Blog by Dylan Charles
F.O.C.U.S. Ministries (Fellowship of Christians United in Service) consists of teams of students who are involved with leading youth retreats locally and regionally. The weekend of January 29, Gardner-Webb’s FOCUS ministries went to Camp Munda Vista for a retreat.
During my stay at camp, I discovered a new sense of community and compassion. As a transfer student, I had only met a few students at Gardner-Webb. This made the trip even more important to me by allowing the Gardner-Webb experience to be more rich and rewarding. I was greeted with warm smiles and kind expressions as I loaded my things into the van. As the trip went on, conversations became more constant and the walls started to fold around us.
With Boiling Springs behind us, we entered the curving roads to the camp. We all sat in a large room, watching people walk in from all different areas of North Carolina. Some were from close by, while others stretched from across the state, allowing us to meet and interact with people we may have never had a chance to talk to.
I found myself freely worshiping with strangers as praises were lifted up. As things progressed, preaching, activities and group bonding emerged. The main message was “Preaching to the Outliers”, and spoke about reaching out to those who had never heard the Gospel. We all painted our testimonies on a large cloth canvas, expressing our personal stories through artistic freedom.
Additionally, missionary seminars provided us with important information about connecting with people who hail from different countries. Each school present at the retreat had a representative who led various small group sessions, allowing us to dig deeper into the theme and share personal stories from different experiences.
In the end, the camp activities and various things were fun and interesting, however the biggest blessing were the friends I made from Gardner-Webb.
To request a team or for more information, please contact Kyle Medlin at [email protected].
