Let's Talk Topics

Seasons

Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall . . . what God is up to, in every season of the year and in every season of our lives, is revealing His glory, His sovereignty, His beauty, His sufficiency, His majesty, His ever-Presence, His faithfulness, His Son. In what season do you presently find yourself? Are you in a season of spring-like renewal or of autumnal reflection? Are you held in the icy death-grip of winter’s barrenness or do you find yourself parched and reeling from the seemingly endless drought and relentless heat of summer? Are you experiencing a season of illness? A season of doubt? Depression? Bereavement? Despair? Is your current season one of prosperity and productivity? Perhaps you find yourself in the busy season of child-bearing and child-rearing, or maybe you’re in that difficult season of child-releasing. Whatever your life’s season, know that it’s reason is to refocus us again and again on this reality: it’s ALL about Him. God uses the seasons of our lives to season us for service in seasons yet to come, to teach us to love, laugh and live with more abundance and abandon, and to remind us that He is weaving and working all the seasons of all our lives for our good and His glory. (2 or 3 sessions)

Reflections on Ruth

Who doesn’t love a love story?! A story of the kind of love that warms the heart and revives the soul, melts cold cynics and mellows causic critics; of love that breaks boundaries and transcends time, that blossoms in unlikely fields and flourishes despite overwhelming odds . . . a love like Ruth’s for her redeemer, like Boaz’ for his bride. Yet Ruth’s story is more than a love story: it’s an inexhaustible source of encouragement and hope. It’s the story of a woman’s faith and her Redeemer’s faithfulness. It’s the story of a sovereign Lord and His personal, relentless guidance. It’s the story of losing or letting go of absolutely everything in order to find the One who is absolutely everything. And it’s the unfolding of a drama larger than Ruth and Boaz ever imagined, for it’s the story of salvation - a show that’s been running since the beginning of time, and one that will continue to be played out on every byway and highway, in every hamlet and village, until the Redeemer returns to claim His Bride. Ruth’s story is ours to glean for timeless truths and precious promises, and glean we will as we explore the Primary Interpretation, Prophetic Implications, and Practical Applications found in the book that bears her name. (2 or 3 sessions)

Come Into the Sanctuary

The walk of life can be wearing, can’t it? Juggling family, career, church and community commitments can leave a woman weary and wondering if it’s worth the effort. If your walk of faith has become more like a crawl, then it’s time to stumble into the Sanctuary for a pedicure for the feet of your faith. That’s what this retreat is all about: soaking in the soul-softening truths of the word, allowing the Servant to pumice away the hard places in our hearts, and being transformed by time spent in His presence. After a session in the Sanctuary, the feet of our faith will be ready to step back into the realm of the routine, freshly polished with new perspective, power, and purpose. (3 sessions)

Legacy of Faith

Living and leaving a legacy of faith - simply and relentlessly believing God to be Who He says He is and able to do what He says He’ll do - is an endeavor of inestimable significance. Only from eternity’s view will we even begin to get a clue: daily decisions to take God at His word - or not - can impact the faith or nonfaith of generations yet unborn. Of course, the leaving of a legacy of faith requires the living-out of faith, something more easily pondered than practiced. The “Legacy of Faith” retreat will encourage and equip women with Biblical, feet-to-the-street applications for making the invisible faith we walk by visible to those we walk with. (2 or 3 sessions)

Beyond

“Beyond” is so much more than a retreat/conference theme! “Beyond” is nothing less than the theme of God’s dealings with us. Every task He presents, every circumstance He ordains, every trial He allows, every blessing He bestows is an invitation to get beyond ourselves and go deeper into the One we cannot get beyond, can’t get to the “other side” of. For there is no other side of God, there is only more God and more God and more God. “Beyond” is not so much a place God beckons us to go as it is a depth of relationship with Himself He beckons us to know. “Now unto Him who is able to do far more abundantly BEYOND all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen!” Eph. 3:20-21 (3 sessions)

No Small Disturbance

The apostle Peter couldn’t stop talking about what he’d seen and heard, ‘cause what he’d seen and heard was not a what but a Who - Jesus, the resurrected, returned-to-glory Christ! Peter’d been turned every which way but loose by the Lord of Life; he was neither willing nor able to be a silent witness. Not surprisingly, his tongue got him in trouble with the cultural police of his day, who seized him with the intention of silencing him. But on the eve of what seemed to be his certain execution, Peter was miraculously freed from the iron bars of Herod’s prison: God’s response to the fervent prayers of the faithful. According to Acts 12:18, Peter’s disappearance caused “no small disturbance” among his captors. Sister in Christ, God is still in the business of making “no small disturbance” for Himself in the wake of freed-up captives who refuse to cower to a culture which increasingly insists that Christians confine their witness within church walls... Christians who, like Peter, grant Him full access to the suit of skin, slice of time, and set of circumstances He’s granted them. (3 sessions)

In addition, “Hollywood Haven” (a not-very-famous & definitely-not-very-glamorous “star“) is available to come to your retreat for a 30-minute comedy routine (great for Friday nights) that will have your attendees rolling with side-splitting, soul-nourishing laughter! “Hollywood Haven” shares hilarious and absolutely true (you can’t make this stuff up!) happenings along the highway to heaven.