All-campus retreat lacked nothing but open minds
Rob Baize, Guest Reporter
November 28, 2007
The fall All Campus Retreat was hardly anything more than typical. All retreats hold the same basics. The games, free time, burnt dinners; they all fade into obscurity as the time since that weekend grows longer. In my opinion, only two parts of the retreat really stand out to me from the norm. These are the mud pit, and the speaker Fred Allen.
Who doesn't like a good romp in the mud anyways? Even those who chose not to participate had a good time watching and taking pictures. But the real fun was for the brave souls who dared to get dirty.. We didn't care that we would be picking mud out of our teeth until well past dinner. The only thing on our mind at that point was how dirty we could make the next person. Even though the mud pit has become a tradition, it nevertheless becomes a highlight of the weekend, hands down.
Then comes Fred Allen. Personally I liked Fred, but I have heard otherwise from some people, and frankly I am frustrated. As unrefined and unpredictable as he may have been, Fred spoke truth to us throughout the weekend. He did this in a way that was far more applicable to me than anything that I have heard recently, at George Fox, or otherwise.
The key principle Fred presented to us was the avoidance of the "vibe". Vibe is the emotional feelings that you get throughout a worship service. This emotional rollercoaster acts as a mask for true spirituality. Fred challenged us, as students, to look past this spiritual vanity and dive into the scriptures to discover the real man behind this Jesus character. There is a bigger picture at work, and if this whole Jesus thing is just a connection with our emotional selves, that is a very shallow version of spirituality.
How do we do this? We follow Acts 2:42, that's how. We live our lives devoted to teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer. Holistic devotion to these principles will give our whole deck of cards, as Fred puts it in Christ's hands.
If this was the message, I am on board. It didn't take much to realize that when Fred made jokes, he was joking. Yet there were people who became offended. Sure, a few of his jokes may have been borderline at best, but that doesn't discount everything else that he had to say.
Constantly I have heard people say that they were offended by a joke, and thus they didn't like Fred, and thus they chose not to listen to anything that he had to say.
No, you may not have agreed with everything that Fred had to say, but that doesn't mean that it is a worthless point of view.
The retreat committee did a great job in bringing in somebody who may help break some of the rigidity of thought we have permeating our campus, and it was met with utter resistance. All I have to say is that we need more of that. Good work, retreat committee, and great work, Fred.