Thinking about Working for God Retreat

TAWFG Retreat Participants Preparing for Candlelight Prayer Walk

I spent this past weekend at the Silver Lake Conference Center with eleven young people who are part of the Connecticut Conference's "Thinking About Working For God" program.  Some time ago, Rev. Da Vita "Day" McCallister, the Associate Conference Minister for Youth and Young Adult Ministries, had asked me to be one of the mentors for the young people who are members of the TAWFG program and this was the first opportunity to have a retreat together.  Day led the program, along with John Selders, pastor of Amistad United Church of Christ in Hartford, and my good friend Eric Anderson , who is variously known as the "Alpha Geek" or the "Minister of Magic" for the Connecticut Conference, though he has a much more mundane title on his business card.

Over the course of the weekend, the young people discussed the reasons that they had "said yes" to thinking about working for God and heard the pastors tell stories of how they had discerned their calls to ministry.  We played together.  We ate together.  We had dance breaks.  Really.  We engaged in several spiritual disciplines, including prayer walking, with confession, petition and listening for God's response, and a reflection called "examen," during which we examined the day, taking stock of the high points, the low points, and giving thanks for both.  Working with these eleven teenagers (and there are many more TAWFG members who weren't able to attend the retreat, too) gives me a lot of hope for the future of the church, as I see their passion, intelligence, energy and faith.  I look forward to working with them as they continue to grow into their callings.

For Eric Anderson's coverage of this event, see his article at ctucc.org here.