Spring Break in Colorado

Over Spring Break, The Mission, our student ministry at Wichita State University, took nine students to Buena Vista, Colorado for a retreat at YoungLife’s Frontier Ranch retreat center. The students that went were from four different countries: Kenya, Kuwait, India and Malaysia. The retreat was organized by Christian Challenge at Kansas State University.

The main speaker for the retreat was Gordon Macdonald. On the first night of the retreat, after spending ten hours in airplanes and airports, and nearly nine hours in a car in a snowstorm, the seventy year old Macdonald shared his life story. He told the students about his greatest accomplishments, and his greatest failures. He shared what he had learned, how God had been at work, and how important it was to have people around him during those times. Over one hundred students sat for more than an hour listening to this man share how God had taken him through his last seventy years.

Over the next two days, Macdonald spoke from several passages in Paul’s letter to the Colossians, and laid out for them the marks of a Christian life well lived. He also allowed lots of time for questions, which the students took full advantage of. He spoke to them as a grandfather, and they listened intently.

The retreat was a wonderful experience for our students. They had the opportunity to hear the life story of a man who had walked with and served God, though far from perfectly, for over fifty years. They also made new friends from Kansas State, and strengthened their relationships with each other. I would like to extend a special thanks to four donors who gave generously towards scholarships for the retreat. Thank you!