Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Thousands of people visit this quaint entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains every day. Amongst these thousands this past weekend, our own very special BCM family of 28 had our first discipleship retreat in years, or decades, who knows? All we know is that the weekend was a complete success and it was amazing to live like a big family. And not to mention, our cabin was flippin’ sweet.

And like a family…

We prepared and ate meals together.

We watched movies.

We laughed.

We got hyped up on sugar and coffee. 

We drove and got lost for hours. And especially, like a family, there might have been some yelling involved.

We learned together and grew closer spiritually.

Three times over the weekend, we gathered in the awesome cabin theater and watched video sessions by Andy Stanley (the pastor at North Point Community Church in Atlanta). The video series was called “Guardrails.” There was not a single BCMer that was taken back by the points made in all six parts of the series. After each session, we followed up with a short discussion. It was an inspirational and very laid back experience.

Now, we’re back to reality. We have walked out of the wardrobe. The challenge is to now take these lessons, establish guardrails, and hopefully make these life time commitments. We cannot wait until the next retreat!

the view from our beautiful cabin.