When most individuals think of a retreat they think of a time away from the ordinary. In the kingdom of God, a retreat provides a time of personal encounters with God through worship, fellowship, inspirational classes and natural beauty.The SEC (Southeastern Conference) Singles’ Retreat opened on Friday morning with the brothers gathering to hear a powerful message from Sam Laing.
There were over 400 singles registered from the Southeastern churches, as well as, New York, Boston, Connecticut, and even London. As everyone poured into the conference center on Friday evening, the energy was exuberant. The worship team was on fire and it was safe to project that God would make this an extraordinary retreat experience.
We were blessed with an outstanding opening class by Terry and Sue Folker on The Message of Discipleship. There was emphasis on discipleship being the epitome of being like Christ. Discipleship builds character and makes us successful because we are following God’s blueprint for our lives.
The evening ended with a Night of Fellowship as we shared hugs with sisters and brothers of old times and embraced new friendships we would cherish for years to come.
On Saturday morning God heard us singing to Him at the worship on the beach where singles gathered lifting their voices in prayer and songs. The day progressed with separate breakout sessions for men and women by Terry and Sue Folker. Sue poured her heart into the lesson for the women (as I imagined Terry did for the men). She recaptured the characteristics of Ruth and Naomi and emphasized how we cannot judge our lives by the first chapters of our lives. Only God knows how each chapter will end. She reminded us of God’s greatness and challenged to start dreaming, find a Ruth and find a Naomi.Co-ed breakout sessions focused on health and wellness, professional and career, and healthy time management. These sessions had so much buzz that it overflowed at lunch tables. We then broke out all over the city evangelizing and inviting everyone within our reach to worship service on Sunday.
Later that evening we heard from our very own Ronnie and Sharmarra Rose on Living the Dream. Just as Abram received a dream from God so are we to believe the dream God has for our lives. God wants our dream to reflect His greatness. The main points were to 1) live the dream; 2) God gives us the right/permission to dream; 3) We must fight to dream; and 4) We must focus on dreams rather than nightmares.
The evening ended with a foot-stomping, hand-waiving, line-dancing Dance Party.
God blessed Sunday service with over 600 in attendance as Terry Folker powerfully preached on Evangelism. He reminded us that we are obligated to evangelize; we must be prepared and eager and we must not be ashamed to spread the word.
The theme of the Retreat was Discipleship: Hear it. Live it. Share it. We Heard life-changing messages. We Lived out the scriptures as disciples and we Shared the good news of Jesus. Scott Kirkpatrick closed the retreat closed with us repeating the Great Commission ( Matthew 28:16-20). The 2013 SEC Retreat was such an invigorating, uplifting and awakening to the presence of God in our lives!