I will probably blog more about it later, but to be honest, I'm still processing a lot of it. This was not a conference or seminar... and this first retreat dealt largely with our own "self-awareness." So there wasn't a lot of fun and games (other than Jane and I playing ping pong and Ms. PacMan in the game room). While I wouldn't describe it as a "good time," I will say that it was a very valuable experience, and I enjoyed it a great deal (even though some of it was quite painful internally). I am looking forward to seeing how things develop over the next couple of years.
Logistically, it took us about 4 hours and 15 minutes to get to the Salt Fork State Park Lodge. Of course the last 15 minutes were meandering the 7 miles from the park entrance to the lodge (at 35 mph). It is a beautiful place; with deer everywhere - right around the lodge even. It was funny too, because when we checked in they thanked me for mentioning them on my blog. Ha! That was a nice touch to note that. :)
The weekend consisted of: arriving Friday for a 6:30 pm supper upstairs, then an introduction to the process with Reggie until 9 pm. Then we hung out and chatted with some friends. On Saturday we had breakfast together at 8:30 am, then a devotion at 9:30 from Reggie, then we started going over the Success Style Profile that we filled out before the weekend. We had lunch from 1 to 2, then more meeting until we got assigned to our cohort group at 3:45 pm. We met in groups for awhile, then those of us with spouses were free for a "date night" the rest of the night. Sunday started with group breakfast at 8:30 am, a worship time at 9:30, debriefing, and meeting with our cohort group until noon, at which time we had a final lunch together and started for home.
My Success Style Profile shows that my cognitive style of processing things is: conception, logic, and internal (CLI), but I have a low flex score, so it means I'm fairly versatile. According to my "Cognitive Mode Profile" this lends itself to: "Studying concepts and theories, forming hypothesis, analyzing and solving problems, making logical judgments, and planning the future." I haven't really looked through the whole thing, so maybe I'll post more on this later.
Perhaps the thing I was most worried about was the cohort group. I was actually hoping that since Tom, Steve, and I - who already meet together each week - were all three involved, then maybe we could be our own cohort. But not so. I am in a group with people from Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. So meeting personally may be a challenge. However I do actually like all the people in my group (other than one person I don't know, who wasn't there), and I am glad I got the cohort leader that I did. I don't know who the other ones are, but I think mine will work out well.
The book we read for this retreat was Reggie's, Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders. For the next time we're supposed to read, Missional Renaissance, which I have already read (yes!).
Below is a picture I took of Reggie, with Bill & Evelyn. Bill was one of my seminary professors, who now leads a church community in Pennsylvania. He also writes quite a bit on this blog. This was before the worship time on Sunday morning (which I loved, btw). It consisted of six stations where you could either: read Scripture and light a prayer candle; take communion; draw, write or make something artistic; pray with others; meditate and take a stone either as a memory piece or to toss; and Reggie was in the corner if anyone wanted him to pray for them. Btw, Reggie is a great guy too. I really "get" his humor, and he keeps me engaged well. He ate lunch with us on Saturday, and he's the same up front as he is off to the side. I can't think of a better person to do this.
All in all, a very worthwhile time. I am really glad I signed up for this.
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