The Ugnayan Retreat 2007 was held last August 17th to 18th, 2007 in Silver Spring, Maryland. It was entitled Culture Shock or fondly called iShock because of the iPod fad nowadays. One of the main goals of the retreat was to prepare the youth and young adults of our generation to shock the culture of this world. And sure enough, for me, it seems like it prepared us. Maybe not completely, but it surely opened our eyes to the things these world “offers” us.
The speakers were Pastor Travis Gore and Pastor Jason Cook. Pastor Travis preached twice and his main point was to let us know that there are spirits working against God in this world. And those spirits are targeting us, the young people of this generation - especially Christians. I liked the way he preached the Word. He preached it in such a plain and DIRECT way. He said things I don’t really hear pastors say. Some things and statistics he said were eye openers, shocking and bothering. Some people sitting beside me seem uneasy, but his ways of sending us God’s message was an effective way.
Pastor Jason, is a very good preacher too. As he said, he was a visual person. And we will surely never forget that wedding gown that was so full of stains. That illustration was really good - it made me (I’m sure others too) think so much and repent and make my ways better. The games were fun though we wanted more!! I wish the retreat was longer. haha.
The messages and games were fun. But for me, I loved the time we got to spend talking and laughing with our respective youth groups and meeting other people as well. There’s never a dull moment when God’s with us. =) Personally, I didn’t expect much from the retreat, but then, God is surely full of surprises. I got more than what I expected. What can I do? I underestimated God’s power to move in such a mighty way!
So, so many special thank-yous to the people who worked hard for the retreat - the pastors, the youth leaders, music ministry, supporters (the families!!), the people who served us food! and to the very (ahem) cooperative participants. Most especially, God - for being such a great God and for opportunities like this. I’m looking forward to seeing all of you and more people on the next retreat! I hope and pray that our eyes were opened and we are now INFORMED and TRANSFORMED and prepared to SHOCK THE WORLD. Go on, let’s TELL THE WORLD! =)
-Lizelle
