The Weirdest Retreat in a Long Time (and what it taught me)

Yesterday was the weirdest retreat that I have been a part of in a long time.

I woke at 4 a.m., left my house at 4:30 a.m., drove through constant rain, and arrived in Cape Girardeau, MO at 6:45 a.m.  After a quick Mickey-Dees breakfast with the rest of the REAP Team members, we arrived at Notre Dame High School at 7:15 a.m., set up, and prayed.  We then began a retreat for 250 freshmen and sophomores at 8:15 a.m.

Did I mention that it rained the whole way there?  Well, it also rained throughout the entire retreat, which might not seem like a big deal, except for the fact that the retreat was held in the school’s cafeteria - which has a metal roof!  Under normal conditions, they tell me that the school’s new sound system is awesome, but it gave us fits.  Technicians were constantly making adjustments, we had to hold the microphones right next to our mouths in order to be heard, and much of the time I could not really tell if the students were hearing us or not.  It was a mess, especially since the rainfall fluctuated between light and heavy.  Mostly it was heavy, though, and it was loud…very distracting…which is challenging for a retreat leader with undiagnosed ADD; not to mention a roomful of adolescents.

We did introductions, jokes, a game, a drama, two talks, and a very short small group.  And then the retreat was over.  One of the adult leaders informed me that they decided to call off school at 10:00 a.m., because many of the surrounding roads were being flooded, and that made things very dangerous…especially when so many of the teens had driven themselves to school.  The administrators gave the students some directives for dismissal, and even a short course on driving in such conditions.  Then, the students headed for home.  And so did the REAP Team.

Our entire ministry time yesterday was 1 hour and 45 minutes.  Our total drive time was about 5 hours.

Only two out of five REAP Team members even gave talks.  The students only spent 15 minutes in small group discussion.  Our “serious” content lasted just about one hour.

I am 100% convinced that the school administrators made the right decision, but I’m not gonna lie; the day seemed like a pretty big waste of time.  I was gone from 4:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. for an extremely short amount of ministry time, we tried to lay a foundation but were unable to build upon it, and I wasn’t even sure if any of the students heard our message very clearly because of the pounding rain upon the metal roof of our venue.

Then, late last night, I quickly checked my email to find this…

“Hi Paul, its march 18th and I am a freshmen at notre high school where you spoke today. I feel like this retreat came at a perfect time in my life because this past weekend was the first time that i smoked weed. Before i heard you speak today i had every intention of doing it more and more with my friends because i thought it was fun. I was just emailing you to tell you thank you and i really appreciate what you do.”

So, I guess it wasn’t a waste of time after all? 

People in ministry always say, “If only one person is touched, it is worthwhile”, right?  My heart tells me that there may be others who were reached yesterday that we will never find out about.  And I am convinced that most of the time those of us who do ministry never really do find out what a difference we make.   But yesterday God prompted a teenager to send me an email, to remind my doubting heart of some truth that I actually know, deep down inside, but can so often forget:

Nothing that is done for God and out of love for His people is ever a waste of time!

Lord Jesus, help me to never forget that.  Amen.