HOW TO ORGANIZE AN
ABOVE RUBIES RETREAT
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The first thing you’ll want to decide is whether you want to have a a Men’s Retreat, a Couples Retreat, or a Family Camp for the moms, dads and/or the whole family.
The next thing that you need to do is to find a suitable Retreat Center – somewhere where we can all stay together – sleep, eat, and have meetings. It’s not only the ministry that is so valuable, but also the fellowship and encouragement of kindred spirits. Choose a comfortable place, but not too expensive so that it can be affordable.
If you are planning a Family Camp you will need to find a camp that has loads of fun things for families so the children can have a wonderful time and will not be bored. At Family Camps we make the afternoon free for families to enjoy family time together as a family, so you need suitable facilities for this.
We like to have the Retreat from Friday evening to Sunday lunchtime. We would need to have meals from Saturday breakfast to Sunday lunchtime. Folk can get their own meal on the way to the camp on the Friday evening. We start the Retreat with the first meeting on the Friday evening at about 7. 00 p.m.
If possible, it is good if the meeting room and the dining hall are not too far away from the bedrooms. Make sure the meeting hall is adequate too.
What about finance? The cost of the retreat is $30 per person, or $60 for couples or families. This is to cover the cost of my airfare (or for Colin and myself if it is a Couples of Family Camp), brochures, phone calls, photocopying and other expenses involved in setting up the retreat. This way no one will be out of pocket. If there is money left over, it is given to the printing of Above Rubies.
Most retreat centers require a deposit. Mostly the folk organizing the retreat will pay this (it is reimbursed of course as money comes in for registrations). However, if you can’t manage this, let us know and Above Rubies will pay the deposit, which will be reimbursed as registrations come in.
Once you have found a suitable place, check out what dates they have available and then contact me at Above Rubies and we can confirm a date.
Once we have confirmed the date, you will then need to prepare a registration form that can be made available to those who want to come. We will advertise it in Above Rubies, but we don’t want to rely totally on Above Rubies. To really get folks in, you need to think of others ways of making it known by getting the brochures or advertising to churches, homeschooling organizations, radio etc. However, the greatest advertising is personal invitation and word of mouth.
Once you have confirmed a Retreat site, I will then send you a list of all the ideas that can help you organize a wonderful Retreat. I can send you samples of brochures and everything you need.
It is also great if you can gather a few ladies around you and do it together. Pray together and plan together. It is always much more fun to do something together, isn’t it? And less work for you as a mother, too.
Beside your own contact information, it is preferable if you can have the phone and email of someone else too. On odd occasions the person organizing a retreat has had to urgently go out of town and there has been no one to take calls. Therefore, please have two contacts on your brochure and advertising.
Would you like some help in organizing?
Trish Evans is now organizing her fifth Above Rubies retreat and is very experienced. She has written guidelines to help others to find a suitable place and other tips that she has found. She will be a great help. You can contact her at:
TRISH EVANS
11096 Pala Place, Mira Loma, CA 92752
Phone: (909) 681 4858
EMAIL: TRISH EVANS
Sherri Leiter who is now preparing to organize her third Above Rubies retreat in Tennessee is also willing to answer any questions of other mothers who are planning to organize Retreats. She is a wonderful encourager and will have lots of ideas to share with you. Her address is:
SHERRI LEITER
276 Nash Rd, Summertown,Tn 38483
Phone: (931) 964 9944
EMAIL: SHERRI LEITER
Have fun organizing. I will look forward to receiving some tentative dates from you – and we will all have a wonderful time when we get together.
Love from
NANCY CAMPBELL
PHONE: (931) 729 9861
Email: Retreat Info
