October 2004

Your Intrepid Blogger is off again, this time to the Chesapeake Bay and Sandy Cove Retreat Center in Maryland for the East Coast Focus Retreat (via a family wedding in Baton Rouge enroute). Do pray for longtime Grace Brethren pastor Gilbert Hawkins, who is currently in Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne for tests on his […]

Your Intrepid Blogger and wife are spending Thursday through Sunday at The Billy Graham Training Center, “The Cove,” near Asheville, North Carolina, with managers and CEOs of other Christian organizations. The retreat is sponsored by Christian Management Association–we are leading music for the worship sessions and enjoying meeting ministry peers from around the US and

The Chatlos Memorial Chapel, highlighted here in the late afternoon October sun, is one of the “jewel pieces” of The Cove Billy Graham Training Center, near Asheville. Set on 1,600 acres, the training property is just gorgeous this time of year. We’re here along with about 40 others in a four-day retreat sponsored by the

One of the presenters at the CMA event is John Lynch, a storyteller, writer and playwright who is also the teaching pastor at Open Door Fellowship in Phoenix, AZ. Lynch is shown here giving a humorous reading as part of an informal “tell your story” gathering on Saturday night. Part of the retreat program was

An excellent panel discussion of “How to Run and Not Lose Heart” this Wednesday morning concluded the Central Focus Retreat at Pokagon State Park in Indiana. Panel members, from left, included Tom Gale (associate pastor, Norton, OH north campus); Pastor Bob Arenobine (solo pastor in Fort Wayne, IN for 21 years) and Pastor Will Lohnes

Grace Brethren pastors and church leaders are gathering Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at the Potawatomi Inn in Pokagon State Park in northeast Indiana for a Focus Retreat. Sessions are titled “Guard Your Heart,” “Restoring Your Heart,” “Others and My Heart,” “Ministry From the Heart” and “How to Run and Not Lose Heart.” FGBC Coordinator Tom

Part of Tuesday’s agenda at the Central Focus Retreat was some “alone time” with God to reflect and meditate. Here the current moderator of the Fellowship, Pastor Dan Allan of Ashland, Ohio, finds a serene moment on the porch of the Potawatomi Inn overlooking Lake James. 

Gettin’ a little crazy. Pastors and church leaders at the Central Focus Retreat took a little time from serious business to enjoy some fun songs and activities Tuesday afternoon. 

YIB (Your Intrepid Blogger) will be offline much of this week. Today begins the first of five Focus Retreats around the country for Grace Brethren pastors and church leaders–this one is at Pokagon State Park ‘way up in the northeast corner of Indiana. Likely won’t have internet access from there, so I’ll have some photos

Ohio State University Revises Policy, Allows Religious Clubs to Remain ‘Religious’ by Jim Brown October 8, 2004 (AgapePress) – One of the largest public universities in the country has reversed course and will now allow the Christian Legal Society and other evangelical student groups to limit their membership to Christians. In a dramatic about-face, Ohio