We had a specific topic that we studied in our small group times together and that topic was evangelism. For the 40 days leading up the retreat, our church family had been on what we called a "spiritual boot camp." We had 40 days of scripture reading as we studied how and why we should reach out to everyone who doesn't know Christ. We had some really great study times together last weekend.
On one night Benay and I led the singles class. Benay taught the class while I gave a brief testimony about reaching out. Benay is an incredibly gifted teacher of biblical truths. She can share truths to anybody and can do it in a Spirit filled way that touches hearts. I'm probably biased, but I know of no greater teacher than my wife. I thank God that she is able to use all the gifts He has given her.
Our class centered around the song "Live out Loud" by Steven Curtis Chapman. If you've never heard it then take a listen here:
Our sound system didn't work so we got the class around our car while we played the song on our radio. We had the song translated but some English learners still got in the headlights of the car to try to better understand the song in English.
We played the song a couple of times. The second time Benay started dancing to it and everyone started moving to the beat. I had never seen the video we mentioned above before I started this blog. I thought it was cool how everyone was dancing in the video and in our class as well. It was fun to watch people in their 20's, 30,'s, 40's, 50's and 60's moving to a Christian song.I love this picture because it shows the joy of everyone as we listened.
We had a great time with our group. They were very fun.The really cool thing about the Easter retreat was that there were times of spontaneous praising. We saw men and women as well as boys and girls praising God when they had some free time. It was an encouraging thing to be a part of.
Here is a group of teenagers who came up with Bronwyn one day to talk to Benay about starting a singing group for the youth. Benay is an incredibly gifted singer and she has a great ear for music. These girls came up to Bronwyn about the idea and they went to Benay to see if she would be interested in helping this new ministry. Their first get together will be tomorrow afternoon at our house. We loved how the Spirit moved in the lives of these girls to begin this ministry!
On resurrection Sunday we were blessed to hear many testimonies of God's power in healing addiction from drugs and alcohol, healing from cancer, healing from doubts and worries, etc. It was an incredibly uplifting time of united family worship.
We then shared our Lord's Supper time during our lunch. It was very cool to see each table praying together and thanking God for Jesus's sacrifice on that special day. This is a picture of one of the tables with the juice and bread set up before anyone came in. I love the simplicity of this picture in its open invitation for everyone to come to Christ in this reminder of our celebration for what He did for us. 
I've heard nothing but praise from people about the retreat and how God moved during our weekend together. We were all blessed as we continue to learn what "true family" in Christ means.God is moving here.
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