This Father-Son Retreat will help you to connect with one another and grow together in Christ. The weekend will be focused around the theme of living life to the full. We will examine some of the wrong ideas we choose to believe about what abundant life and learn to see life from God’s perspective. The good news is that Jesus came to give each of us a “life to the full!”
This year, our virtual retreat allows you to customize your time together to fit your personalities and your needs. You can plan your day with activities that will create some fun memories for you and your son. We’ve got lots of ideas to share with you! For the three worship and message times, you can choose to gather in small groups for watch parties to connect with friends, or spend one-on-one time with your son. You could also make a fun getaway to a hotel or other destination to create your own retreat setting.
This retreat is also a great fit for father figures, grandfathers, uncles or family friends to participate with boys or teens if their father is not available.
Pricing:
This price includes 3 virtual worship and message sessions, downloadable content for the weekend including a retreat booklet, discussion questions, and activity suggestions.
Retreat Leadership
Speaker
Giles was born in California and grew up in Chicago where he was a youth pastor and conference speaker for fifteen years before being called to Spain as a missionary. He arrived in Spain with his family in 2005 with the calling to continue working with youth. It was his great joy to form part of a team that in 2007 started a youth group in his church in Madrid. In 2011 he handed the leadership of that group over to Spanish nationals. His ministry now includes providing mentorship and counsel for the leaders of the youth ministry at his church, writing and publishing devotional and fiction books for youth in Spanish, speaking at youth conferences and retreats, teaching a seminary course on youth ministry, and providing training a national conferences for youth and youth leaders around the country through his wife Debbie’s role as national youth coordinator for the Evangelical Free Church of Spain.
When Giles was in Junior High and High School he was not brave enough to live out his faith in God before his friends, and so it is that nothing gets him more pumped up now than seeing youth living radically for Jesus (kind of like a dad who failed playing football when he was younger and now lives it out through his son, going crazy whenever his son does anything remotely good on the field).
He lives in Los Hueros, Madrid, Spain. He’s been married to his wife, Debbie, for 27 years, and they have four children and two granddaughters.
Dan Hartke
Worship Leader
Steve Otey
Director
Steve has been in youth ministry for over twenty years, partnering with his wife, Sara, to lead youth and family ministry initiatives. Steve and Sara have four daughters, who also enjoy and are very involved in serving in ministry. From 2003-2019, Steve served as the Junior High Youth Pastor at First Free Church in Manchester, MO. Steve and Sara love to see teens and families transformed by the power of the Gospel.
Steve will be hosting the retreat and developing a creative list of activities and discussion questions that will help dads and sons make memories together, hear and learn Biblical Truth, and connect in new ways. He prays the Holy Spirit will be at work in the lives of the participants.
Optional T-shirt
Frequently Asked Questions
Connecting with others is always encouraged! Maybe you could invite friends to join you during the worship and message times. You could host a watch party. Encourage your friends to sign up for the retreat here, so they will receive the registration box full of swag! You could also plan an outing like dessert out at your favorite restaurant with your son’s friend and his dad. This could be a fun way to get to know your son’s friends.
Yes! Please invite your friends and their sons. You could plan to spend a few hours together doing a fun activity on Saturday, as well. Or, you could plan a watch party with them for one of the worship and teaching sessions.
Yes. Worship and teaching times will be Friday evening at 7 pm, Saturday morning at 9 am, and Saturday evening at 7 pm. You will have a window of time to view theses sessions if the times listed don’t fit into your special planned activities.
The more the merrier! With the retreat being virtual, you get to design your day to suit your needs! Will you spend one on one time with each son? Will you do all activities together? You know what will work best for your family!
Each additional person costs $15.00.
We understand that a lot of growth and change occurs during the adolescent years, and we want to facilitate connection during these years. When children are younger, they don’t have as many things pulling for their time and attention, and connection happens more easily.
You can still connect with your college son through this retreat even while he’s away. We will send you both a participant’s box. You can both watch the sessions and then video chat for discussions. This would be an intentional way of connecting even when separated by distance.
A “son” can participate with any significant man in his life. It may be an uncle, grandparent, foster parent, older brother, family friend, etc.
To ensure there is adequate time for shipping participant boxes, please register at least 2 weeks prior to your weekend. Registrations submitted inside that time frame will be sent a box if time allows, or emailed digital copies of the retreat materials.