From January 30-February 3, leaders from the Oregon-Idaho Camp and Retreat Ministries spent the week in central Texas at Lakeview UM Conference Center.

Why? They were attending a bi-annual national conference where they and 275 other camp and retreat leaders spent time with old friends, made new friends, played, learned, worshiped, and grew together as a community.

I attended excellent workshops covering everything from improving and developing an annual appeal, to aligning camp with annual conference priorities, to re-telling your project management through a story-telling frame.

We all immersed ourselves in the wisdom of United Methodist Camp and Retreat Executive, Rev. Kevin Witt, Camp leader and psychologist, Bob Ditter, and Texas preacher Rev. Jenna Morrison. Through their vulnerable sharing, I was inspired to hear how camps can be a means of grace in the Wesleyan framework, teaching disciples and leaders the arts of personal, spiritual, and creation formation.

I was moved by how much love and care there is among this great cloud of witnesses, past and present.

Finally, while I did make a ton of new friends, I loved re-connecting with old friends from the Pacific Northwest (my "ministry birthplace"!), among others from around the country, in the after hours in surprising downtown Palestine.

Over the next three weeks, you will be hearing from the leaders at the sites (Magruder, Latgawa, and Suttle Lake) who were represented at the gathering, sharing their perspectives in how this event may have an impact on their ministries.