From New York to Jenness Park
By Jennifer Lloyd
Where men go to find a great retreat designed to glorify Christ that is geared especially for fathers and sons? That question can be answered by Ashley and Matthew Barto from New Rochelle, New York. This father and son team wanted to spend a weekend at a Christian retreat, so they looked on the internet and found Jenness Park Christian Camp’s Father/Son 2007 weekend.
The Father/Son retreat at Jenness Park was held May 4-7, 2007. The theme of the weekend was “In the Eye of the Storm.” The speaker, church-planting pastor Chad Mantooth, from Sonrise Community Church in Palmdale, CA, spoke about finding God’s peace in the storms of life. Worship was lead by Scott Heinrichs, a music student from Biola University. He encouraged the gentlemen to be sure to look for sound Biblical doctrine in hymns, songs, and readings. Seminar topics included forgiveness, volunteering, developing a vital men’s ministry, and worship. The men and boys also were able to participate in activities such as driving the new go-carts, driving toilet racers, navigating an orienteering challenge, and shooting archery and paintball. Greg Harvey and his sons Josh and Justin who have been attending the Father/Son retreats for several years commented, “We’ve always enjoyed the program. This year we loved the go-carts and the forgiveness seminar.”
Ashley and Matthew Barto traveled all the way from New York to Jenness Park for the weekend largely due to the topic of finding God during the storms. Matthew is interested in weather and hopes to be a meteorologist when he finishes school. Connecting God to weather intrigued Matthew. Matthew thoughtfully stated, “The worship with Scott is... I can’t put it into words… It is inspiring and reverent.” Ashely Barto, Matthew’s father said, “We’ve been blessed to be here. God spoke to our hearts to do something together. We looked on the web cam and decided this was the place where God was directing us. We’ve been encouraged by Scott’s worship leading and by Chad’s messages.” Also a favorite for the Barto duo was the lesson in orienteering. “After learning about the compass, maps, and direction, we felt more connected to God and His mountains,” remarked Ashely Barto.
More important than the exciting activities and motivating seminars was the way that fathers and sons were able to spend time connecting with each other and enjoying fellowship in the Lord. The greatest highlight of the weekend was witnessing the change in life that happened when four young men received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
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