The weekend of April 14th through April 16th, 40 Men from St David's participated in our 13th Annual Men's Retreat at Unicoi State Park, Helen, GA.
At Noon on Friday, April 14th, Gary Dunsmore arranged for eleven men to play golf at Innsbruck Golf Course in Helen while Bryan Jacob took seven other men hiking in the mountains to Helen and back. Rain cut some of these activities short but did not dampen the fellowship and enjoyment of being together outdoors. After the afternoon activities, everyone reconvened at Unicoi State Park for an evening cookout followed by fellowship around the fire.
The program began Saturday morning in the “Beach House, a conference facility overlooking Unicoi Lake. Dr. Coleman presented “Discipleship and You, " divided into four sessions. Each session began by introducing a subject, and we were given questions to discuss in small groups. The questions were thought-provoking and led to a lively discussion. One of the final questions was, "Is St. David’s a Discipleship Church or a Membership Church?" After discussion, we decided we needed to be both – taking care of each other as members and encouraging others to join us.
A hot breakfast was prepared by Ron Bagwell (even though he wasn’t there) and served by Fred Hallowell and Ron Ashman each morning. Saturday night, Fred Hallowell and Gary Dunsmore grilled a delicious strip steak dinner for the group (steaks courtesy of Fred’s son Christian).
Dr. Coleman wrapped up the program Sunday morning and led a worship service with Eucharist on the Beach House patio. The Eucharist was especially meaningful as each man received the bread from Dr. Coleman and the wine from Jim Wilson in the natural beauty of the patio.
Even though the weather was a little rainy for golf and hiking on Friday, we were blessed with warm and sunny weather for the remainder of the weekend, which made the retreat much more special as we could take our breaks outdoors.
We invite the men from St. David's to join us next year during the last weekend of April for the 2024 Retreat. We are planning another great weekend of Spiritual Renewal and Christian Fellowship.