NORTH CAROLINA – At the start of the New Year, a group of 30 young adults gathered at Camp Dixie for this year’s College and Career Retreat. Beginning on Friday evening, January 2nd through Sunday morning, January 4th, the group spent time in community, worship and Scripture. The theme for the weekend was “Castaway,” and the focus was on how God’s power is made perfect in our insecurities, inadequacies and fears.
Throughout the weekend, participants, most of whom were returning counselors and staff members, joined in small group conversations as they studied the stories of Moses, Jonah and Peter. During each session, groups were encouraged through how God worked in and through the lives of each of these biblical figures. The sessions included engaging group activities and team challenges as well as beautiful times of worship and prayer.
In addition, our college and career-bound students were able to spend time in community, sharing meals together, completing service projects and enjoying time playing basketball and volleyball in the newly renovated gym. For the service projects, participants joined teams based on their interests. One team traveled to town to gather supplies for “blessing bags,” another team used their creativity to write prayer and Scripture cards to go in the bags and another team helped to complete some organizational tasks in preparation for the upcoming summer. Everyone gathered to pack the blessing bags, pray over them and ask the Lord for opportunities to meet the needs of others in our surrounding communities.
The retreat was full of joy, reflection and excitement for the new year. Participants made their own “2026 Bingo Cards” filled with goals for the year. They were encouraged to take the cards with them and use them to reflect on God’s goodness and faithfulness in their lives throughout the year. Our prayer is that this retreat is a time at the start of each year for our staff and other participants to reconnect with each other, be encouraged through worship and Scripture and go into the year focused on loving God and loving others. Our goal is to provide opportunities to live in community and encourage our staff and camper alumni throughout the year, not just in the summer, and this year’s College and Career Retreat was one of those amazing opportunities.
