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Hey Middle School!
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Get excited!  It's coming...September 20-22...this year's Middle School Retreat. 
It's going to be a great weekend
and we hope you can join us!
Here are the big details:

 Who:   Current 7th and 8th Graders
 When:   September 20-22

 Where:   Pineywoods Camp
 How to Sign-Up:   Look for the signup link a little further down.
Sign-Up Deadline: September 11
Cost: $60
(scholarships available)

Looking for more details?  Okay here are some:

What should you expect?

After a nice little bus ride to the camp (which is a little under 2 hours away) we’ll spend time playing games, relaxing, hanging out, worshiping, eating, and talking about our great God.  The games we play will be games that you probably don’t play anywhere else but at church…games like: take a hike, ultimate bingo, prince of wales, electricity, bubble race, zip-boing, and others.  We’ll have some time to spend in small group Bible study and some big group stuff as well.  Games, activities, fun stuff, Bible study, worship, helping us all grow closer to God and hanging out...that's what the weekend will be.  We'll stay in cabins on Friday night and Saturday night.  On Sunday morning we'll eat breakfast, worship, and then come back home.  We think you’ll really enjoy our time together.  Whether you have friends at church or not, you’re sure to make some new friends and enjoy being with other students.  And as always, feel free to invite friends to join us. 

When do we depart and return?

First of all, those are pretty fancy words for leave and come back.  But we're trying to be fancy.  So, yeah.  We will meet to leave on Friday night at 7:00pm.  We plan to return around noon on Sunday. 

What is the cost for this retreat: 

$60   This covers all of your food and expenses for the weekend.  Do not miss this retreat for financial reasons...we have scholarships available, if needed.  Just talk to Monty or Heather.

You can sign-up by clicking here:  MS Retreat Sign-Up Page

If you are a parent and would be able to join us as a parent sponsor, click here: Parent Sponsor Page

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Frequently Asked Questions:

(actually no one has asked these, we just thought these are questions you would ask if you could talk to this webpage and it would talk back.)

 

Should I come? 

Yes, absolutely. Here is why: this will be a great weekend of faith and fun and getting to know others from your church and any friends who come.  Sure, you could sit around your house instead and watch tv or play video games or go to an athletic game or some kind or do  something else, but we really think this is something you'll be glad you were a part of.

Will it be just like Sunday morning class, but longer? 

No, it will be very different.  Sunday morning class is great, but being together for an entire weekend will let you really get to know others, grow in faith, have some fun, enjoy some awesome things, ride in a bus (definitely don't get to do that in class - I mean, we could.  But that would make class longer, and due to budget cuts we no longer have those nice people walking up and down the aisle of the bus giving us snacks and cokes anyway), have some shared experiences like games and activities and meals, and enjoy being together. 

 

What if I have a schedule conflict? 

Just invite everyone who is a part of the thing you have planned to join us.  So, if you have a game or practice, just invite your team.  Then the possibility of playing the game or practicing won't exist because they'll all be at the retreat.  You probably have lots of practices or games anyway, but there is just one retreat this semester.  And if it's a team for a sport, and you bring your whole team, then we will have practice at the retreat and Monty will coach.  He knows most sports pretty well.  He knows water-skiing best...however, there is not big enough lake at the camp to ski...so we'll probably just hook up a skateboard behind the bus and teach everyone the concepts of skiing.  It will be great.  Oh, and for those who are safety conscious and are now worried, don't worry.  We would never do anything to put you in danger...so the land-skiing is probably out.  We'll just go sky-diving instead.  We'll bring a bunch of helium and some balloons and you can go up a few thousand feet and then let go of the balloons.  It will be great. 

Can we stop these ridiculous FAQ's so that I can get on my life? 

No, sorry.

 

Have you heard about the seats on the bus? 

We recently got the remainder of the worn-out seat covers replaced.  Some of them were really worn - partly because we bought a used bus and partly because we've used it for three summers and have continued to wear out some of the seats.  So, all of them are now recovered and they look good (except for a few paint stains from Paint-O-Rama on the day we had to run into the bus to get out of the rain.)  Which brings us to our next point: help us take care of the bus.  We have a really nice bus and we need your help taking care of it.  So there will be times when snacks/drinks are not allowed on the bus.  And we always need you to pick up your trash and throw it in the trash can.  This is a simple concept really.  But you would be surprised how many people through the years have had trouble with this.  Crazy, huh? 

Okay, so the seats in the bus are repaired...why aren't the pews at church repaired yet? 

It's happening, it's happening.  In fact, the new chairs for our worship center are currently sitting in two storage sheds at the back of the parking lot.  They may actually be put in the worship center before this retreat happens.  That would be something, wouldn't it?  

Our church decision maker people have tried to be really smart with church expenses.  Strangely enough, church pews are really expensive to recover.  So we have used the pews longer than the pews life expectancy has been.  A lot of them are really torn.  But, look at the bright side: we still have soft places to sit when we come to worship.  We could have a worship center filled with all wood pews.  That's how my grandma's church was.  It was crazy.  And they would sit on those hard pews every week.  I don't even remember hearing anyone ever complain about it.  Some of the people would bring their own seat cushion to sit on, but the rest of us just had a hard, solid wood pew.  So see, if you complain about our pews at church, we gonna get you a piece of wood to sit on.  lol. 

What if I have some allergies or dietary restrictions? 

Please tell Monty or Heather in advance of the retreat.

Can you give me the sign-up link one more time? 

Yes, yes we can.  Here you go: Middle School One Day Retreat Sign-Up

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