Sometimes we realize how deep our souls really are; most of the time we don’t. Yet it’s in the depths that we discover some key truths God has implanted in us. This year’s youth pastor’s retreat attempted to dig down deep into the souls of 15 youth leaders (including 1 senior pastor) at Camp Kwasind. Time and space was set aside for such exploration.

Our retreat began with a night of prayer and worship that culminated in our time of communion. Darin and Jeremy Martin led us towards the presence of God as we lifted praises, prayers and burdens before God.

Jason Hildebrand joined us Tuesday. The morning was a workshop on how to “breathe” and included ways our posture can help access some of those inner depths of the soul. We saw the transformation of four individuals, through Jason’s gift of discernment, and everyone was affirmed by their God-given messages. That evening Jason shared excerpts of his performances, which were intermixed with small group discussions.

We were also joined by Dale Winder (Executive Director of Canadian Youth Network), Tim McCoy (Executive Minister of CBOQ), Cid Latty (Congregational Development Associate of CBOQ) who, along with Jason, provided coaching sessions. There were also lots of informal conversations among the participants about ministry and peer coaching.

On Wednesday morning, we looked into the Imaginative Hope document (from the Canadian Baptist Youth and Family Invitational Forum) to foster better understanding and to offer additional insights.

Overall, words such as “refreshed” and “well spent” suggested God did indeed speak into the souls of our youth pastors. To Him we are forever grateful.