We are not just doing a blog but offering retreat settings where small clusters of leaders, couples or teams can experience the process of connecting “Heart to Heart and Face to Face”. You will be responsible for transportation and sleeping arrangements. We will provide the continental breakfast, lunch, refreshments and retreat resources for $50.00/person. If the cost of travel and hotel is all that prevents you from participating, then we'll work on finding a donor to help you out.
- As men with men or women with women - Come and join five other men or women or allow one of us to join your small group/ministry team as Pam (with the women) or I (with the men) wrestle with biblical femininity or masculinity in a way that empowers and unleashes you to be godlier men and women, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers!
- As couples in community with couples – Join with two other couples or bring the core couples with whom you're in community. Pam and I will foster an environment and facilitate an experience that will encourage you in heart and connect you as couples to one another in community.
- As teams in ministry together – You can invite me/us to meet with your leadership team as we wrestle with your hearts, relationships and ministries. We'll reflectively and relationally assess and address the challenges of “Life Together” in four arenas of biblical health. We are also open to coming to your couples group or ministry team.
- Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord (Lam. 3:40-41). These retreats will help you to keep a close watch over your heart convictions and lifestyle choices (1 Tim. 4:15-16).
- Let us spur one another on toward love and good deeds (Heb. 10:24-25). These retreats will help you to encourage others spiritually and connect them relationally (Col. 1:28-2:3).
A Haven for Your Heart: Modeling and Connecting
The first goal is to help you experience community in a way that you become spiritually enriched,
relationally encouraged and missionally engaged. The realities of life have a way of drying up our hearts, disconnecting us from others, and detaching us from our larger purpose in life.We'll help you wrestle with the three dynamics that are central to a healthy Christian life.
There probably was a time when your heart was alive and surrendered and you experienced the joy and peace of closeness with Jesus. There probably was a time when your heart was devoted and connected to others in a way that caused you to weep and sing with them. There probably was a time when your heart was unleashed and engaged and you lived for God's larger purposes in a way that was both exhausting and fulfilling. But...life's pressures and stressors, the financial and physical losses, the relationship disappointments and conflicts have all had quite an impact on our soul. The anxieties, depression, loneliness, bitterness, sadness and emptiness can lead us to a host of addictions or dependencies that deaden our hearts, destroy our relationships and defame our God. Whether you're doing well and simply need some refreshment, or doing poorly and need some reconstruction, it's time to reconnect with the Dittmans and experience a “Haven for your Heart”.
A Haven for others Hearts: Mentoring and Coaching
A second objective for the retreats is to provide a coaching experience where you can think through the implications of disciple making and community building for your ministry or church. We'll give you an
opportunity to practice and process the dynamics of wisely, compassionately and skillfully nurturing life transformation, relational connection and missional incarnation.
People are struggling with a host of personal addictions and relational dysfunctions. They are often sitting next to us on the train, at our church services and in our living rooms. Sadly, most are suffering silently, ashamed and afraid to share. Their/our issues come out in all kinds of ways which cloak the problem, hides the pain and causes people to either fight or flee. We, as their friends or mentors, often feel uncomfortable and helpless if we tune in to all the issues going on below the surface of people's behavioral patterns or relational styles. So we do our tasks, play the games and occasionally offer a word of encouragement or say we will pray for them.
God has given you a heart to love, the wisdom to draw out the real issues of the heart, and a body of believers who are gifted to build one another up! You might need help as a leader, couple or team in learning how to be the person who pursues people's hearts or facilitates a healing community. You may be on a team or in a community where you're authentically seeking and serving God together. Or you may be longing and looking to participate in this kind of community. Either way, we'd like you to gain more insight and encouragement to more wisely and lovingly pursue peoples hearts and draw them into connecting with God and caring for others.
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