Retreat Retreat

This past weekend I helped plan and lead a retreat for the 7th grade boys and their dads at our school. They have always used the theme "Boot Camp" for the weekend. I am not one to get all pumped up about this type of imagery, but I never felt that it was over the top. The retreat was one of those things that I was not particularly excited about beforehand, but once there I really enjoyed it.



The highlight of the weekend for me was Sunday morning when I had the opportunity to lead a session with the dads that I called "Understanding Youth Culture." I began by discussing various aspects of youth culture hoping that the dads would begin to have a greater understanding of what is happening in their children's world. A lot of the information I used came from Walt Mueller's seminars at the NYWC. I really like what that man has to say.



After covering that material, I began to give advice on how they could better relate to their sons. Most importantly we discussed how to help adolescent faith grow. Most of the information for this portion I got from Chap Clark's book Disconnected: Parenting Teens in a MySpace World. I must admit that at times I felt somewhat awkward giving parenting tips when I myself am not a parent yet. I do not want to come across as being critical when I have yet to walk through their shoes. With that being said, I think I was able to present the material with humility and not come across as some inexperienced know it all.



After the session, several of the dads commented on how much they appreciated what I had to say. There were even a few dads who mentioned buying the book. It is encouraging to me to see parents that want to be involved in the spiritual mentoring and discipleship of their kids. I know I have not been doing youth ministry for long, but it is becoming more and more apparent the necessity of parents being involved in the lives of their children for spiritual growth to take place. May God grant wisdom to this generation's parents.