Photo by: Henoc Kivuye
For those interested in sharing their mission experiences and fellowship with other mission-minded individuals, the Global Outreach Retreat is still open to all interested students. The GO Retreat begins Sept. 13 at Central Christian Camps in Guthrie, Okla.
The annual GO Retreat is designed for students to gather in one place to worship God, share what he is doing in the world through mission experiences, discover his purposes through sharing and find ways to go back into the world to serve. Sign-ups will be held in the Student Center until Thursday Sept. 12. The booth will be taking sign-ups from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
This year is also the first year an outside speaker will be coming to speak at the GO Retreat. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, spiritual writer, leader of the New Monasticism movement and co-author with Shane Claiborne, will be speaking at the GO Retreat on themes from his book, “The Awakening of Hope.” Sierra Gustafson, an Oklahoma Christian junior is determined to hear such an in demand speaker at the retreat this year.
“I always heard about the GO Retreat, but I never went because of work and stuff,” Gustafson said. “But when I heard about this speaker, I was like, I have to go. I don’t care what I have to do, I will do whatever I can to go.”
Ben Langford, director of the Center for Global Missions, encourages all students to attend.
“There’s nothing better than getting students together to talk about God and his purposes in the world and then see them share stories about what he is doing and compassion about what he is doing,” Langford said.
The retreat is held with the desire to allow students to share their mission experiences with others who are willing to listen and see God working in the world. The retreat is also held in the hopes that students are able to use their experiences to not only build their faith, but also to help others see what they can do to serve. Senior Kyle Keesee, who recently got back from a trip to Australia, attends the retreat because it allows him to explore his experiences with others.
“I got off the plane, and I’m still trying to figure out what that means – what the trip means to me, so it’s really good for those that have just gone on these trips to kind of debrief, kind of think about what they’ve done, how it’s helped them, how it’s strengthened their faith,” Keesee said.
The GO Retreat is open to any and all students who are interested in mission work, even if they have never participated in a mission trip before. Senior Lauren Kennedy said that the GO Retreat is a wonderful way to learn about information and experiences in a way that no one else can.
“The GO Retreat was really good because I had questions from a student perspective on what it was like to go on different types of mission trips,” Kennedy said. “I was able to ask questions that you can’t necessarily get from the pamphlets.”
Keesee also encourages students to attend the retreat even if they have never gone on a mission trip before.
“You don’t have to be wanting to be a long-term missionary or have gone on a mission trip,” Keesee said. “If you just want to learn more about missions and those kinds of things, go on the GO Retreat.”
Games will also be hosted by Outreach, Oklahoma Christian’s community service and missions club.
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