by Stephanie Roukema
Last weekend marked the first of what we hope will be many youth leaders retreats at the Deroche Retreat Centre in Mission. It was a time of reorientation and refocus as Pastor Mark and David Groen led us through a thoughtful look at our task of leading youth and our mission as Christians. We learned a lot about ourselves, each other and God as we spent the weekend chatting about everything from youth leadership, mentorship and accountability to male/female relationships, marriage, priorities and the history of the church. We also spent time in worship and personal reflection.
Many thanks to Pastor Mark for giving of his time and for motivating us and challenging us to dig deeper to explore our personal questions and doubts. Thanks also to Harmina and Tony Jansen for their part in organizing the retreat and for making the delicious food of which we ate way too much. I'm sure we'll all be playing "Speeches" again! Apparently it’s a long time favourite, but I’m pretty sure Mark made it up on the spot!