Okay, so the retreat was over a week ago … but it’s taken me this long to get my energy back!  Explains all the bloggy silence, right?  Anyway, we had our middle school retreat from Friday to Sunday, and it was a blast – in spite of the severe  snow shortage!  Basically, it was a weekend full of games, activities, snow tubing, food and Bible study!  The camp we stayed at had a ga-ga pit, which was a massive hit.  Thank goodness since the only snow we had was the fake stuff on the mountain!

As far as programming went, I used the Jr High Old Timers curriculum from Simply Youth Ministry, which was great.  Definitely made my weekend easier, and it had some really relevant teaching points on being courageous in their schools and dealing with peer pressure.  I think what made it work for me is that a week later kids are still referencing the key points.  Too me, that’s a BIG win.  I also used some hilarious video clips from the Skit Guys.  If you haven’t seen any of their stuff, do it NOW.  I seriously bust up every time!  At the retreat I used two videos from their “Laugh” dvd; the Good vs. Great video and the Running the Race video.

Anyway, it was a great weekend and I had a blast connecting with the kids and leaders!  Stay tuned … once I have the highlights video put together I’ll youtube it and post it!