2000