The purpose of our workshops were to guide the youth in realizing that God can be found within the events and experiences of each day, however there is also a deep meaning to this special time of year. With the celebration of Jesus’ birth and the preparation for a new year we can really feel God’s love.

With our theme, "The True Meaning of the Season," our goal was to convey the feeling that God has a lot of hope and joy to share with us during this time of year if we let Him. Over the course of the 3 workshops, we heard talks about the importance of our faith, remembering the importance of this time of year, celebrating Jesus’ birth, and preparing ourselves for a New Year. We also enjoyed a lot of team activities, skits, worship, and sports.

This winter’s middle school workshop was from Friday, Dec. 21 to Sunday, Dec. 23 at Camp Echoing Hills, was our 1st year of holding a winter retreat away from Columbus.. We were fortunate to have a beautiful weekend and we were also able to gather a large group, counting about 40 in total. It primarily consisted of members from Ohio. We were also lucky to have a group drive all the way from Tennessee and participants from Indiana as well.

This winter’s high school workshop was from Thursday, Dec. 27 to Saturday, Dec. 29 at Woodland Lakes. We were happy to have a beautiful weekend at a site just east of Cincinnati. We had our own gym, prepared meals, and an overall great facility. For this retreat youth came from Ohio, Kentucky, and North Carolina. At the end of the workshop all of the participants also were able to go to a ski resort in Indiana and we spent a few hours having a good time and snow tubing.

At the end of the workshops, it was sad to see everyone leave. As for the quality of the workshop, many of the participants had transformative experiences. Moreover this workshop was a great step in the right direction for the Ohio Youth ministry in inspiring our youth to take a bigger role in their lives of faith. Overall the workshop was an incredible growing experience for everyone, as well as another wonderful opportunity for many of the BC’s in our region to meet and create friendships with other BC’s.