Raising the Bar...

High School Retreat - Raising the Bar - was an awesome time away with 67 students. We left Santa Cruz on Friday afternoon and spent the weekend in the mountain village of Samaipata at a place called Cabañas Traudi. The weather was set to rain for the weekend, but we enjoyed the three days without a drop.

I was privileged to share the main messages on Friday and Saturday nights and the closing challenge on Sunday morning. Friday night, the focus was Got Expectations? - challenging each of us to quit living in the chicken coop, jump the fence and soar like eagles. Saturday evening's challenge was Raising the Bar - going deeper & higher both personally and spiritually. Several commitments were made that evening for salvation and, for others, to allow Christ to not only be Savior, but Lord. Sunday's closing session was to Do Hard Things, based on many of the challenges from the book with the same title.

Arianne loves to pose for the pictures...not sure if she realizes there's a dodge ball game going on???

It was a great group of young people and leaders. In all, we were some 84 people there for retreat (not all the staff made the picture).

At the end of small group time, each group presented a skit reminding us of the dangers of the "love for something" that has gone bad.

Susan Pedraza, a senior, shared her testimony for Saturday morning's devotional. She blessed each of us as she shared what God has been doing in and through her life. An encouraging challenge!

It takes a huge amount of work to have retreat. The staff of cooks, counselors, etc. did great. I'm also SO thankful for the group of young people that are willing to not only chip in, but work HARD!

Thank you for your prayers for the last week and a half of activity. God blessed both the Spiritual Emphasis Week and the retreat that followed. Pray for our youth who made some tough, but important decisions in their spiritual lives. Also pray for those who continue to search!

Blessings!