Here's the update on the summer retreat.
The theme for this retreat was "Heart of Worship". The retreat went on from Sunday, August 24, 2008 to Wednesday, August 27, 2008. Our speaker was David Lee 목사님 who came from a presbyterian church called the Church of Love in Philadelphia.
The following is the schedule:
Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008
Depart from LCPC - 2:00
Arrival at Pinebrook - 4:00
Dinner - 5:30
Orientation - 6:15
Seminar - 6:30
SERVICE - 7:30
Fellowship - 10:30
First Group Meeting - 11:00
Lights out - 12:00
Monday, Aug. 25, 2008
Wake Up - 6:00
Quiet Time - 7:00
Breakfast - 8:00
SERVICE - 9:00
Group Meeting - 11:00
Lunch - 12:30
Seminar - 1:00
Paintball/ Free Time - 2:00
Dinner - 5:30
SERVICE - 7:00
Group Meeting - 10:00
Lights out - 12:00
Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008
Wake Up - 6:00
Quiet Time - 7:00
Breakfast - 8:00
SERVICE - 9:00
Group Meeting - 11:00
Lunch - 12:30
Swimming/ Free Time - 1:30
Dinner - 5:30
SERVICE - 7:00
Camp Fire - 10:00
Group Meeting - 11:00
Lights out - 12:00
Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008
Wake Up - 6:00
Quiet Time - 7:00
Breakfast - 8:00
SERVICE - 9:00
Final Group Meeting - 11:00
Lunch/ Pack - 12:30
Presentation - 1:30
Leave Pinebrook - 2:30
Come back to LCPC - 5:00
The four groups were the following:
Group 1 - Zach Han
Daniel Kim
David Kim
Grace Kim
현경
Joshua Kim
Sarah Jung
Suah Lee
Richard Cho
Group 2 - 상진 Ahn
보라 Jung
Eddie Kim
Elizabeth Kim
John Rim
Peter Park
Susan Cho
Group 3 - Diana Cho
Alex Bae
Danica Han
Jonathan Rim
Kevin Ahn
Paul Rim
Ulrica Kim
Group 4 - Joshua Cho
Brian Jung
Brian Kim
Gina Yoo
Jessica Kim
Paul Park
Sarah Park
Susan Lee
These are the groups' respective skits in their respective orders with their placement in parentheses:
Group 1 (1st) - This group based their skit on the Powerpuff Girls. Zach was the narrator, Suah was Blossom, Sarah was Bubbles, 현경 was Buttercup, Joshua was the Professor, Richard was Mojo Jojo, Grace was the Faceless Assistant, and either Daniel or David was the Mayor. The 3 girls were allegorical figures for truth and growth, but I forgot the last allegory. Anyway, Mojo Jojo invented a device that would efface the faith of God in the citizens of Townsville. Therefore, the 3 girls used their powers of the gospel to defeat Mojo Jojo.
Group 2 (2nd) - My group based our skit on the condition of our church throughout the retreat with the true meaning of the "Heart of Worship" missing in our hearts. 상진 was the Hypocritical Vice President, Bora was the Lonely Secretary and the narrator, Eddie was the Protagonist, Liz and Susan were the Arrogant Pastor's Kids, I was the Boastful Praise Leader, and Peter was the Greedy Treasurer. We started by demonstrating the structure of the church as a pyramid with me, 상진, and 보라 at the bottom, Liz and Peter in the middle, and Susan at the top. Eddie wondered what would happen to the church if one of them were to be missing a heart of worship and dreamt. The pyramid of our church collapsed after Susan and Liz randomly shouted the titles of praise songs. Eddie rolled off of his "bed" shocked. I confronted Eddie by telling him that service was about to start. SJ, Liz, Susan, Bora, and Peter were off to one side swaying their hands in the air while singing the song "Heart of Worship" while Eddie and I were off on the opposite side. While they were singing, I slowly walked to the center of the stage and suddenly burst into playing an air guitar solo, ending it by throwing my fist into the air shouting "Praise the Lord!" before the scene froze. Eddie wondered, "Is this how you really serve God? Is this really the heart of worship? Is this how you really praise God?" The next scene had Susan collect offering. Peter offered his entire wallet, but then decided to offer numerous gadgets such as watches, cellular phones, and mp3's. Eddie wondered if giving merely monetary offering was a way of getting into heaven. The next scene had SJ informing us about the upcoming retreat and that we had to prepare for it by doing "hardcore bible study". Eddie wondered if strenuously studying God's word at a preposterous extreme would gain him a way into heaven. The next scene had SJ walking off with the offering basket and stealing the offering for himself. The PKs were upset about it, but then quickly turned their attention to mocking and insulting others. Eddie wondered if being a PK gave them a special, automatic privelage to get into heaven. The next scene put us into a paintball fight. I got so arrogant and overly confident that I took off my mask. Eddie walked right behind me, and shot me in my right eye resulting into me being humbled but depressed. The next scenes involved Eddie teaching me, Peter, SJ and the PKs respectively on what the true meaning of a heart of worship is. His attempt was successful, and thus built a stronger, much more stable church.
Group 3 (4th) - This group based their skit on improvisation - literally - and temptation. Diana was the Christian friend, Alex, Jonathan, Kevin, Paul and Ulrica were the "cool crew", and Danica was the protagonist. At first Danica was an innocent follower of Christ until she became tempted to hanging out with the "cool crew" and ended up with terminal heart disease with a month to live. Danica took this time to pray to God to help live her life for God.
Group 4 (3rd) - This group shared a theme similar to my group. Gus was the boastful praise leader, Gina was a "player", Brian was Gina's boyfriend, Jessica and Susan were Sarah's friends, Paul was the speaker, and Sarah was the materialistic member of the church. Though Gus, Gina, and Sarah thought they had everything, God had eventually swept away their most precious things to turn their hearts to Him. Gus lost his position as praise leader, and thus lost the favors of the YG girls. Gina lost both her boyfriends Gus and Brian. Sarah was mugged by Jessica, injured, and lost her friends due to them being materialistic as well. Gus, Gina, and Sarah respectively prayed to God during service about turning to Him and rending their hearts to follow Him.
Excluding the passionate, engaging sermons and my intimate prayers with God, my opinion of the retreat is that it was mediocre. Praise, in my honest opinion could have been better. My fingers kept stiffening up due to the cold weather, and thus I made many errors. However, I did sing with all my heart to God. I hope that everyone got blessed during the retreat and that they would truly live for God everyday.