A blog about the faith, hope and adventures of Amy, Kim, Tristan and Lesley as they journey together as the Anchored Warriors Team!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Momentum Leadership Retreat 2012














Momentum Leadership Retreat is an annual retreat put on by Anchored Warriors. It is a weekend for the leaders and potential leaders from the different Aboriginal communities we have been connected with to come and be challenged, encouraged and built up in their faith and understanding of God as well as in their call to leadership. This year we focused on discipleship, team building and focused on unity within and between Aboriginal communities. We were able to equip everyone who attended with resource binders that we as an Anchored Warriors team put together, which included things such as game ideas, devotion ideas, “how to’s” (read your bible, give your testimony, find out your spiritual gifts and use them etc), and as much “stuff” to help them on their journey both with God and as a leader. We also gave them a devotional book and an awesome version of the gospel of John. 

One of our main aims with this retreat is to help the leaders “go deeper” in their own personal walk with God, as many of them have a hard time in their communities because of a lack of support. We want to create a community, a family, where there is support and encouragement even if we are all spread out across Canada. This is the second retreat we have put on, and just as last year it was amazing to see God’s faithfulness at work with each and every youth and young adult that attended. We had a total of 32 people attend and the retreat was held at Camp Nakamun about 1 ½ hours north of Edmonton. The youth participated in icebreaker games, team building initiatives, we got to have two awesome sessions lead by Dan Woodard which helped us to learn about our God given team roles and how that could potentially play out in ministry. The youth loved learning about how God has wired them and one group in particular came up to us after and said that they were missing two key team roles in their youth group. This was awesome because they now know they need to pray for God to fill the gaps in their team so the ministry God has called them to can be more effective.

Along with these team building and leadership building times throughout the weekend, there was also a big focus on prayer, worship and connecting with God in a real way. The first night Amy talked about what being a Christian really means and the cost of saying yes to an all powerful God. Tristan also shared that evening about his own experience in saying yes and performed a spoken word poem that he wrote for the retreat. Saturday night was focused on having a real encounter with a living God. After we say yes to Him, we need to get to know Him, trust Him and give everything to Him. Cassie shared her heart and her own story of encountering God on her trip on the World Race. It was a powerful evening as Kim had set up many different ways and opportunities for the youth and young adults to share their hearts with God. There was a cross with post it notes to write a name on and pray for that person and surrender them to God, as well as a prayer wall and paint station where people could write or draw their worship and prayers to God. There was also a map station where you could pray for a specific country or person you know in another country and pin you prayer to the map. As well there was a station to write a sin or struggle on a rock and drop it in a water basin to symbolize God taking that sin away and it being gone. It was so amazing to see God working in the hearts of every single person that was there. People were praying for each other and singing and praising God in such a real and honest way it was overwhelming. God is so faithful. The last day Kim shared about unity and the importance of staying connected and supporting each other, as well as finding a church community or bible study to attend back home. She gave opportunity for anyone to share and then we all took communion together, prayed together and went upstairs to share lunch and say our goodbyes.

God is faithful and He continues to show His faithfulness through Anchored Warriors attempts to do what God has laid on our hearts. We are thankful for the support and encouragement we always find from both those we know and strangers. Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement! 

Hebrews 6:19a – Now we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.