-
Biblical Families is not a dating website. It is a forum to discuss issues relating to marriage and the Bible, and to offer guidance and support, not to find a wife. Click here for more information.
New Year's Retreat Gainsville Florida
- Thread starter Doc
- Start date
David Earle
New Member
To all our new friends, which after this past weekend do not feel new but as old and comfortable as family, thank you on so many levels.
First and foremost, all praise and glory be to our Lord and savior for delivering us to the retreat! The amazing worship enabled the cleansing renewal of faith, both thru the steadfast depth of belief presented by the group and the Hand of God on the entire retreat. Then thank you for the special individuals that took their time to bless us through sharing of the Word and their personal experience. For both we are extremely grateful.
For us, the decision and action of celebrating our marriage in the eyes of the Lord and with the loving support of our friends, will not only be the highlight of the weekend, or even the year, but beyond the highlight of our relationship we know that this is a blessing from the Lord that will impact all the areas of our future life together.
Moving on to the speakers, WOW!! Doc went from a teacher presenting thought provoking written lessons on the Word, to a man that will always be a key person in our lives. A real live person was added to those posts, and he became both man and friend. (And the minister that married us.
Then Brian, well what can be said? His presentation was so right on for us that all we can say is: WOW!! But for me, he will always be the man that forgave me for NOT having the coffee done on Saturday morning…and did that with his great smile. WOW!! Tom’s presentation validated the position of God and man in a family relationship. And we both will read the book available at the retreat, and look forward to the new book. It stimulates thought on the structure that can produce peace within and without our family groups.
There was more even than the formal sessions. While we didn’t participate in the sporting events, if we had arrived with children those times would have been important to witnessing on a level that can be incorporated into the extra fun of family life. Just knowing they were available made the weekend more fun. Bringing me to the kids involved, they were great. The snippets of conversation I enjoyed with them brightened the already beautiful sunshine that created such a gorgeous outdoor atmosphere.
The best testimony we can give is that we will be back. We will mark next years’ retreat dates far ahead and do all we can to be there to share with old friends and meet with our fellow warriors.
Thank you to all who worked so hard to put this together for our benefit. The effort does not go unrecognized or unappreciated. Thank you and blessings to all for making this special retreat available and sharing it with us.
But most of all remember this:
“Our God is an Awesome God!”
Signed in Christ’s love, David and Pat Hayward
First and foremost, all praise and glory be to our Lord and savior for delivering us to the retreat! The amazing worship enabled the cleansing renewal of faith, both thru the steadfast depth of belief presented by the group and the Hand of God on the entire retreat. Then thank you for the special individuals that took their time to bless us through sharing of the Word and their personal experience. For both we are extremely grateful.
For us, the decision and action of celebrating our marriage in the eyes of the Lord and with the loving support of our friends, will not only be the highlight of the weekend, or even the year, but beyond the highlight of our relationship we know that this is a blessing from the Lord that will impact all the areas of our future life together.
Moving on to the speakers, WOW!! Doc went from a teacher presenting thought provoking written lessons on the Word, to a man that will always be a key person in our lives. A real live person was added to those posts, and he became both man and friend. (And the minister that married us.
Then Brian, well what can be said? His presentation was so right on for us that all we can say is: WOW!! But for me, he will always be the man that forgave me for NOT having the coffee done on Saturday morning…and did that with his great smile. WOW!! Tom’s presentation validated the position of God and man in a family relationship. And we both will read the book available at the retreat, and look forward to the new book. It stimulates thought on the structure that can produce peace within and without our family groups.There was more even than the formal sessions. While we didn’t participate in the sporting events, if we had arrived with children those times would have been important to witnessing on a level that can be incorporated into the extra fun of family life. Just knowing they were available made the weekend more fun. Bringing me to the kids involved, they were great. The snippets of conversation I enjoyed with them brightened the already beautiful sunshine that created such a gorgeous outdoor atmosphere.
The best testimony we can give is that we will be back. We will mark next years’ retreat dates far ahead and do all we can to be there to share with old friends and meet with our fellow warriors.
Thank you to all who worked so hard to put this together for our benefit. The effort does not go unrecognized or unappreciated. Thank you and blessings to all for making this special retreat available and sharing it with us.
But most of all remember this:
“Our God is an Awesome God!”
Signed in Christ’s love, David and Pat Hayward
His-driver
New Member
Hello Everyone.
This is the second retreat that I have been able to attend. I thought the first retreat was awesome. This second retreat was beyond words. All of you are great Godly people. You all are more than friends. You are true brother and sisters. I can not wait for the next one and hope to see you all there.
If you were unable to be there, you do not know what you are missing. The messages that were brought by Doc, Brian, and Tom, had to make God proud. The prayer was breath taking. The love of God good be felt through out your body. Everyone needs to be at the next retreat, trust me.
Thanks again to everyone involved.
God Bless,
Tim and Steph
This is the second retreat that I have been able to attend. I thought the first retreat was awesome. This second retreat was beyond words. All of you are great Godly people. You all are more than friends. You are true brother and sisters. I can not wait for the next one and hope to see you all there.
If you were unable to be there, you do not know what you are missing. The messages that were brought by Doc, Brian, and Tom, had to make God proud. The prayer was breath taking. The love of God good be felt through out your body. Everyone needs to be at the next retreat, trust me.
Thanks again to everyone involved.
God Bless,
Tim and Steph
I love that, Tim! I realize that my view of the retreat is more preparation and child care but I still can get a sense of what God is doing in people all weekend. Even from the kitchen I could feel the power of prayer going on. I know many of us needed to be refreshed with His spirit in song and prayer this Retreat.
I personally want to thank all the ladies and men who helped Nita and I with various things in the kitchen and with child care. I love spending time in the kitchen with the ladies. I also love spending time with the wonderful children from our families. I consider it a true blessing to see them grow up over the years.
As always, it is an honor to serve the families here at Biblical Families.
To say that this weekend was life changing sounds so trite, but it is none the less the truth. As is always the case, I thank God for the Bender Brood, and all that they do to make BF retreats a true retreat---food cooked with love, adorable kids who run to hug you, play, worship, Word, food. Perhaps it is our own version of "Eat, Pray, Love," in the truest sense. 
Nathan, my respect for you grows each time I am with you, and to our Father be all the glory.
Many thanks to Doc, Moshe, Cec, Todd, Paul, Hal, Tom, Brian, et al. It is wonderful to be in the trenches with you. Rivkah, Elviah, Cindie, Pat,Nita, Kristy, the other Kristy Julie, Ariana, and my own darlin' sister-wife-in-the-puddin'-makin,' Deborah, thank you for all the ways you blessed me this weekend in ways of which I am quite sure you are unaware. If I left anyone out, my apologies.
I am grateful beyond words for the tender and powerful breeze of the Spirit which blew upon us. Indeed, our God is an AWESOME God!
k
Nathan, my respect for you grows each time I am with you, and to our Father be all the glory.Many thanks to Doc, Moshe, Cec, Todd, Paul, Hal, Tom, Brian, et al. It is wonderful to be in the trenches with you. Rivkah, Elviah, Cindie, Pat,Nita, Kristy, the other Kristy Julie, Ariana, and my own darlin' sister-wife-in-the-puddin'-makin,' Deborah, thank you for all the ways you blessed me this weekend in ways of which I am quite sure you are unaware. If I left anyone out, my apologies.
I am grateful beyond words for the tender and powerful breeze of the Spirit which blew upon us. Indeed, our God is an AWESOME God!
k
I loved meeting everyone! Thanks to everyone that came and made the experience amazing. You all have touched my life for the better and I can't wait to get to know each and every one of you more. You all have helped me to grow and I am honored to call you family. I just cannot wait until the next retreat to get to see everyone again.
this is the third retreat that i have attended, i missed the last winter retreat. each one has been better than the last one! this one was a doozy on both a personal and corporate level. the testimony on the personal level will have to wait, BUT IT WILL BE WORTH READING!
i had to leave my truck in California and get a round-trip plane ticket home in order to attend this retreat and it was SO worth it. i would echo everything that has been said so far, add in that the personal relationships that grow through face-to-face interaction are so healing, but the chart-topper was the worship which reached a level that i have not experienced in quite some time.
thanx to the Blessed Blended Bender Brood
i had to leave my truck in California and get a round-trip plane ticket home in order to attend this retreat and it was SO worth it. i would echo everything that has been said so far, add in that the personal relationships that grow through face-to-face interaction are so healing, but the chart-topper was the worship which reached a level that i have not experienced in quite some time.
thanx to the Blessed Blended Bender Brood
Hi everyone. We agree 100 percent on what has been said about the retreat. This last weekend went far beyond what we expected and more. It was great getting to know everyone. Our son AJ had a fantastic time. Looking forward to the next retreat and teaming up with everyone again. A special thanks to Nathan, Julie, and Nita for making this possible, and also Doc, Brian, and Tom. Thanks for all the hard work everyone put forth. There was alot of things said from the heart this past weekend, with a compassion from God. Cindie and I came away with a better understanding and testimony of Plural marriage and how it works. Looking forward to God opening up new doors in His Kingdom. Also looking forward to the next retreat.
Cindie and Hal Burgess
Cindie and Hal Burgess
Hey, everyone!
Just wanted to let all the retreat folks know that I made it back to Korea, in spite of some last minute stuff that popped up. I had to have some dental work done before I left, and it turned out to be more than a little. Anyway, it was all taken care of, and I made it to my plane on Thursday morning about five minutes before boarding.
My flight took me from St Louis to Chicago, and from Chicago to Beijing, where I was to transfer to Seoul. However, I had a bit of a hiccup in China. I was held back in China because I did not have a visa to be there. So, that created a delay, but FINALLY I was able to leave, and get to Seoul.
I got in about midnight Friday night my time, and I was unable to get into my apartment! I have a magnetic lock on my door, and the battery had died in it. Through a lot of creative communication, I was finally able to get someone to override the lock, and made it in about 2 AM.
But, I was up and at 'em the next day, and over at the school/ministry as we prepared for our sessions starting Monday. Work work work!
Just wanted to let all the retreat folks know that I made it back to Korea, in spite of some last minute stuff that popped up. I had to have some dental work done before I left, and it turned out to be more than a little. Anyway, it was all taken care of, and I made it to my plane on Thursday morning about five minutes before boarding.
My flight took me from St Louis to Chicago, and from Chicago to Beijing, where I was to transfer to Seoul. However, I had a bit of a hiccup in China. I was held back in China because I did not have a visa to be there. So, that created a delay, but FINALLY I was able to leave, and get to Seoul.
I got in about midnight Friday night my time, and I was unable to get into my apartment! I have a magnetic lock on my door, and the battery had died in it. Through a lot of creative communication, I was finally able to get someone to override the lock, and made it in about 2 AM.
But, I was up and at 'em the next day, and over at the school/ministry as we prepared for our sessions starting Monday. Work work work!
We started going to retreats a couple of years ago...we wanted to learn about PM and the people that lived it. What we got was a lot of friendships that we consider to be like family. It is amazing how meeting someone at a retreat just one time will make you look forward to seeing that person, that couple, or that family at the next one. We really don't go for the PM anymore, we just like the people and the fellowship.
And the cooking. And the worship. And the recreation. And the prayer. ETC.
IF you have never been, I highly recommend it especially for the men. Men tend to get lost and isolated, especially in PM situations. We need to remain in contact and hold each other up in prayer and support. The retreats always have been a great place for a group of men to get together and seek God.
Awesome times.
And the cooking. And the worship. And the recreation. And the prayer. ETC.
IF you have never been, I highly recommend it especially for the men. Men tend to get lost and isolated, especially in PM situations. We need to remain in contact and hold each other up in prayer and support. The retreats always have been a great place for a group of men to get together and seek God.
Awesome times.
So, I know I am super late to this party...but I had to chime in, the retreat was absolutely amazing! I feel so blessed to have met and connected with so many awesome people. I have to again thank everyone involved for helping make this weekend so memorable! Great fellowship, worship, food, and friends. My son still talks about how much fun he had and how much he enjoyed his new friends. We can't wait to see everyone at the next retreat (TN hopefully) and my husband will be joining Kierin and I this time! 
BTW...if you are a lurker here at BF (like I have been) don't hesitate to jump in, the retreats are awesome, and no crazy weirdos promise! :lol:
BTW...if you are a lurker here at BF (like I have been) don't hesitate to jump in, the retreats are awesome, and no crazy weirdos promise! :lol: