Trinity Bible Church
www.trinitybiblechurch.us • Contact Us
All Church Retreat
March 9-11, 2007
Use the following links for information as originally
posted on the homepage for the all-church retreat:
|| Directions || "When and Where"
|| "What To Bring" || "What To Do"
|| "Schedule" ||
|| January 17, 2007 || January 24, 2007 || January 31, 2007 ||
February 14, 2007
Dear Church Family:
With just over three weeks before our church family retreat, some people are starting to ask about
"Plan B" options for those unable to commit to the entire weekend at Singing Hills (March 9-11).
We haven't exactly publicized these alternatives up to this point because we really, really want you
to come for the whole retreat, believing that's how you'll get the most out of the experience, and
how others will most benefit from your presence. But realizing that some simply cannot get off work
(hope you've asked!) or are constrained by family needs,
we want you to come for any parts of the retreat you can, and especially for our Sunday morning worship
service and lunch together. I'm enclosing a copy of the tentative retreat schedule, and I hope if you
can't spend the weekend with us, you can at least make the 45-minute drive to Plainfield for some of the
main sessions. Here are a few details…
If you can join us sometime on Saturday but can't stay overnight, fill out one of the gray
"option" registration forms that will be at the retreat table in the foyer on Sunday, so that we can
tell Singing Hills how many to expect at each meal. Our cost will be about $5 apiece per meal (half
for kids under 10), and we'd appreciate whatever portion of that you're able to contribute.
(Meals are already covered if you're registered for the whole retreat.)
On the Sunday of the retreat (March 11) there will be no services at the church,
so please join us at Singing Hills for worship at 10:30 (note that it's earlier than our usual
time) and stay for lunch (cost is $5). To make it easier for those who come over on Sunday, we are
planning to organize caravans/carpools which will depart at around 9:30 from two staging points: one
at the church and the other at the New London Park & Ride (just south of exit 12). If you plan to come
on Sunday, there will be a clipboard in the foyer for the next three Sundays where you can sign up and
indicate whether or not you'll be either following or catching a ride with one of the two caravans.
One other note about Sunday … We won't be bringing the offering box to the retreat, so please keep that in mind as you plan your giving in March.
Next week I'll tell you more about the program for the weekend — the theme that Ray Dupere, our retreat speaker, will be addressing, as well as what's being planned for the children during our main sessions. As always, there's a plethora of information at the table in the foyer on Sunday, along with all the registration materials you'll need.
Your fellow-servant,
(signed) Doug Dean
January 31, 2007
Dear Church Family:
In case you haven't picked this up from my weekly letters recently, I really want you all
to come to the church family retreat March 9-11! Thought I'd get that out in the open
in case anybody missed it. For any of you who have a scheduling conflict with work that
weekend, if you will let me know, the elders and I will be praying specifically for you as
you approach your boss or one of your coworkers about switching the schedule around so that
you can participate. You might be surprised what can happen, but it won't if you don't ask.
Today I want to tell you about one piece on the retreat schedule that promises to be a lot of
fun. On Saturday evening after dinner, we're planning a Variety Show starring … you!
We will have been encouraged and challenged by our retreat speaker twice earlier in the day, and
we will have enjoyed an afternoon of hiking or sliding or games or fireside chats, so for the
evening we plan to kick back in the chapel for an entertaining and hopefully edifying,
hour of skits and slongs and displays of talent (and even non-talent!), all intended for us
simply to enjoy a creative family time together as a church.
What we need from many of you is to come up with something you'd be willing to share with the rest
of us. The key word is "variety", so think outside the box if a more traditional "talent" isn't
your thing. It can be funny or serious, one person or a whole group or family. Sing a song.
Juggle. Prepare a kit. Read a poem. Do a kazoos-and-armpits rendition of "Blue Danube".
(Some of you will remember the Deans did that a number of years
ago!) Play an instrument. One of the small groups has talked about producing
a video ahead of time to play for us. Do an interpretive dance.
(Not you, Ed!) Be a standup comic. Pull a rabbit out of a hat ……
Do you get the general idea?
Would each of you please give this some thought, talk about it at the dinner table and in your
small groups, brainstorm some ideas, and be willing to share yourself with the church family in
this "safe" and affirming setting? You have more than a month to get your "act" together, if
you start the creative juices flowing now. As you decide what you want to do with it, please
let me know what you have in mind, so that we can shape up the show as the weekend of March 9-11
approaches.
If you haven't registered for the retreat yet, find Bob in the foyer at the retreat table on Sunday.
Your fellow-servant,
(signed) Doug Dean
January 24, 2007
Dear Church Family:
In my letter to you last week about our March 9-11 retreat at Singing Hills, I mentioned
our speaker for the weekend, Ray Dupere (pronounced doo-PREE), whose talks at the
three main sessions will provide much of the fuel for our spiritual growth together. I
thought this week I'd tell you a little more about Ray and Avril to give you a sense of
why we've invited them.
I met Ray and Avril 25 years ago when I first moved to New Hampshire and plugged into a
church where Ray was an elder and Avril was the pianist/choir director. (Incidentally,
Eli Mercer, whom you know from his frequent guest preaching here, was our pastor.) Kim
had actually known Ray and Avril even longer - he coached her in middle school softball,
and Avril taught music at her high school. We got to know the Duperes well, at the same
time we were getting to know each other, as we were in one of the church's small groups
together. A year after Kim and I married, she and I headed to Dallas for seminary, while
Ray, having already received his training there, accepted a call to pastor a church near
Bangor, Maine.
Two years later, we rejoined Ray and AVril for a summer internship at their church, as Dave
and Gloria did here last summer, and then after graduation moved back there for two more
years, serving as part-time associate pastor (and teaching at a public middle school and caring
for babies at home) before coming to Trinity. Through our close association with Ray and
Avril in all those years, Kim and I did a lot of growing - as husband and wife, as young
parents, in ministry, in following Christ.
Ray went on to lead that church in Maine for 18 years as pastor, and he and Avril have just
returned from 4 years in England, where he helped to organize chaplaincies for professional
sports clubs, serving as chaplain himself for Premiere League "football" (soccer to us)
team. They are now back in the States waiting for the Lord to lead them into another pastorate,
which means for the first time since I have been at Trinity, he's available on a weekend to come
and speak. Just as we have been blessed to have another of my mentors, Eli, preach from time to
time, I believe this church family stands to benefit from hearing from another friend whose life
and ministry has significantly shaped mine.
Besides hearing Ray in our main sessions challenge us to grow as God's children, you'll enjoy
visiting with him and Avril during the more unstructured times of the retreat. They're
interesting people who enjoy life and love to laugh, complementing their serious side. They've
agreed to host a Skip-Bo(R) tournament during our Saturday afternoon free time, to commemorate
the countless hours Kim and I sat with them at their kitchen table playing that card game when
we lived upstairs in their guest apartment in Maine. The game is fun; the fellowship will be
even better!
Retreat and registration info remain avilable in the foyer on Sundays. "Find Bob."
Your fellow-servant,
(signed) Doug
P.S.
Please be praying for those who are asking now for time off work that weekend so they can go.
January 17, 2007
Dear Church Family:
For several weeks we've been asking you to "block off" the weekend of March 9-11
for our all-church retreat at Singing Hills in Plainfield, NH, and telling you we'd fill
you in on the details. Some of those details began falling into place last night as
the elders met, so I thought I'd bring you up to speed so you'll know what we're asking
you to plug into that blocked-off weekend!
Purpose: why a retreat? Our primary goal for the weekend is to
challenge each of us to grow in our walk with Christ. There's something about
a change of pace, a variation in venue, breaking away from the noise and distractions
of our normal day-to-day context, that enables us to tune in to the voice of God through
His word in a fresh way. And there's something about doing that together that
galvanizes us as a church family and catapults us forward in the Lord's service. That
has been our experience at Trinity over the past few years with some of the big events we've
done together, most notably the 40 Days of Purpose a couple of years ago and last year's
Kearsarge Workcamp. The retreat is our next "big event" on the horizon, and we're
praying that it will have a similar positive impact in our own lives.
Place: is this like summer camp? While Singing Hills is not exactly a
luxury resort, it's a lot nicer and cleaner than what you may remember from summer camp.
They're known for their food service, they can sleep families together in rooms with parents in
real beds (not saggy bunk beds), and most rooms have private or semi-private baths.
Our whole group will be together in a building that includes sleeping areas, the chapel for our
meetings, and several very comfortable lounges with 24-hour coffee and cocoa service.
Program: what will happen there? We're working on a program that will balance
structured and relatively unstructured opportunities to worship, to be challenged in our
walk with God, and to kick back together and enjoy ourselves. We're bringing in
Kim's and my long-time friends and mentor, Ray Dupere with his wife Avril, to be our
keynote speaker at two main sessions on Saturday and at our worship service on Sunday
(which will be at the retreat that weekend). Friday night and Saturday night
gatherings will be geared more for relaxed fun (some of which, if we go with the elders'
suggestion, may involve me embarrassing myself) — stay tuned for announcements about those.
Saturday afternoon we'll have a long list of recreation and entertainment options,
some semi-structured (e.g., a quick tournament or two, maybe a Veggie Tales marathon),
others truly "free" time (hiking, tubing, puzzles, reading, playground, etc.). We'll
announce more details, including a program for children, as those pieces are ironed out.
Price: how do I register? We've underwritten the bulk of the expense
from the church budget so that cost will not be prohibitive for anyone. The
registration fee will be only $15/person or $40/family, which is probably less than
we would pay for groceries for the weekend at home. >>> [on-line edit]
A
registration form can be printed, filled out, and either mailed or brought to Trinity Bible Church.
[end on-line edit]
This is at least an overview of what is planned so far, so that you can begin to see what
TBC's leadership is envisioning. We'll continue to spell it out further over the (coming)
weeks until March 9. I hope you'll choose to be part of it.
Your fellow-servant,
(signed) Doug Dean
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This page was last updated on 01/14/10