College Leadership Retreat

When the month of August rolls around each year, the college ministry at Crosspoint takes on a drastic change. Not only does the population of returning students skyrocket, but there are also about 4,000 new freshmen arriving to start their first semester of college. Since we want to be faithful to minister to these students, we must take time to plan as well as to get to know these students when they get here.

One way we prepare ourselves is by taking a college retreat for all of the college staff at Crosspoint as well as the college students who are on our leadership team. This retreat serves two main purposes: refreshment before the craziness of a new year starts and logistical preparation for the semester ahead.

The team spent two nights with a family from our church who was gracious enough to open their home and whose small group helped prepare and serve our meals. We spent the first night catching up and sharing about our summers and telling each other things God had been teaching us while we were apart. We continued meeting the next morning and discussed many of the activities Crosspoint is hosting for students as they come back, such as an Ice Cream Social, Ultimate Frisbee, a Trivia Night, and Starting Point where they can learn more about our small group opportunities.



The retreat wasn’t all work and no play, though! Thankfully the family we stayed with lives on Lake Keowee, and we had an afternoon for lake time. Between swimming, skiing, and boating, students and staff were able to enjoy a great end-of-summer lake day. We gathered together again that night to have one last meeting before trying to get some sleep to get up early to help freshmen move in the next morning.

Although there has been and will be a lot going on during this time of year, the challenge in all of it is to keep the Gospel central to our purpose. It is so easy to get sidetracked or to lose perspective, but the desire of our hearts is that these events would not be an end in and of themselves. Instead we desire to see more disciples of Christ made in the Clemson area and the nations, and we hope that God will use our labor for His glory.

-Written by Savannah Stone & Pictures taken by Jesse Winchester