Pastor Ron's Deep Thoughts and Shallow Entries: Youth Fall Retreat at Circle Square Ranch

If you've been reading my blog over time you will know that each fall several CRC churches in Eastern Canada gather together for their annual fall retreat. In the past we've been at Camp IAWAH, but for the past couple of years we've been meeting at Circle Square Ranch.

As the chair person of the Classical Youth Ministry Team my desire is to have as many youth attend these retreats as possible. In order to do that, changes need to happen each year to offer alternatives. As I was pondering what could be done (way back in November of 2010, just after our last retreat) I went to an Article One concert where Pastor Dave was speaking.

I know Pastor Dave from my Youth Pastor days in Sarnia. I thought he'd be a great speaker for our retreat, and also remembered that he did some Improv stuff with John for a couple of youth services back in the day. I contacted Dave as a speaker, but also John, head of THE FIDGETS, to see if we could work something out.

In the end we did, and after some planning we were set to go. I'd been hyping this retreat for several months amongst the various youth groups in or area. We ended up getting 65 people coming out, which was more than last year.

I knew that THE FIDGETS were going to be a barrel of laughs, and they didn't disappoint.

There were over 600 pictures to sift through, and I managed to boil them down to 150 ish. I've broken this event up into three blog entries to make it more manageable, so enjoy!

In addition to THE FIDGETS and Dave speaking, our youth praise team (Calvin CRC) lead in worship. Since I'm a bit particular about wanting them to sound good, and knowing that it was a panic last year setting things up on the Friday night, I decided to bring everything to Circle Square Ranch on the Thursday. Good thing, because it took about 2 hours to get everything working right. Also a good thing because some drivers in my group ended up getting lost on the way and were late. It would have been really crazy setting up.

Above you see the end result.

The Fidgets ended up coming by VIA Rail, and stopping in Belleville on Friday afternoon. I gave my van to Jeannine to drive, and I drove to Belleville in another vehicle to pick up The Fidgets. We arrived at CSR around 3 pm. Lots of time to relax and prepare for the onslaught of youth and adults.

My side kick, John V ended up coming in a bit late, but better late than never. Usually I'm the one who's late, so it was strange having it the other way around. : )

Christine came out to CSR once again to help us out with the praise team. Here she is getting our song selection ready for the opening set.

John and Debbie handle the registration part of the retreat. I always love watching this part go on. This time John seemed to stay out of it. Probably a good thing, eh Debbie? : ) Here you see Melanie and Jeannine registering our group. We had 23 show up this time....the largest group. Way to go Calvin!!! A couple of years ago we were one of the smallest groups coming out to this retreat.

As people settled into their rooms and got ready for the weekend, Debbie and one of her leaders made sure everything added up.

Hey guys, go find a place to sleep! Quit being so social! : )

John (left) and Dave (right) getting ready for their Fidgets part of the weekend. They are truly crazy kids!

Simon became voluntold to help us with the computer and song selection. Thanks Simon for helping us out.

I wanted to capture the weekend speaking and Improv stuff on video. I'm sure glad I did. There will be links up on UTube in the last entry.

Here's Hannah (left) getting into the mood for the weekend. Rosy (right) is still trying to decide what kind of sound she wants for her keyboard....right Rosy! : ) (tee,hee)

We opened the weekend with the usual rules and regulations and then it was time to sing. I sing with our youth praise team too. I love this group of talented youth who practice quite a bit. All that practice shows in times like this.

Here's Jacob playing bass.
Why is it that bass players never smile?

65 people can really fill up the room.
A great sound of praise and worship filled the space.

Here's a view from the back of the room. You can't see Kevin, but he helped us with the sound. Thanks Kevin.

Some of our songs are quiet, some just beg to have actions done to them. This was an action song. Several in the group came forward to help with the actions.

After worship time it was time to introduce THE FIDGETS. They wasted NO time getting crazy with us. : )

I have no idea what Dave is doing here, but he often makes reference to his mid section and how it rolls and jiggles.....

I think they are doing the skit "slide show". I got the chance to participate in that near the end of the weekend (see Utube clip).

This is Andrea, though you can't quite tell here. She heads up our games department. CSR fall retreat wouldn't be the same without her and her crew who does a great job in games department. Have I ever told you that games did not show up on my gifting chart when I took the Spiritual Gifting course? : )

After Improv time, Dave spoke to introduce the weekend. The theme for the weekend: " Are you going to be a fan of Jesus, or a follower of Jesus?" He did a great job, and was short to boot. He gets it. : )

After Dave came snack time. Nacho's! Yummy. Here's a CSR staff member explaining how things work.

Here are my youth listening attentively....no wait, are those really my youth? Listening....no, it can't be! They all look a like mannequins. : ) (Well, except for Ben. What are you doing?)

After the explanations, it was time to eat.

And eat they did!

Sarah's enjoying snack time with her friends.

I called Dave's name, and here's the response I got.
Always that deer in the head light look. : )

Now here's a character you need to know about. Gaelen. He's joined our youth group, along with a few others from Kanata CRC for the year. He's a hoot. Seems that he and Zack have this thing about wearing different hats to any youth group event. I don't think this qualifies as a hat, but hey, you get an A from me for creativity. : )

More people enjoying the nachos. Especially Maddi. Another crazy import from Kanata.

I was busy taking pictures, but not that long. I was going to place my camera down to get some nachos when, low and behold, they were already gone. I think the group inhaled them. : (

Maddi took some time to get things ready for the games portion of the evening. Maddi and Zack were the game's people for the weekend, under the guidance of Andrea.

Here is the group playing musical chairs in the dining hall. Those poor chairs. Not the strongest in the world.

Way to go Chris. You won! The reward? What else; candy!

After games, it was relax time until midnight and lights out. During this time we have a leader's meeting to make sure we are all on the same page with rules, getting groups to do devotions, etc. Usually John and I end up staying up the first night (for the guys) to make sure the kids settle down properly, but not this time. There were enough who volunteered that we could actually get to bed on time...yahoo!

Before we knew it it was morning.
Oh, I hate mornings.... : )
Here Chris and Alex get started with their morning hot chocolate. John is getting things ready for the day's Fidget times.

In addition to coming as our music leader, Christine also drove a bunch of kids to CSR. We had such a large group I had to ask another parent to come along. Wilma (right) kindly agreed, though throughout the weekend she made a point of telling me that she only came as a driver, not a chaperone, so she wasn't going to take responsibility for anything....telling me over.....and over.....and over again.....sheeeesh!!! : ) I get it already.....!

Breakfast was set for 8:00 am, which means getting up at 7:50 am. : ) A good hearty breakfast to get us ready for the day.

Oh, Zack.....nice hat.....

We had everyone signed up for high ropes and horseback riding, etc, but we had a new addition this time. The Fidgets wanted to have a group of YP learn how to do improv if they wanted to, and about 10 kids did just that. So, we had to rearrange the groups and re-sign people up.

After breakfast it was time for Dave to speak again, and The Fidgets to do things to make us laugh... and laugh we did.

The weather was supposed to be lousy all weekend long, but when we woke up on Saturday morning, the sun was shining. God is Good!
We set out after our morning session for some games on the front grass. Here you see Dave yelling at someone underneath him.....he's strange you know!

Another game that's a favourite among the group is to get yourself into a tight circle and lock arms and then try to get others to pull you apart. Fun for them maybe, but I'm staying out of this one.

As you can see, it's loads of fun!

People hang on for dear life.
It takes a good deal of work to pry people loose.

Rosy tried to hold on, but succumbed to three guys pulling her away from her group. She's still smiling, which is a good thing.

Kevin likes to play these sorts of games (he's younger than me). He's quite competitive about it as well, as you can see here.

Dave.....and another youth......well, being themselves, I guess. : )

Looks like this group will last a long time. Most here will not give up. They'd rather die than be untangled.

I don't think Megan and Sarah and her group stand a chance, personally. No, I'm not being mean, but just look at how they are setting themselves up. Sarah is looking over my shoulder at the moment and said they lasted the longest...but I have my doubts...... : )

Alex is trying to get Casey apart. He fought valiantly!

Pastor Joe, (back right) got into things as well (he's younger than me as well, and just starting out in youth ministry). Jacob is really trying hard not to be separated from this group. I think he's in pain from the looks of things.