Post Tagged with: "Spiritual Emphasis Retreat"

Middle School Students Encouraged to Keep Focus on God and His Word at Spiritual Emphasis Retreat

Middle school students were encouraged to keep God and His Word at the center of their daily lives at the Middle School Spiritual Emphasis Retreat on November 4 held at the Ocean City Tabernacle in Ocean City.

Pastor Wil Del Valle was the keynote speaker during the one-day retreat in which he emphasized the importance of not letting friends, social media, and other activities crowd out spending time each day to pray and read God’s Word.

“When we read the Bible, we should never lose sight of the wonder of God and how He has demonstrated time and again his power and authority over the universe He created,” Del Valle said.  As an example, he recounted the story of when the Israelites were fleeing Egypt and how God parted the Red Sea so that they could cross to safety on the other side. “We should never take these kinds of stories about the amazing acts of God for granted,” Del Valle said.

The Middle School Retreat began in the morning with a time of worship led by Lee Martin, ACS parent and Director of Worship and Communication at the Ocean City Tabernacle, and Alyssa Griffith of Sojourn Community Church. Following worship, Del Valle presented his devotion at the first of two chapel sessions, both of which were followed by the students gathering in smaller COMPASS groups to dig deeper into the devotion lesson. Some of the discussion focused on the value of friendship, exploring how the Bible defines friendship, and what it means to be a good friend.

The nearly 170 students also enjoyed fellowship during an indoor/outdoor group activity time, where students played volleyball, football, soccer, 9 Square in the Air, ping-pong, and more.  The retreat concluded with a scavenger hunt down Asbury Avenue, with students organized in their COMPASS small groups searching for various items on the list.  The winners of the scavenger hunt will be announced soon.

 

High School Students Encouraged to Unplug from World’s Distractions, Focus More on God’s Word at Spiritual Emphasis Retreat

By Robby Barberio

ACS high school students learned what it means to truly turn off from the world’s distractions, reset, take time to be silent, and look at the Lord’s Word with fresh eyes at a two-day Spiritual Emphasis Retreat on September 29 and 30 held at America’s Keswick in Whiting, New Jersey.

Retreat speaker Pastor Wil Del Valle led four chapel sessions in which he challenged the students to look at what God has to say with a new perspective and to really understand the meaning of the phrase “all Scripture is God breathed,” based on the ACS theme verse this year from 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Pastor Wil is the worship and youth pastor at Crossbridge Community Church in Woolrich Township, New Jersey. Worship during the chapels was led by Lee Martin, ACS parent and Director of Worship and Communication at the Ocean City Tabernacle, and Alyssa Griffith of Sojourn Community Church.

After each chapel, students had the opportunity to meet with other classmates and a faculty leader in COMPASS groups to reflect and discuss the message, often meeting in outdoor settings by a lake or sitting on a dock. Students also enjoyed free time to participate in recreational activities including ping-pong, basketball, canoeing, volleyball, swimming, and tennis and to compete in a scavenger hunt.

“The speaker was fabulous and I really liked how he emphasized silence,” said Urick Lewis, who teaches high school Bible at ACS and led the 9th grade boys COMPASS group. “There are so many distractions in the world, especially today with phones and social media, so it was kind of like hitting the reset button when Pastor Wil created those moments of silence for us to experience.”

On Thursday night, students gathered around a bonfire and enjoyed singing worship songs, led by 12th grader Tommy Ellison on his guitar and other students leading the singing. “The Holy Spirit works in me through music,” said 9th grader Ava Barberio. “I loved seeing students leading the worship session around the fire without being told. It showed that people were willing to engage and it was encouraging to see everyone participating.”

Students seemed to be especially moved by their COMPASS group discussions. They were encouraged by their peers’ willingness to speak up and talk about how they were feeling. “The speaker talking about making Jesus the Lord of my Life really got to me,” said 12th grader Sam Glancey. “It reminded me that Jesus should be an every day part of my life and not just something that is in the back of my mind. Everyone always gets on fire for the Lord on the retreat, and I want to bring the same spiritual energy back to ACS.”

A Middle School Spiritual Emphasis retreat will be held sometime later this fall.

 

High School Students Challenged to Stand Firm in their Faith at October Retreat

What does it mean to stand firm in your faith? ACS students were challenged to answer that question at our day-long High School Spiritual Emphasis Retreat on Friday, October 23 held at the school campus.  A variety of speakers, including Crossroads Fellowship Pastor Matt Mouliert, shared their personal faith journeys with the students in small and large group sessions.

The speakers encouraged the students that spiritual growth comes when we hold fast to the truth in God’s Word and are not swayed by the influences of pop culture, internet influencers, and what friends and other people have to say about you.

Upper School Principal Meg McHale said the one-day retreat was focused on giving the students time to explore more deeply the meaning of our spiritual development theme verse from 1 Corinthians 16:13 — Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong. The speakers and agenda for the retreat were organized by Upper School Vice Principal Drew Carney.

“We felt there was a need to recalibrate our hearts and reprioritize who God is in our lives because we see our students being pulled in a lot of different directions,” Carney said. “Our speakers did an excellent job of reaching our students in a very personal way. There was a lot of valuable interaction, especially in the small groups.”

Gabe Connelly, the Youth Director at Coastal Christian, led a time of prayer, worship, and devotions to start off the day, and also led worship before lunch and at the conclusion of the retreat. Six different speakers, three men and three women, led small group sessions in various classrooms, with boys and girls in separate sessions. The six speakers were Pastor Matt Mouliert, head pastor at Crossroads Fellowship Church in Pleasantville; Chief School Administrator Karen Oblen; Pastor Christian Ragland, who is the Operations Pastor and works with the youth ministry at Lighthouse Community Church in Pleasantville; Ariel Richvalsky, a 2005 ACS alumnus and former high school faculty member; Tanner Rigdon, the Youth Director at Fusion Church; and high school faculty member Gina Wilson.

During one small group session, Pastor Mouliert talked about the impact of “labels” — ones that other people place on you and ones that you place on yourself. In another session, Pastor Ragland focused on the importance of staying on guard against the enemy and encouraged the young men to surround themselves with people who will help you stay on guard. In the final session of the retreat, Pastor Mouliert presented a closing devotion that encouraged the students to reflect on what they had learned and to take concrete steps to grow in their relationship with Christ.