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Why Workshops?

Posted by Debby on September 1, 2015

I did a recent survey of our women, asking what elements of a retreat were most important to them. One of the surprises in the results was that a number of the women listed “workshops” in their top five answers. One woman commented on this. She said that she likes being able to select a topic, and “hit some areas of my spiritual walk that I need to work on.”

We don’t always have workshops. In fact, this year we have chosen to omit them, because we are having to fit a fourth Saturday session into the retreat schedule because our guest speaker has to leave early. Including workshops would take away from the little free time we do have, and that free time crucial to our ladies.

However, we most often do provide workshops of some kind. Some years we just have a special break-out workshop (separating married women, single women and teens). One year we centered on God’s Word (Bible survey, studying techniques, having devotions, memorizing scripture). Other ideas would include: mothers of preschoolers/elementary age/teens, dealing with emotions (anger, guilt, fear, etc.), prayer, friendship…the list is endless. Personally, I especially enjoy a workshop that has a panel discussions so you get a variety of perspectives on the topic.

One note about workshops: If you anticipate one being better attended than others (for instance, “married women”), we holdthat workshop in the main teaching area. To avoid having too many people in one workshop, you can have women choose a workshop and then close the workshop when you reach the maximum number that your room can hold.

Posted in: Ingredients for a Great Retreat, Ministry at the Retreat, News & Information, Retreat and Event Planning

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What Women Look Forward to at a Retreat

Posted by Debby on August 18, 2015

I recently did an informal survey among our women who regularly attend our retreats. One thing I wanted to find out was what they most look forward to in attending a ladies’ retreat. I loved the answer given by one of our ladies: “The best part of all retreats for me is when God shows up in some really personal and meaningful way.” Another woman added “I love the retreats because the Lord always either speaks to my heart, refreshes my soul and/or I get to see Him do this in another women’s life.” Many of those who responded referenced the time a retreat provides for them to seek God away from the distractions of a busy home life. To me, those answers sum up the purpose of a retreat–providing a time away from the distractions of “life” so that women can devote themselves to seeking and hearing from the Lord.

The informal survey gave women to opportunity to rate elements of the retreat in order of what was important to them. You might think that the women choose to attend the retreat based on the guest speaker or friends who are also attending. But those who come year after year were consistent in mentioning these as their top three:

Time of worship
Teaching and special speaker (“I want to get the meat of the Word at a retreat”)
Promise verse (“I look forward to my promise scripture, because even if it doesn’t speak to me at that time, it always does within the year that it was given to me.”)

Consistently within the top five were: Workshops and quiet time, and Free time and fellowship.

What do you look forward to at your retreats?

Posted in: Ingredients for a Great Retreat, Lessons Learned, News & Information, Retreat and Event Planning

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Make a Timeline

Posted by Debby on August 3, 2015

A timeline, or retreat planning calendar, is basically a schedule of what needs to be done by when in the planning of an event. It is wise to plan 9 to 12 months ahead of time. For a smaller event, 3 to 6 months may be sufficient. A longer timeline is helpful for smaller groups where individuals carry a bigger load. Planning a year in advance is not too soon, especially when speaker and venue availability is an issue.

It is a little like being pregnant! You have a 9-month deadline and have a list of things that need to be done before the date arrives. Based on that “due date,” you plan accordingly, and you know how much time you have before the “big day” arrives. There are things you can do almost immediately and things that will have to wait until just prior to the event.

When making your event timeline, begin with any cut-off dates that you have with the venue where the event will take place. Hotels, as well as other venues tell you the final date when they need to receive your list of attendees, which helps them plan for rooms and meals. These deadlines help you know how much time you have to plan and when to start and end registration. For example, if the hotel rooming list is due on November 1 for our November 12 retreat, I know that I need to schedule registration to end before that day and give myself time to make room adjustments. I also need to determine how many weeks our women will have to sign up, and coordinate church and bulletin announcements. So, in the above scenario, where the rooming list is due on Nov. 1, registration would begin in mid-September and end at the end of October, when final payment would be due.

Nov. 12 RETREAT
Nov. 1 Hotel requires rooming list
Oct. 25 End retreat registration
Sept.15 Begin retreat registration

This is the core of your retreat planning calendar. Other due dates and related events can be added to this as you go, helping to keep your planning on schedule.

Posted in: Lessons Learned, News & Information, Retreat and Event Planning, Starting Points in Retreat Planning

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Make Your Name Tags POP

Posted by Debby on July 7, 2015

I believe that if you host a women’s event, you need name tags. Personally, wearing name tags helps me avoid those awkward moments that begin with my well-rehearsed line: “I know we’ve met, but I’ve forgotten your name….” Name tags can be functional when they are simple and plain–BUT they can POP with very little extra effort. Name tags can actually become a memento of your event. As you can see in my somewhat photos above, I have kept mine over the years.

Here are some suggestions for easy ways you can enhance your name tags.

Use a large, block font for the name! Ever been to an event where you either had to squint to read the person’s name, or the font was so fancy that you were unsure if you were speaking to Tori or Lori? Put the person’s first name in a big, bold easy-to-read font. As you can see, we often put both the first and last name, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be as big.
Add a border! Yes, it takes up space on the name tag, but it can draw your attention to the name tag.
Add color! Black and white is boring. Make the border bright, or make the name colorful. Use black ink on a something-other-than-white paper (but make sure the black shows up well on the paper). Add a colorful, relevant sticker. Or use the graphic from the retreat, as we did.
Identify your event on the name tag–event, theme of the event, date (at least the year) or relevant scripture.
We add promise verses to our retreat name tags (on the reverse side)–but that’s another blog!

Feel free to share your suggestions! We’d love to hear them.

Posted in: Ingredients for a Great Retreat, Little Things Make a Big Difference!, News & Information, Retreat and Event Planning

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Tender Mercies

Posted by Debby on June 9, 2015

You may have noticed that my efforts to put out a weekly blog have fallen part in the last few months. Today, I’m going to take a little extra time to share my heart with you, my faithful readers, so please be patient with this longer-than-normal blog.

In February of this year, we lost our precious and irreplaceable pastor’s wife, Denise, who also was the heart and leader of the women’s ministry at our church. I, along with our women’s leadership team and so many others, have lost not only our leader and teacher, but an intercessor, prayer partner, mentor, friend and confidant. She is pictured and mentioned in the “about” section of the Retreat-in-a-Bag website, and was a huge supporter of our efforts to share what we have learned over the years of women’s ministry.

I have been called upon to step up and lead the women’s ministry, something that was never on my radar. While I hope that none of you ever go through a transition like this in your ministries, I want to share from my heart the tender ways that God has been ministering to us. Our loss was devastating, and all of our women’s leaders are still grieving; it would have been easy just to let things slide for a little while. Yet God has us moving “onward” despite the great hole left in our hearts.

May I share with you a few of God’s tender mercies to us during this time?

Back in February, our women’s Bible study was finished our verse by verse study in the book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk had seen the coming devastation of his people and had remembered His past deliverance. He recognized that great loss was inevitable in his future. Do you remember how Habakkuk finishes his message? He declares that no matter what loss he faces, he will choose to rejoice in the Lord. He will move forward in faith and in God’s strength, not stuck in the valley but with deer’s feet on the high hills. These verses were a sweet and timely comfort and encouragement from the Lord to our ladies.
Another mercy was His drawing together our leadership team in an even closer bond of love and support. When we gathered together, I looked around at a group of women who each had faced their own set of either health crises or difficult circumstances in the past year, and yet we drew together as one in our commitment to continue Denise’s loving legacy to our women’s ministry. That unity and support for one another was a tender mercy at a time when no doubt all of us felt that we had lost the wind beneath our sails.
Back in February, we were also just beginning to plan for our annual fall women’s retreat. We had the retreat center reserved, but were in the process of praying about the speaker and theme. Out of the blue, we were given the sweet gift of a retreat theme, special speaker and worship leader being more or less “dropped” in our laps without effort on our part. As I think about this upcoming retreat “Deeper Still”, I have no doubt that this is God’s gift to our women during this difficult year–that in our sorrow, He is calling us to a deeper walk with Him.
As I have been praying for direction for the women’s ministry studies and events for the remainder of this year, my quiet time has taken me through the Psalms and Proverbs. God spoke to my heart through an unexpected proverb–Proverbs 14:4, which says “Where no oxen are, the trough is clean; but much increase comes by the strength of an ox.” The NLT records it like this: “Without an ox, the stable stays clean, but you need a strong ox for a large harvest.” In other words, if you don’t have an ox–sure, life will be easier in some ways; you won’t have to clean the stable and you’ll avoid the inconveniences and cost of caring for the needs of an ox. But weigh that against the advantage of having an ox that will bring much increase in the long run. What is God saying? In His tender way, I believe He is saying–Yes, you can keep your calendar clear and not schedule anything extra for your ladies. But consider the benefits and blessings-yes, even the harvest– you may be missing

Thanks for letting me share today. My testimony is that our God is faithful. He cares for you, and He cares for your ministry. Are you or your ministry going through a dark valley? He wants to minister to you in your dark hours. Look for those sparkling gems of God’s tender mercies!

Posted in: Inspirations, Lessons Learned, News & Information, Realities of Ministry

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