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Infuse Retreat
By Rebecca Bowman
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The Infuse Retreat was a huge hit! This fabulous weekend brought people to Bath, Ohio from places as near as Georgia, and as far away as California. Each day there were around twenty-six young adults in attendance.
The weekend was a time for the younger generations in our churches to come together and gain a better understanding of God’s Word. Ken from Georgia stated, “My favorite part about this weekend is that everything is broken down so that it is easy for me to understand.” Which is exactly what was accomplished.
The theme for the weekend, “Keeping Your Inside Clean,” was inspired by Mark 7:18-23, which states, “…whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him…evil things come from within and defile a man.” Each message focused on a different area of this theme; from food laws and nutrition to controlling one’s actions, thoughts and language.
Mr. Mike James started the weekend off Friday evening with a message on the food laws. He explained that the food laws were around even before Moses (Genesis 7:2,3,8). Most notably, he proved to us that the food laws haven’t been done away with (Isaiah 66:17). Mr. James discussed many parts to the food laws including why it’s wrong to eat blood and animals that are found already dead and why clean meat is permitted.
Saturday morning began with another message by Mr. Mike James on “Controlling Your Language.” He used examples from psychological experiments to show us the power words have. He discussed what the Bible says about lying, gossip and body language and even cautioned us about just joking around with friends.
Later we took a break from the retreat to have church services with the Bath congregation. Mr. James gave a sermon about how heaven is not where you go when you die. He stated, “the concept of going to heaven did not originate in Christianity.” He talked about how Enoch died, but God had taken him away so that no one would know (Genesis 5: 21). He covered things such as how all men die, (1 Corinthians 15:22) and how when we die we are no more. He talked to us about what scriptures some people will use in an attempt to tell us that heaven is our destination when we die, and how when we die we are not really dead. Mr. James did a fabulous job on all the sermons that he gave. I can tell you that while I was sitting there listening to him I felt as though he was talking to me personally. So thanks Mr. James for giving us a better understanding of these important issues.
After a wonderful lunch and great fellowship the Infuse group came back together for a message by Mr. Jeff Reed on “Controlling Your Actions.” He used Galatians 5:22 where it speaks of self-control. He also instructed us about emotional sins, substance sins and sexual sins. He told us how sexual sins are predominant in God’s church today. We read in 1 Thessalonians that when we take part in these sins we do not reject man, but we reject God who has given us His holy spirit. Not only did Mr. Reed help us to understand why it is important to have self-control for ourselves, but he also helped us learn why God wants us to have self-control.
Next, Bill Watson gave a sermon on the arguments used against the food laws. He gave us the seven premises that substantiate the Bible’s authority on the matter of food laws. He explained to us what we get out of following God’s food laws. It opened our eyes, giving us a new outlook on the reasons why we don’t eat certain foods.
Saturday night was full of fun and laughter. After taking a short break, we all met for dinner. The food was delicious. Just having the opportunity to talk with everyone and get to know one another better was so much fun.
After dinner we went to Rinky Dink where we had a blast playing put-put golf, driving go-carts and bumper boats and playing in the arcade. It was a good experience because it gave everyone a chance to get to know each individual on a more personal level, and freely enjoy ourselves.
Sunday morning was full of exciting things to talk about and discuss. First off, the ladies of Bath prepared a beautiful breakfast, as they did so nicely every morning. We sat down with lots of food in our stomachs and prepared to listen to a few wonderful messages.
Mrs. Anika Sandy-Hanson gave the first message on “Controlling Your Thoughts.” She talked to us about how our hearts control our thoughts, which in turn control our actions. We read in our Bible that when we face a problem we should always take it to the Lord. We also read in Romans 2:8 that if we do wrong and continuously sin, we will receive anger and wrath from God. Mrs. Sandy-Hanson talked to us on a very personal level and was able to relate to us how to apply the messages in our Bible to our everyday lives.
Next Mr. George James gave a sermon on “Health and Nutrition.” Mr. James explained how unhealthy foods can affect different parts of our body. He told us to consider what we feed the animals that we eat, and to remember that even though we can digest things, some stuff still gets into our system. He also gave us some helpful hints about how we should avoid genetically modified or engineered foods. He told us that the longer food lasts on the shelf the worse it is for us. Thank you Mr. James for helping us to choose more wisely what we put into our bodies.
We finished the retreat by breaking into two teams to play a Jeopardy-like game with questions based on the messages from the weekend. After all the fun and laughter we discovered two things. First, we’re a competitive group! And second, we had learned a lot. This weekend opened everyone’s eyes to important information we as a younger generation may not have known about.
I would sincerely like to thank everyone who spoke, participated and worked so hard to put the retreat together. Special thanks to Mike James who coordinated the weekend, Amy Frenchick for keeping us fed and the Bath congregation for opening their doors and welcoming us in. All of your hard work was greatly appreciated, and I am sure everyone walked away with more knowledge than before. So once again, thank you. i
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