Men's Retreat 2021
We often think of wisdom as something we need in the big decisions of life. Where should I work? Where should I live? Who should I marry? We certainly need the Lord to instruct us in the art of skillful living in those scenarios. What sets apart a wise man from a fool, however, is more often the cumulative force of all the little decisions we make day in and day out. Who am I trusting this afternoon? What will I fix my eyes on tonight? Wisdom is needed on life’s mountaintops. But it’s gained or lost in the trenches.
How to be a wise man is the theme of our 2021 Men’s Retreat. We’re gathering with likeminded churches Dec 10 – 11 at the Eagle Eyrie Conference Center to learn what the book of Proverbs teaches us about walking in wisdom in the ordinary moments of life. Registration is available here.
To whet your appetite (and encourage you to sign up quickly!), allow me to share a testimony my friend Travis Hickenbottom wrote after attending our last men’s retreat in 2019. Thank you for your example of pursuing community, brother!
A few months back I walked into the Sunday meeting and noticed a message up on the big screen that I had seen a few times before in my time here at Kingsway: “Kingsway Men’s Retreat!” As I read over the details, the same familiar thoughts entered my mind.
The first was excitement: Once again I had a chance to meet up with some of my Kingsway brothers and get to know them better, worship with them, and help build each other up to lead our families. This was also a great opportunity to meet other men in the Sovereign Grace family of churches and to get closer to God and study scripture. But then other thoughts that had kept me from attending in the past began flooding in: “What if I end up in a cabin with a bunch of guys I don’t know? What if I have to share a room with someone else? What if I am the one whose snoring keeps everyone awake? What if I have to pray out loud in groups and don’t know what to say?”
Yes, I know these are extremely lame excuses not to go, but they were real ones that the enemy had sadly used to keep me away from previous retreats. I really wanted to go, but once again was conflicted. A few weeks later, a fellow Kingsway member got up and spoke about his great experiences at past retreats and this is what got me to sign up that night.
On the first day of the retreat, I was nervous but also very excited. I drove there by myself and listened to hymns, enjoyed the drive out in the beautiful countryside, and really tried to focus on God and prayed that the experience would go well. I arrived early and struck up some conversations with a few men from other churches that I did not know. These conversations immediately put me at ease. Instead of being worried about who was going to be in the cabin with me, I resolved to get to know whoever God ended up placing me with. Since I was early, I was the first one in the cabin I chose. Before the retreat, I had seen the list of attendees and there were several guys on there that I was hoping to get to know better. When other people started arriving, every single person that walked into my cabin was someone from my “get to know better” list. It wasn’t the entire list, but it was a lot of them. That was not a coincidence!
The retreat ended up being a life changing experience for me. We heard sermons from various Sovereign Grace pastors on the life of David. I was familiar with some of the material, but the way they broke down each topic and applied it to our lives as Christian men was extremely beneficial. Group prayer/discussion has always been a little tough for me, but there were several opportunities to experience it here with different groups of men. To hear others open up about things they struggled with that I could also relate to helped me so much and I was able to open up about a few things myself. There were multiple opportunities to fellowship with others at meal times and between the sessions and I had many great conversations on marriage, fatherhood, sin struggles and about life in general. I am extremely grateful for these conversations and months later they still have an effect on me.
If you are someone who is on the fence like me every time these men’s retreats are announced and always manage to talk yourself out of going, please consider getting out of your comfort zone and giving it a try. Attending the retreat was a big step for me personally and I can honestly say that the positive effects it has had on my spiritual walk, Bible study habits, and prayer life since that weekend have far outweighed the “what ifs and fears” that had kept me away for so long. I look forward to seeing you at the next retreat!