All-Church Retreat 2008

by Courtney Chow

Take a deep breath and imagine you are drawing in the fresh mountain air with a touch of crisp autumn chill. It’s bright and early as you are about to have a warm breakfast before heading off to spend a refreshing hour in God’s word. It may sound too good to be true but its not. Each fall season, Lighthouse presents a unique opportunity for the church family to gather together for a full weekend called All-Church Retreat. This year it will take place on November 7-9 at Pine Valley Bible Conference Center.
All-Church Retreat is more than a tradition. It’s a precious opportunity for people across all affinity groups (children, youth, collegians, singles and families) to spend extended time together. When asked what her favorite part of All-Church camp was Cindy Chu replied: “the fact that the ENTIRE church family goes, and we’re all confined in one general area. It’s such a great time to fellowship, chit chat, and laugh hysterically with mothers, collegians, and singles.”
In addition to spending time together, “It’s a great opportunity to take a step back from the busyness in life and take time to reevaluate your spiritual walk and find new ways to challenge your spiritual growth,” said Chris Tou. A large part of that is due to the blessing of receiving teaching together. This year’s retreat will be focused on the theme of “In Christ Alone” and we will have the opportunity to learn from a guest speaker for the whole weekend. Our speaker, Kurt Gephards is the pastor overseeing the children’s ministry at Grace Community Church and shepherds the single adults’ ministry.
The festivities kick off on Friday night with a time of praise and the fun continues with messages, games, talent show on Saturday night, and corporate worship on Sunday morning. Maybe you’ve been attending Lighthouse for a few months and signed up but are a little nervous because this is your first time attending. Brian Song encourages you with some advice: “There’s always a lot of free time at our retreats and it’s prime time to get to know and encourage one another. If you’re a light sleeper, ear plugs are highly recommended. You never know what noises you’ll hear (both inside and outside the cabin) that may keep you up.”
Whether this is your first or fifth time attending, Chris Lim suggests: “Sit at different tables during the meal times to get to know new people. I think you’ll be surprised how friendly people are.” What do you talk about after you sit down at that table full of people you’ve never spoken to before? “Share what you’ve been learning at home and what you’ve been learning at the retreat. Share about random childhood stories. Share about your favorite thing to eat and make plans to go eat it together upon returning to San Diego. Just share!” said Cindy Chu. Jenna Kim echoed that sentiment, from a slightly different perspective: “I’d recommend for other youth to take advantage of the time to get to know the “old people” (i.e. above 18). It’s easy to just want to be by yourself and then feel sorry for yourself, but make it an opportunity to encourage the adults at church. In all cases I’ve tried, I’ve been very encouraged myself in getting to know the grown-ups. Grown-ups? We’d love to talk to you.”
Personally, I look forward to retreat all year long. I hope that all of you who attend will find the Lighthouse family to be a blessing as we continue to grow and praise our Lord together.

Take a deep breath and imagine you are drawing in the fresh mountain air with a touch of crisp autumn chill. It’s bright and early as you are about to have a warm breakfast before heading off to spend a refreshing hour in God’s word. It may sound too good to be true but its not. Each fall season, Lighthouse presents a unique opportunity for the church family to gather together for a full weekend called All-Church Retreat. This year it will take place on November 7-9 at Pine Valley Bible Conference Center.

All-Church Retreat is more than a tradition. It’s a precious opportunity for people across all affinity groups (children, youth, collegians, singles and families) to spend extended time together. When asked what her favorite part of All-Church camp was Cindy Chu replied: “the fact that the ENTIRE church family goes, and we’re all confined in one general area. It’s such a great time to fellowship, chit chat, and laugh hysterically with mothers, collegians, and singles.”

In addition to spending time together, “It’s a great opportunity to take a step back from the busyness in life and take time to reevaluate your spiritual walk and find new ways to challenge your spiritual growth,” said Chris Tou. A large part of that is due to the blessing of receiving teaching together. This year’s retreat will be focused on the theme of “In Christ Alone” and we will have the opportunity to learn from a guest speaker for the whole weekend. Our speaker, Kurt Gephards is the pastor overseeing the children’s ministry at Grace Community Church and shepherds the single adults’ ministry.

The festivities kick off on Friday night with a time of praise and the fun continues with messages, games, talent show on Saturday night, and corporate worship on Sunday morning. Maybe you’ve been attending Lighthouse for a few months and signed up but are a little nervous because this is your first time attending. Brian Song encourages you with some advice: “There’s always a lot of free time at our retreats and it’s prime time to get to know and encourage one another. If you’re a light sleeper, ear plugs are highly recommended. You never know what noises you’ll hear (both inside and outside the cabin) that may keep you up.”

Whether this is your first or fifth time attending, Chris Lim suggests: “Sit at different tables during the meal times to get to know new people. I think you’ll be surprised how friendly people are.” What do you talk about after you sit down at that table full of people you’ve never spoken to before? “Share what you’ve been learning at home and what you’ve been learning at the retreat. Share about random childhood stories. Share about your favorite thing to eat and make plans to go eat it together upon returning to San Diego. Just share!” said Cindy Chu. Jenna Kim echoed that sentiment, from a slightly different perspective: “I’d recommend for other youth to take advantage of the time to get to know the “old people” (i.e. above 18). It’s easy to just want to be by yourself and then feel sorry for yourself, but make it an opportunity to encourage the adults at church. In all cases I’ve tried, I’ve been very encouraged myself in getting to know the grown-ups. Grown-ups? We’d love to talk to you.”

Personally, I look forward to retreat all year long. I hope that all of you who attend will find the Lighthouse family to be a blessing as we continue to grow and praise our Lord together.