YIB (Your Intrepid Blogger) has been trying to upload some photos of the Northwest Focus Retreat both yesterday and today, but “no-go.” It will have to wait until our return to civilization!
There is one phone line here into the camp high in the Cascades, and when you can connect with dialup (at 24K!), it’s a short hookup because the line needs to be kept free for incoming and outgoing calls (including the payphone–cellphones are useless here). I think the photo files are too big and “choking” the tenuous connection.
So….the Northwest Focus Retreat at Camp Clear Lake has gone very well. Some 25 pastors and church leaders in all have been gathering for three days to study Psalm 119 and to share joys and struggles of being in ministry together.
Pastors Greg Stamm (Toppenish), Juan Marenco (Mabton, Hispanic) and others have done a good job of “setting up” the study sections. Doug Lee from California has been leading us in music and worship. The retreat concludes late this morning (Wednesday).
Rain we have a-plenty. It pretty much has rained nonstop, so that makes for a lot of around-the-coffee conversations.
The most major “incident” is that the luggage of GBNAM executive director Tim Boal never made it (if US Air finds it they’re sending it all back to Philadelphia) so he’ll be on a clothes-shopping trip when he leaves here to complete other stops on the west coast.
As always, some churches are struggling, and others are enjoying a “growth curve” and it’s exciting to hear how God is working in both the good times and the difficult. God is doing some wonderful things through the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches.
Photos when we get back to civilization!