Youth camps become young adult retreats

It's March, and I'm already thinking about summer. I think that's what happens when you come back to loads of work after relaxing on the beach during the week of Spring Break. Summer cannot come soon enough. And this week I was given an even more exciting reason to look forward to summer. Indiana is going to have a Young Adult Retreat for the first time this summer, and I cannot wait. I might already be counting down the days until May 10th…

The week of church camp at Camp Bedford was a very important part of my summers. Being an active young adult in the church, I always looked forward to spending that week with camp friends that I'd known for years. It is amazing to look back now and reflect on how important my camp friends have been in my life. I share memories with them that I will never have with anyone else. This is why I'm excited to have an opportunity to gather with the young adults of Indiana in order to continue to build memories and meet new friends.

Now that I've been in Nashville and I've seen how the regional church in Tennessee works, I am excited to see where the Indiana region can take our camp program. I think the addition of the young adult retreat is a step in the right direction, and I'm excited that I will be able to participate in its first year. Throughout my high school years and my time on the Indiana Youth Commission, the Indiana region had a strong group of very active young adults. That group has now moved on to college and the Young Adult Retreat will be a good way to bring us back together.

There has been a lot of talk lately about what is needed in order for our church to keep young adults active and interested. Retreats like this, though only a few days long, have a very big impact on the connection that young adults feel to the church. It is important that we have an event to call our own, something to look forward to. As events like this grow stronger, the church will also grow stronger because there will be a population to fill that missing age range that has existed for so long.

As I finish out the last few weeks of my sophomore year, trying not to procrastinate too much, I know that I have exciting new reasons to look forward to summer. Well, reasons other than a break from schoolwork. Staying active in the church during the time away from my Nashville church family has just become a higher priority and I'm looking forward to the new Young Adult Retreat.