Rest Fest 2018 – Youth Retreat

There are these moments where the presence of God brings me to my knees. Moments where I am in awe and wonder while I sit with my youth. Moments where tears spill from my eyes, full of gratitude for all Christ is doing. Rest Fest 2018 was one of those weekends.

We worshiped together, played together, ate together, experienced God together, and we bonded together. Retreats are highlights for our youth but often I don’t know if they realize they are highlights for us as leaders as well. We get to see them experience God in profound ways. We watch them grow as a group. We watch them grow or stretch in their faith. We see the new friendships forming. We see the leadership in kids blossom. We see Christ at work. These are precious moments to us, and why we are willing to give up a weekend to spend with middle school and high school students. All of the late nights are worth the lack of sleep.

Rest Fest was held this year in down town Denver at the Sheraton hotel. We joined 7 other youth groups from the area to worship and have fun together. We spent the weekend looking into the burdens of our lives, what weighs us down, what are we carrying or holding on to that Christ would much rather carry for us. How do we find rest for ourselves in the arms of Christ.

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28-20 MSG

We are grateful for the leaders who put this on, and for the other youth groups who joined with us. We cannot wait for next year!