![Retreat Upper School student with a big smile wearing all yellow!]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1723125606/ncchristianorg/h2odv9p2fxkrnumh0gvl/Retreatworship.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_2/v1723125606/ncchristianorg/h2odv9p2fxkrnumh0gvl/Retreatworship.jpg","width":512},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_3/v1723125606/ncchristianorg/h2odv9p2fxkrnumh0gvl/Retreatworship.jpg","width":800},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_4/v1723125606/ncchristianorg/h2odv9p2fxkrnumh0gvl/Retreatworship.jpg","width":1200},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_5/v1723125606/ncchristianorg/h2odv9p2fxkrnumh0gvl/Retreatworship.jpg","width":1600},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_6/v1723125606/ncchristianorg/h2odv9p2fxkrnumh0gvl/Retreatworship.jpg","width":2200}])
Wednesday, August 7
Written by Megan Strange, Upper School Principal
First, we are so thankful for an AWESOME first day of school in Upper School on Tuesday After a summer of praying, planning, and prepping, things are always way more fun when our high-schoolers are on campus!
Yesterday, our Upper School community showed up ready to roll... nine charter buses strong as we descended on Shocco Springs Camp in Talledega, Alabama. Thank you for praying for our crew and understanding that this is a unique privilege that our community has to be able to take three days to invest in relationships for the sole purpose of evangelism and discipleship. This is the 19th year of our Upper School retreat, and we believe God has big plans for this time.
The retreat started strong with room check in and an awesome lunch to refuel the crowd before our opening session. Mr. Gnann laid down some foundational reminders about how the retreat is designed to help build and grow relationships. He set the tone for how the events of each day would unfold and then everyone got into their small groups for the first time this school year.
Our small groups are a special part of the fabric of our Upper School. Each student is in a group with other students their same grade and gender led by a faculty or staff member. The groups meet at least once a month and spend time together diving into God's word, praying together, and enjoying each other's company. Our goal in that time is to build a band of brothers or sisters. In this life, we need godly friends who are going to stand by our side and encourage us in a Romans 12:10 kind of way. This year, my small group girls are seniors, and we have been meeting together since they were freshmen. We've journeyed through a lot together and learned so much about the goodness of God!
After small groups, everyone divided up into their countries for the retreat. Our awesome student country leaders came up with 8 countries to rally their classmates for the NCCS Upper School Olympics: Amazonia, Arctiana, Pinkalicious, Omaria, Purple Rain, Tigers, Goatry (wait what?!), and Pandamonium. As our Eagles tend to do...they went all out with their team flags, team colors, and hype songs. Such a blast! The country teams met together to sign up for competitions and rally the troops.
We came back into the worship space for some fun games of: Olympic Sport Dress Up and the Marshmallow Relay Race. These games were hosted by the dynamic duo of Mr. Gnann and Mr. McCormack in their Olympics blazers and the broadcast crew of Preston, Nick, and Gage who made up the ever-famous ESPN "The Ocho" in honor of our 8 countries. After that, we headed outside for: Kickball, Wiffle Ball, Dragon Tails, and the Scavenger Hunt. That scavenger hunt was no joke as students ran all over campus! It was such a blast to see seniors, juniors, sophomores, and freshmen all working together towards the common goal of glory for their country.
Everyone was thrilled to head to cabins for a quick shower and to change into their tacky wear for the evening to go with our “Wait, this doesn’t match!” theme night. Dinner was awesome…mainly because of the fun conversations taking place around the table!
After dinner, we enjoyed the next round of the Olympic Games with balloon stomp, the egg on the spoon game, ninja, and dragon tail. Fierce competition out there! Lots of connections on the teams to support their country goals! The games concluded just in time for evening worship!
Mr. Gnann and Mr. McCormack opened up our session with two fun academic challenges: Math-A-Thon and Geographic Genius...still earning points for the Olympic countries and it was an epic showdown! The Kyle Edenfield band led us in worship tonight, and Mr. Gnann brought the word from John 14:6 focusing on "Jesus is THE WAY" starting with the foundation of John 11, 12, and 13 ... even looking back to Genesis 3 when we started doing things "our way" and things went very badly.
Mr. Gnann pointed to the fact that we miss out on "Jesus as THE WAY" when we insist on our own way and our desire for control. The chasm that our sin created is what separates us from Jesus, but God continues to reach out to us because "Jesus is THE WAY back." He closed our time with a clear gospel presentation.
We closed the evening by meeting in our grade level groups for another intentional layer of connection. Thank you for praying for us in these days as we set our eyes on Jesus and let Him lead us. And now..to try and get all these teenagers to sleep!
Go Eagles!
