Blizzard 2024 is our high school winter retreat hosted at Muskoka Woods. This year’s speaker features Tammy Giffen with Life Support as our worship team. Why join on February 9-11? This is an epic retreat with 500+ high school students from churches across Ontario and Quebec gathering in the Muskokas. Your church will be one of 4 teams converging in Muskoka for an 40 hours of fun, worship and learning
This past weekend was our 23rd year of Blizzard, the first in-person since 2020. Lisa Pak drew us into the stories of Joseph, Daniel and Esther. Life Support drew us into God's presence through worship. A key focus this weekend was the concept of journey: with God, with friends and with trusted mentors. The intersection of our lives with one another centralizes in Christ and connects with various people
This past weekend, over 550 students and leaders descended on Muskoka Woods for a weekend to explore our identity in Christ. Mike Gordon walked through John 4 (Jesus and the Samaritan woman) in seeing how the woman wanted to project her identity, how Jesus saw behind it and who Jesus really said she was. Mix in some personal stories (including surgery) and students were drawn into considering who Jesus says
Do you see yourself as you really are? In a world that tries to define each of us, each point of view tells maybe one part of our story (and some viewpoints are not true at all!). So who do we listen to? We’re reminded that as we know and grow closer to Jesus, he knows us as we really are (1 Corinthians 13:12). His voice is the one we
Another season of retreats is complete. This weekend featured the Irish-Canadian Kevin McGlade from Sarnia and Life Support leading worship. Kevin tied together the stories of Adam and Eve, Zaccheus and the Prodigal Son, demonstrating God's initiative to seek us out and his invitation to us to join him. We praised God in extended worship. We even celebrated those who chose to say "yes" to Jesus for the first
What a Blizzard weekend it was! With just over 315 students and leaders on site, we were led into worship with Life Support (celebrating their 10+ years of ministry with us) and God spoke through Mona Scrivens.There were many circumstances surrounding this Blizzard. A variety of external factors could have easily distracted our team. By Friday morning, many of us had a sense that God would do something remarkable (and
We have now hosted 50 Avalanche/Blizzard retreats. Let's call this "The Golden Blizzard". With over 300 students and leaders at Muskoka Woods, many memories and spiritual steps were taken this past weekend. Derek Selinger led students through the understanding of hope, juxtaposing it against despair and understanding why Jesus is the greatest hope. Throughout the weekend, we heard numerous students seriously consider what this means in their lives. Some
Blizzard 1 for 2018 was the 49th winter retreat CBOQ Youth has hosted. Our speaker, Matt Adams, brought illusions that blew the mind. (He even performed illusions and hung out with students through the weekend.) More importantly, he drew people to Jesus, sharing how Christ is the greatest hope. Life Support amped up students and leaders in worship, including their rendition (with a lot of crowd participation) of the
For over 17 years, these retreats have become landmark experiences for thousands of teenagers on their spiritual journey. This is one of the most anticipated and impactful weekends that students experience as it brings together fun, great teaching, spiritual growth, awesome food, and crazy activities. Our hope is that our churches make this a “must do” experience for their teens, as it is a place where the value of the
For over 17 years, these retreats have become landmark experiences for thousands of teenagers on their spiritual journey. This is one of the most anticipated and impactful weekends that students experience as it brings together fun, great teaching, spiritual growth, awesome food, and crazy activities. Our hope is that our churches make this a “must do” experience for their teens, as it is a place where the value of the
