MS Retreat: Day 1

We're going to spend a couple of days recapping our middle school retreat. This year's theme was Play It! 3 Strategies for the Game of Life. Keeping with the theme our middle school small groups played a ton of games throughout the weekend, all in an attempt to split $100 among their group members. Our first game was puddin head, in which a team member had to fish letters our of a pie tin loaded with pudding and spell out a word. While incredibly fun to watch the game helped set the stage for our first session, based on the game Scrabble. We talked about how words are meaningful, memorable, and powerful, and that God calls us to use up words. Our scripture for the day was James 3:3-12, which teaches us that God means words for good, despite the fact we so often use them for destructive purposes. Some other highlights from day one were Dye Wars (think paint ball only with water guns loaded with food coloring) and the many lake activities the students took in. A highlight for the day for me was definitely watching the passion the students had for praising God through worship. They sang, screamed, and danced throughout the night, which was awe inspiring to witness.