Category Archives: Spring Retreat

Today was a great day at Magic Kingdom.  It was the free day that our students earned because they all “gave a day” serving in our community in Spartanburg.  Cool thing for us, is that we were not only able to serve…but serve in Jesus’ name.  We started our day at 6:00am with breakfast and were fast on our way by 7:00am.  We were in the park by 8:30am and off for a “magical day.”  Everyone had a great time in the morning, but by late afternoon it was raining so hard we thought we would need an ark to get to the hotel…lukely the church bus made due.  Now I wish I had ordered mside youth ponchos to go along with our mside youth bags and notebooks.  In the end we got all of the students safely back to the hotel to dry off and then took them to dinner and a movie.  Now it’s time to sleep again before another big day.  Day three of our trip will be spent at Sea World.  Hopefully everyone will stay a safe enough distance from the “killer whales” so we don’t have to do the Jonah and the whale message for morning devotions.

Our first day of Spring Retreat is coming to and end. We’ve got 41 in Orlando, FL for three days at Disney and Sea World. It’s our way of treating the teenagers for all their ministry service this semester through mside out. In fact, tomorrow we’re going to Magic Kingdom for free (a $3200 value) because we served at TOTAL Ministries in Spartanburg with Disney’s “Give A Day, Get A Day” program. It’s going to be awesome. But for now, we’re all heading to bed for the night. After a ten hour drive and a few hours at Downtown Disney – I’m spent. Night!

We’re cleaning up and getting ready to head out of Edisto and head toward Spartanburg. It’s been a great four days and the students have had a wonderful time. This morning we got up before the sun and spent some time alone with God on the beach. What a beautiful site to see the sun rise as we worshiped the Lord. God is so majestic and it always amazes me how good He is to us. I hope that all the students and chaperons have come closer to God and learned more about how much He wants us to worship Him with all our heart. Students, don’t forget to spend some time memorizing Romans 12:1-2.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.”