Post Retreat Musings

The ABMOPAD 54th Annual Retreat is in the books. The total attendance was 185, down a few from the previous couple of years. The men who were in attendance were fired up and ready to serve, though, so I am not discouraged. We are down to 4 vacancies on the board of managers, which is good news. We had a number more previously and several men stepped up to fill the roles. The search continues to fill the remaining positions, so please be in prayer for that search.

The Civil War church service was well attended for being held during the recreation break. 32 men in all (plus the two of us in the sound booth). The two folks who delivered the service were certainly inspired and talented. The "dulci-jo" was certainly an interesting instrument.

The Kilikpo family was awesome this weekend. I've heard them play countless times, but they are always fresh and exciting. I heard many men talking with them after the Sunday service asking if they were available to come to their home church. I praise God for the ministry of these fine folks!

I can't say enough about Rev. Robert Santilli either. He was engaging, inspirational, humorous and just downright a great guy. His years of service to the Lord are obvious each time he speaks.

Once again, this year, my brother and I did the sound for the retreat sessions. It is something we enjoy doing and it's always challenging and interesting. The unfortunate side effect was that we didn't get a chance to participate in much of anything at the retreat (workshops and recreation for example). The fellowship that we shared with our Brothers (and a few sisters) in Christ was well worth it, though. If I have to give up a softball game and singing in the choir so that 184 other guys can have a great weekend, that is a small sacrifice that I am willing to make without grumbling at all. Praise God that he could use us for this ministry!

Overall, it was a great retreat. Next year we will celebrate the 55th year of retreats. When the board of managers meets in October to discuss the preliminary program, I pray that we will have some fresh ideas and vital programming that will draw even more men. It was suggested during one of the sessions that we try and get 550 men for the 55th retreat. That sounds difficult, but if each man returned with two friends each, we'll make it (with 5 to spare - 185 x 3 = 555). The only problem we'd have is where to put them, but the university said they could let us use the Memorial Auditorium for our sessions (which we've used in the past years). Now THAT is an awesome problem to have.

Please be in prayer for all of the men and boys in our region. We want to be an organization that does more than just an annual retreat. If you have ideas for programs or anything else, please don't be shy - email them to me at webmaster@abmopad.org.

God bless you!