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Author Archive

First Decisions

Posted by Debby on July 11, 2012

Planning an event a year in advance is not too soon, especially when speaker and venue availability are issues.

When planning for an event, of course the first thing to do is pray, making sure that the Lord is leading you. The event location, date and speaker are the first decisions to be made, and all of these, of course, have to coincide! It may happen that one of those three is non-negotiable–perhaps only one date works for your group, or you have made a firm determination of the speaker you want. Then you adjust accordingly. The location and speaker both need to be available on the date selected. Or, if the date and location are firm, then you may need to find a speaker who is available on the particular date needed. As much as possible, your speaker should have the final word on the date that works best for her, so that may require flexibility with the date and location.

When those first decisions are made, then the fun begins!

Posted in: Retreat and Event Planning, Starting Points in Retreat Planning

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The Enemy Lurks

Posted by Debby on July 5, 2012

Don’t labor under the misunderstanding that as we escape everyday life to “retreat” that we are also escaping the enemy. In fact, you may encounter an enemy who is mad that his efforts to spoil your retreat were not successful. Expect to deal with the enemy’s shenanigans!

Want to hear some examples from our retreats?

Of course, there are always equipment glitches that come up – the microphone doesn’t work, delaying a session; the recording does not record; the powerpoint doesn’t work; the electricity goes out–we’ve had all of those at one time or another;
Traffic and/or weather issues to and from the retreat venue;
Climate control in the venue;
We have had two or three fire alarms late at night–what are the odds of that happening?
In busy venues, where your meeting room is next to another, there is always the danger of noisy and distracting neighbors, or complaints about your music/noise. Often, our meeting room seems to be located near the hotel kitchen, where the hotel staff and the clanging of dishes can be a major distraction;
One year (and this was classic) the hotel wine cabinet was located in our meeting room. Because of a wedding going on the same evening, hotel personnel were going in and out of our room all evening retrieving liquor bottles!

You can’t plan for it, but you can EXPECT the enemy to bring conflicts and complications to your retreat. Make it a matter of prayer throughout your retreat planning.

Posted in: Lessons Learned, Realities of Ministry, Retreat and Event Planning

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Focal Point Decorating

Posted by Debby on June 20, 2012

Decorating can be an overwhelming task when you are trying to decorate an entire room or more than one room in the venue where your retreat or event is taking place. Instead, try limiting your decorations to the focal point. Obviously, this would be where all eyes are during the retreat sessions–probably at and around the speaker’s podium. This could include a cluster of decorations in front of the podium or on the dais on either side, and/or a banner on the wall directly behind the speaker. By doing this, ladies are focused on the retreat theme for the bulk of the retreat.

Posted in: Decorations, Money-Saving Tips, Retreat and Event Planning

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The Teen Scene

Posted by Debby on June 13, 2012

Women’s retreats and teenage young women–how do you handle the teen issue? We love to include teen girls in our women’s retreats! Our practice has been to allow young women who are junior high age and up to attend.

Teens who attend our retreats basically fall into these three groups:

Teens who come to a retreat with their mom and room with their mom;
Teens who come to the women’s retreat with their friends and their mom will not be in attendance;
Teens who come to the retreat with their mom, but would prefer to stay with other teens.

Here are a few things we do to accommodate our teens:

Find a teen chaperone. Do you have a woman wh0 has a heart for teenage girls? Best case scenario, that woman already works with the youth, and is willing to be with them during the retreat.
Permission slip. For those whose mom will not be at the retreat, a responsible adult must be identified (in writing) and given written permission to make decisions as a parent at the retreat. This permission must be signed by the parent.
Give them a room together. We ask the hotel or camp for a larger room, so that the teens can all room together with their chaperone. Hopefully, we can then lower the price for the teens who choose to stay in the group room.
Plan teen events at the retreat. We may plan a few special events for the teens, ranging from a special workshop to special free time activities.

Posted in: Lessons Learned, Ministry at the Retreat, Retreat and Event Planning

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Imposing the “No TV” Rule

Posted by Debby on June 6, 2012

It seems like this should go without saying. Retreats are not the time to relax in front of the TV. We get more than enough TV time in our normal lives. But those nice TVs in the hotel rooms where we often have our retreats can be very tempting. So one of the “suggestions” we make to the women at the beginning of the retreat is that they keep those TVs turned off, so that they can stay focused on the Lord.

How the enemy would love to distract our ladies from what God desires to do in their lives at the retreat by using the television! These days, perhaps we should include iPods, iPhones and other electronic distractions, too!

Posted in: Lessons Learned, Retreat and Event Planning

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