Spiritual Life Retreat Focuses on Counter-Cultural Living
Last week, SCCS 7th–12th grade students spent two days at The Oaks at Lake Hughes digging into the Word of God together. Students’ minds and hearts were engaged by the passionate teaching of Ben Schettler, founder and president of Ask or Think Ministries.
“Our culture is desperate for the truth,” shared Schettler. “If we really love people, we must tell the truth of who God is.”
Through multiple sessions and conversations, students were encouraged to always be ready to give an answer for their faith. They were taught to consider rational, objective and explanatory evidence of God. They were reminded to trust the goodness of God because he is the creator, the designer, the loving Father and the Savior.
The theme verse for the retreat was Matthew 5:13, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.”
“Atheists have a presupposition or assumption that God does not exist, we need to know how to have a loving and truth-filled conversation with atheists,” continued Schettler. “Often we hear people in our culture who don’t believe in God claiming they use reason and science to back up what they are saying; yet many of the scientists who are the bedrock of modern science, as they learned more about the physical universe, became believers in a divine creator.”
Schettler presented three arguments to use when discussing God with an atheist: a physical cause must have a cause; a design has to have a designer and a law must have a lawgiver.
“We need to ask the right questions if we want the right answers,” shared Schletter. “Questions like ‘how can I make my life epic?’, ‘how can I fit what God says into my life?’ and ‘how can I please people?’ will always get bad answers. We need to ask, ‘how can I start living?’, ‘how can I fit my life into what God says?’ and ‘how does God see me?’ When we ask the right questions, we can live counter-culturally.”
For years, the annual Spiritual Life Retreat has been a vital part of the SCCS community and the spiritual development of our students. The rich content, time away to further consider these truths and community fostered among peers points young hearts to see God for who He is and spurs them toward further relationship with Him.
“God says, ‘I designed you, I know how you work, follow my design!’ We need to dig into His word and know how he wants us to live and how we can be salt in this world for His glory.”
After the retreat on Friday, students gathered in the gym for breakfast, worship and a reflection/response time with their cabin mates and ended their half-day packing lunches for Bridge to Home in Newhall and Hope Gardens in Sylmar.
“The Spiritual Life Retreat isn’t just about getting away for two days, but rather it is about growing a foundation of a personal, strong faith in the Lord for each of our students,” added SCCS Administrator, Dr. Jones. “We wanted to encourage our students to take all of the content that they heard during the retreat and put it into action.”
