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ANNOUNCING…..Our New Retreat-in-a-Bag Website!

Posted by Debby on August 22, 2012

Announcing the new and improved Retreat-In-A-Bagwebsite. For our subscribers, go take a look at www.retreatinabag.net.

For the two-and -a-half years we have been in existence, we have been primarily a blog site, with the goal of encouraging women’s ministry leaders, particularly those in small churches. Our long-term goal was always to share our resources, accomplished at first through our Retreat-in-a-Bag book series. But we have a lot of “homegrown” resources that we want to share as free downloads, and we are finally at a place where this is possible. While our blogs are still a vital part of our website, now we are achieving our original goal of making resources–skits, quiet time studies, graphics and forms–available for download. Check it out! We will be adding to these downloadable resources as quickly as possible. We are so excited to share these with you! As you explore the new website, we would greatly appreciate your input and comments. If you find a use for our resources, we would love your feedback.

It is beyond the scope of our vision for this website to include recipes, craft ideas and so many other things that are helpful to women’s ministries. That is why we are posting links to direct you to some of the more helpful women’s ministry websites.

Help us get the word out about Retreat-In-A-Bag by liking us on Facebook here.

Posted in: Resources

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Aaron and Hur Revisited

Posted by Debby on August 15, 2012

When I think of being an assistant to your leader, I think of Aaron and Hur, two men who came to the side of Moses in Exodus 17:8-13. We have discussed their roles as Moses’ assistants in previous blogs.

It is important to note that Aaron and Hur were not Moses’ only assistants. While they accompanied Moses to his post at the top of the hill, worked closely by his side….another assistant was down on the field in the heat of the battle. Joshua was fighting, leading the troops as Moses had commanded. While Aaron and Hur were proving themselves indispensable to Moses on the top of the hill, Joshua was proving himself a leader on the battlefield.

Was one assistant more important than another? Were Aaron and Hur the preferred ones, chosen to accompany Moses and be close to his side? The truth is, the “hero” of the story is God…the power of God won that battle with Amalek. Moses, Aaron, Hur, Joshua and a group of unnamed soldiers were used by God, working together according to their individual gifts and callings, and the mission was accomplished.

Posted in: Developing Leadership, Inspirations

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Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

Posted by Debby on July 18, 2012

I want to encourage you to save all of your planning materials from year to year. Keep your notes, charts, schedules and all other planning materials. You will be surprised how often you can reuse these by making a few changes. For instance, as you begin planning a new event, pull up your previous planning calendar on your computer and update it for your current event, and then rename the file. This way you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you plan a women’s event. Keeping notes about what “worked” and what “didn’t work” is also a great idea. Having a debriefing meeting as soon as possible after your event will help you remember to write down some of these “hits” and “misses” so that you can be constantly fine-tuning and improving your event.

Posted in: Retreat and Event Planning

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First Decisions

Posted by Debby on July 11, 2012

Planning an event a year in advance is not too soon, especially when speaker and venue availability are issues.

When planning for an event, of course the first thing to do is pray, making sure that the Lord is leading you. The event location, date and speaker are the first decisions to be made, and all of these, of course, have to coincide! It may happen that one of those three is non-negotiable–perhaps only one date works for your group, or you have made a firm determination of the speaker you want. Then you adjust accordingly. The location and speaker both need to be available on the date selected. Or, if the date and location are firm, then you may need to find a speaker who is available on the particular date needed. As much as possible, your speaker should have the final word on the date that works best for her, so that may require flexibility with the date and location.

When those first decisions are made, then the fun begins!

Posted in: Retreat and Event Planning, Starting Points in Retreat Planning

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The Enemy Lurks

Posted by Debby on July 5, 2012

Don’t labor under the misunderstanding that as we escape everyday life to “retreat” that we are also escaping the enemy. In fact, you may encounter an enemy who is mad that his efforts to spoil your retreat were not successful. Expect to deal with the enemy’s shenanigans!

Want to hear some examples from our retreats?

Of course, there are always equipment glitches that come up – the microphone doesn’t work, delaying a session; the recording does not record; the powerpoint doesn’t work; the electricity goes out–we’ve had all of those at one time or another;
Traffic and/or weather issues to and from the retreat venue;
Climate control in the venue;
We have had two or three fire alarms late at night–what are the odds of that happening?
In busy venues, where your meeting room is next to another, there is always the danger of noisy and distracting neighbors, or complaints about your music/noise. Often, our meeting room seems to be located near the hotel kitchen, where the hotel staff and the clanging of dishes can be a major distraction;
One year (and this was classic) the hotel wine cabinet was located in our meeting room. Because of a wedding going on the same evening, hotel personnel were going in and out of our room all evening retrieving liquor bottles!

You can’t plan for it, but you can EXPECT the enemy to bring conflicts and complications to your retreat. Make it a matter of prayer throughout your retreat planning.

Posted in: Lessons Learned, Realities of Ministry, Retreat and Event Planning

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