What Went Down at the Family of Churches Retreat

Each year the Restored Family of Churches gathers for our annual retreat. This time together has become a highlight of the year, spending intentional time worshiping Jesus, seeking the Spirit, being encouraged in the Word and deepening our relationships both within our local churches and throughout the RFOC. Years ago, before our annual retreat was birthed, our churches would gather together quarterly for “Vision Nights,” where we would share updates amongst the family of churches, pray together and receive ministry from different gifts. 

Overtime, it became apparent that a 2 hour window of time was just not enough to cover and explore all we felt led to address as a family. As church plants began being planted further away, it also became less practical to host these events on a quarterly basis. At the time, Restored LA was driving 2-3 hours each way for a 2 hour meeting in San Diego.

As we felt led away from quarterly Vision Nights, we began praying and exploring the idea of an annual “one day” event where we could all gather in one location for an entire day of praying, worshipping, mingling, prophesying, teaching, laughing, drinking, eating and being envisioned together. And that is exactly what we did in 2017. We gathered at the FLDWRK building in Fullerton, California. Not only did it go well, it left many of us wanting so much more. 

It was that Restored One Day in 2017 that led to our Annual Retreat. We began praying and dreaming about what it would look like to gather for an entire weekend, and in 2018, that dream became a reality when we gathered at Forest Home Christian Camp for our first ever RFOC Annual Retreat. It was a two day, one night weekend together. Jesus met us in an intimate, powerful and transformative way. By 2019 we added an additional night, and once again, the Spirit’s power was at work, fixing our eyes on Jesus and deepening our relationships amongst our churches through both tears and laughter.

Here is what went down at the 2019 Retreat…..

1. We Worshipped Together: One of the absolute joys of our time together was worshipping with brothers and sisters from across the family of churches. There were even multiple times throughout the weekend where the bands leading us in musical worship were made up of members from the various Restored churches.
2. We Received Ministry From a Diverse Set of Gifts: Our sessions were led out of many different giftings in our family of churches. Brad Sarian challenged us to never move on from the Gospel while reminding us that the Gospel is all about a person, Jesus. Danny Quimlat encouraged us to be honest about how our family of origin has impacted our ability to love our church family. Nicole Pham encouraged us to be vigilantly aware of the many ways community can shift away from Jesus, turning into a toxic community. Josh Lewis, of Anthem Denver, shared about frontline church planting in a post-Christian setting. Andy Rodgers encouraged us to step into our callings and to empower others to step into theirs. (You can check out videos of the sessions HERE).
3. We Adopted a Church: We announced that Harbour City in Durban, South Africa is officially joining our Family of Churches! We couldn’t be more excited about our church family on another continent, with whom we share the same Dad and the same vision to make disciples, plant churches and seek renewal our neighborhoods and nations. (You can learn more about this new stage of partnership HERE).
4. We Added a Value: Grant and Michelle Clark announced that we are adding a new value, “Renewal,” to the Restored Family of Churches values. As we make healthy disciples and plant healthy churches, the outcome is renewal in our homes, workplaces, cities and into the nations. Our desire is to be people who bring the Kingdom of God with us everywhere we go; seeing all things made new as God intended them to be. (You can learn more about this new value HERE).
5. We Heard Church Updates: In the spirit of Paul’s letters, we heard updates from the different churches in our family. Restored LA shared about the pains and privilege of being a church that is growing numerically quite quickly. Nancy Polanco, from LA, really brought the house down as she testified to the power of Jesus in her life empowering her to love others well! Restored South Bay shared that they are working through a painful season where things once in the dark have been brought to light. Priscilla Crisologo, from South Bay, reminded us that God is deepening and meeting us in the painful parts of life, using all things to help us become like Jesus. Brendan and Kimi Cole dropped in via satellite from South Africa and shared that God has been calling Harbor City to love and reach those who don’t know Jesus in fresh ways. Ebony Logue shared that there have been amazing stories of healing in the life of Restored Temecula! And, Restored Uptown shared of God’s faithfulness in the midst of unexpected Sunday Gathering building changes- exciting stories of new people in the community being reached as a result.
6. We Encountered the Holy Spirit: On Saturday night, Tom Logue led a profound time of prayer, worship, moments with the Spirit and ministering to one another. There was a significant healing, as well as multiple people feeling led to step into new levels of leadership and potential church plants. It was a powerful time that is hard to put into words, but God’s goodness and nearness was palpable that night.
7. We Had A LOT of fun: Whether it was pick up games of football and volleyball, racing on the water slides or enjoying milkshakes at the snack stand, new friends were made and fun was had. Joseph Yasso brought the house down with a hotly contested game of lunch time trivia that came down to a pop song from the early 2000’s. There was hiking, eating, and laughing galore.

The hard part about writing an article like this is that our RFOC Annual Retreat is fundamentally something to be experienced not read about. Jesus, in His kindness, does so much during our annual weekends together- both in our hearts individually and collectively as a Family of Churches. With that being said, we can’t encourage you enough to register for next year’s retreat- We can’t wait to see you there! Register Here!