{"id":16897,"date":"2018-04-08T09:38:38","date_gmt":"2018-04-08T13:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=16897"},"modified":"2018-04-13T09:58:45","modified_gmt":"2018-04-13T13:58:45","slug":"mens-fellowship-planning-to-retreat-in-2018-3-16-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=16897","title":{"rendered":"Men’s Fellowship Refocuses during 2018 Retreat! (3\/16\/18)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Men’s Fellowship group set aside the weekend of March 16-18 (2018) as a time to “retreat” from the day to day activities of “normal life.” Once again, we went to the Black Rock Retreat Center in Quarryville PA to share in fellowship around the dining table, fireplace, and around God’s Word. This was the 17th year in a row that we have held a weekend retreat at Black Rock. It might seem like we’re in a rut; that every year is a routine “time for another retreat.” The surroundings and itinerary might be similar from year to year, but each weekend is a unique chance for God to touch us in a special way. This year was the best attended weekend: 28 men participated. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

This year’s speaker was Pastor George DeVol, and he led us on a study of the book of Philippians. Along the way he challenged us with many deep (and not so deep) questions about ourselves and our relationship to God.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Pastor George DeVol<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

This year\u2019s speaker was Pastor George DeVol. George was formally a pastor at Laurel Hill Bible Church in Clementon, NJ and more recently was a director at Camp Haluwasa in Hammonton New Jersey.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pastor George’s theme for the weekend was entitled: \n \u201cTo Live is Christ: Studies from the Book of Philippians\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

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Retreat… Advance. Go… Come… <\/span><\/h4>\n

A big part of living a new life in Christ involves “Go<\/span><\/strong>.” To turn from sins, to allow the Spirit to “Transform your mind (Romans 12:2<\/a><\/span>). To be born again. Repent.<\/p>\n

But Christ also beckons us to “Come<\/span><\/strong>.” God called Moses to the burning bush (Exodus 3:4<\/span><\/a>). Jesus invited the crowd to “Come unto me all who labor…” (Matthew 11:28<\/a><\/span>). The final verses of the Bible is an invitation to come: “The Spirit says Come…” (Revelation 22:17<\/a><\/span>).<\/p>\n

In the book of Philippians, Paul also invites us to “Come”: “Our citizenship is in heaven”… “rejoice”… “to live is Christ, to die is gain”… “Look to the interests of others”… “continue to work out your salvation.”<\/p>\n

“Come” invites us to look forward and to grow. Not simply to leave the past behind because it has bad things in it, but to move ahead to something bigger and better. Christ has invited us to experience inner joy, fresh purpose, and new relationships.<\/p>\n

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Serious Study and Reflection…<\/span><\/h3>\n

During our time together, Pastor George took us through a quick tour of the book of Philippians. We met for four sessions during the weekend. Below is a summary of each session’s message.<\/p>\n

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At the beginning of our first session, Pastor George gave us an index card and asked us to make a list of 3 “little known facts” about ourselves. Throughout the weekend, at the beginning of each session, he pulled several of the cards, read each fact one at a time, and then we tried to guess who the author was.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to learning more about Philippians, we also learned things like the following about eachother:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\tRaised on goat’s milk…\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tBorn on his parent’s couch…\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tNearly became a big league pitcher…\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tA retired “Bubblehead” (sub-mariner)…\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tIs Learning to play harmonica…\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tSold cigars in Cuba to pay for trip home…\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div> <\/div><\/div>\n

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After opening each session with music and trivia, we got into the meat of the weekend: Paul’s letter to the Philippians. “Conveniently”, our retreat weekends consists of four sessions, and the book of Philippians contains four chapters. So, each session covered a section from each chapter. We followed this general outline:<\/p>\n