After the Retreat…Now What?

Last week, I went on my 8th annual fall retreat for the high school where I teach. Having worked at Christian summer camp through high school and early college, I’m no stranger to the mechanics. They take their cue from the Second Great Awakening’s playbook. Get away from it all. Disconnect. Experience powerful worship and passionate messages. Dedicate or rededicate. If there’s a campfire, you better have a stick to throw in it.

It is, as the kids say, a proverbial mountaintop experience. It even helps that the last two years, we had to trek (or drive) up a hill to get to the conference center from where the hotel rooms were. Not sure where we’ll end up next year, but hopefully it has varying terrain.

Now, I’m less cynical about it all than I may sound. The Bible after all is replete with mountaintop experiences. And I had one such experience in college that changed the trajectory of my life. I’ve seen decisions in campers’ and students’ lives stick long after the warm fuzzies have worn off.

But, I’ve also seen many students get emotionally hyped up on retreats and then go back to business as usual within a month. Sadly, I think this is more common than not. And since I’m not the one to get very emotionally stirred on retreats, I usually spend the time reflecting on how to leverage what happens on a retreat into actual lasting change. Which is what I was doing shortly before taking this picture.

The speaker had asked anyone struggling with depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts to come up front and be prayed over in the final session. It was a great way to close out a retreat that had focused on standing firm in the promises of God. Now that some students had been stirred to be honest and vulnerable about their struggles, the real work begins.

Students might have a powerful bonding experience with their classmates on a retreat. They may be stirred by the Spirit to make some changes. But its as we come down off the mountain that the rubber meets the road. Wanting to change in the moment on a retreat is fairly easy. Actually making changes, especially as you re-enter the routine, is not.

This problem is compounded if there is confusion about the mountaintop’s purpose. I don’t think anyone on the retreat explicitly said this, but sometimes the impression can be made that the change is what is happening on the mountaintop. It is certainly possible it is the Spirit working to change hearts.

However, true change is seen in changed habits, and that can’t actually happen in a moment of awakening. Rather, it takes place in the mundane day to day of the valley. The mountaintop provides the vision and motivation. The valley provides the chance to see God bring that vision to fruition in our lives. That’s something that unfolds over time as we walk in obedience.

In that light, I’m looking forward to speaking in chapel later this week to underscore how change works. I’ll plan on extending some of the themes from the speakers last week. Now that we’re back in the routine, the real work begins. Students may have a vision for what could be different, and now with the Spirit’s help that vision can become reality. We are his workmanship after all, created for good works that have been prepared ahead of time for us to do. The mountaintop gives a glimpse, but it’s just a preview of the real journey that lies ahead.