Texas Retreat #1

I spent the weekend in the great state of Texas hanging with students from San Marcos, Houston, San Antonio, Laredo, Austin and Dallas-Ft. Worth at Camp Tejas near Giddings. The Cru staff from theses cities are doing a great job tackling the spiritual movements in all its complexities. Hats off to Erin, Ken, John, Lori, David, Sal, Lance, Mark, Cody, Becca, Doug and the rest. They are seeing some great things happen.

I continue to experiment (thanks guys) with the retreat format I used at UCLA last year - that is, to use the retreat for an interactive mission focused / training venue. Basically, assuming that the students that arrive at the retreat are the mission force for the schools they represent and that within them are the ideas to reach their fellow students.

On Friday I told my story and highlighted God's sovereignty and love. On Saturday night we got into 12 groups (by birthdays) and worked a simple process on the commands of Jesus (as compared to the commands of Jesus based religion). Jesus says obeying his commands will bring life and joy, so we wanted to see what those commands where, and then focus our conversation on what it would look like to live out this out on campus.

There is a sense of freedom that comes from obeying Jesus beyond (in spite of / without) adhering to the religious edicts of the day. All told, these students listed about 10 key commands of Christ. All very simple and doable and void of religious trappings and observable external rules. At the same time - simple to say but radical in practice. Things like 'love your enemies' are great on paper, but lived out can be a bit dicey.

I believe many of these students saw the implications of faith lived out this way. (and big time thanks to the Texas State Cru Band - they made a time of worship very strong and vibrant!).