Jesus takes the disciples on a fall retreat... well kind of

In Mark 6:30-34, "The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, 'Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.' For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves."   

I can't imagine what life was like with Jesus... crowds pushing around him, hurting people reaching out to him, Pharisees trying to trap him. It is no wonder that Jesus encouraged the disciples to retreat to a place of rest. God knows our lives are busy and tiresome. We too benefit from time away. Recently our college campus ministry took a fall retreat. 

We were blessed to have fellow brothers and sisters from other college campuses join us at Camp Hebron in Halifax, PA. The fall colors were amazing. We enjoyed leisure time playing basketball, and indoor soccer, hiking parts of the Appalachian trail, disc golf, and group games. We spent lots of time singing worship songs, praying for our college campuses, and discussing the theme, what is a "Bold Missionary?"

In a nutshell, a bold missionary is someone who hears the voice of the Lord, obeys the call, says yes to divine appointments, and talks about Jesus whenever they have the opportunity. We were challenged to use the mission field of our college campus to be a bold missionary. 

My favorite part wasn't necessarily on the retreat, but when we got back I had arranged testimony times for each of our Greater Philly campuses. It was there that we heard our students talk about how much God spoke while we were away and the peace that they experienced in those moments. They spoke of how they were planning on sharing the Gospel with their friends, classmates, and teammates; how they had been refreshed and renewed in their spirit and were ready to face hardships, ridicule, and even persecution if they had to.

It is interesting that in Mark 6 when Jesus intends for the disciples to find rest, it says the crowd finds them.  Jesus ultimately feeds the 5,000 people instead and then I hope they took some time to play disc golf or whatever they did back then to relax. The bottom line, we need occasional time away to hear Jesus' voice fresh and new. God will then prepare you for the work ahead.

Thanks for your prayers and support: your donations and gifts helped to pay some of the students' way on this retreat, a trip they otherwise couldn't have afforded. Blessings and thank you, we can not do this mission/ ministry without you!

Please keep our College Campus Ministry also in your prayers: We are in a deficit for this year's budget and need to make this up through end-of-the-year giving. If you are able to give an end-of-the-year gift or know someone who would be interested in giving, please use this link. Giving is real simple and God blesses our generous giving.