For the past seventeen years, our full time staff has been passionate and faithful to create a culture and preach a vital message to those who would listen: Escape the Noise. Encounter the Whisper.® We have given our blood, sweat and tears to ensure this opportunity for many, many people. And yet, to our fault, in all those years, we have only practiced what we preached a handful of times. We sympathize with those of you who feel it is too overwhelming to pause the demands and schedules of normal life to get away for a few days. Getting away feels hard. Sometimes that’s just a lie. Sometimes that’s a legit thing. Wherever we live, whatever our vocation, we each have noise trying to deafen us and distract us from sitting with God. Retreating is vital to our walk with God and to sustaining us along the way: refocusing, renewing, and realigning us with Him and His call on our lives.
This fall our staff made the choice to retreat. We’d been running and working with no pausing for too long. We knew we needed to pull out so we could keep pouring in. We knew we needed to reset our focus before running toward the goal. We knew we needed to unify as a team before spreading out in the field. We packed our bags (and the dog!) and headed to an Airbnb a couple hours up the road.
A new location always gives life fresh perspective. The weekend was great because we were able to talk through many things that have been sitting on the back burner. We were able to cast vision for where we are going from here. We were able to inquire of the Lord and seek His face together for all things Whisper Mountain Camp. We had a great time relaxing together, laughing together, and sharing our hearts together.
Maybe right now isn’t the right time to pull out of your everyday to find some rest and perspective, but with a new year coming, when can you make the time for it? You don’t have to travel far or spend a lot of money, you just need to step back and breathe, refocus so you can return with fresh energy and heart. Retreating is the greatest gift — like a pit stop in a long race fueling you and resetting you to keep on going! Nevermind, the beautiful communion with your God! Start now to make plans to retreat. You won’t regret it!
SIDE NOTE | If you wanna come to Whisper Mountain for a retreat, you just shoot us an email and let us know. We’d love to be part of your journey and serve you while you’re here!
Author & Photography | Cassi
Camp Blog 
I’ll sound a huge AMEN to this! Working on staff at a church put more demands on me than I could shoulder — and with the church I pastor needing attention too, there was no respite. I left the big (supporting) church and took a new job in a sign shop which offered the same salary for “normal” hours. How refreshing it is to know my workday actually ends at a certain time and I can leave it there! That’s an incredible paradigm shift for me! I still have the demands at the little church with the remodeling project and pastoring duties, but there is now time to breathe and shut down when I need to.
Thanks for the “practice what you preach” message.
Blessings on you all at Whisper Mountain!
Bob
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Thanks for sharing this — what a blessing for you to be able to step away from all that was drowning you. It couldn’t have been easy, but practicing rest is everything. Paradigm shifting indeed. You’re a success story in following God’s ways. How encouraging for us to hear about this! Thank you again for sharing!
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