David’s Dialogues

September – Fall Retreat & More!

Dear Friend,

September has been another busy month, but it has been amazing to see God bring in a great group of Freshmen.  That is one of the many things I am thankful for; a solid group of new students!  At the beginning of the month, we kept providing as many opportunities to build community as possible.  Since many students develop their friend groups at the beginning of the year, offering up as many community-building events as possible is key!  The first weekend in September was a 1-2-3 weekend with an event Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings.

On Friday, we held a “Freshmore” Hangout time.  Our goal was to provide a space where freshmen and sophomores could get to know others who are at a similar phase in life: new to Virginia Tech.  It was at this event that we really started to see a solid group of freshmen forming!  The main attraction at this event was an “escape room”.  Escape rooms are a growing trend, where small groups have to solve puzzles and look for clues in the room in order to “escape” and meet the goal of that particular room.  I tried my hand at creating the puzzles and developing the escape room.  It turned out well and people really enjoyed it!

On Saturday evening, we held a “Dive-In” movie at War Memorial pool.  After sparking interest through an online poll of what movie to show, we all gathered in the pool to watch a movie together.  Our goal was, once again, to provide an opportunity to build frienships and continue inviting people into community.  We concluded the weekend of events with our usual Sunday morning service, and then a tailgate/viewing-party for the West Virginia vs. Virginia Tech football game!  Football is well-ingrained into Blacksburg culture, so what better way to meet people where they are at than with a football game viewing party?!  We had another great group come together on Sunday night to watch our Hokies win their first game of the year.

The Kickoff season culminated with our annual Fall Retreat.  I always look forward to this event and getting away from campus for just a little while.  We had over 100 people registered for the retreat this year!  The guest speaker we invited is now a seminary professor in Kansas City, but was formerly a pastor and DJ in Miami, Florida.  He was an incredible speaker, and spoke in a way that everyone could relate to.  We can tell his effectiveness by the number of people after the retreat using metaphors and phrases that he used that weekend!  He also was generous enough to DJ the dance party on Friday night of the retreat; definitely a great time.  One of the highlights of Fall Retreat was baptisms!  We got the chance to baptize 5 members of our church that day; and I had the opportunity to baptize one of the freshman guys involved in Hokie Family!  Our prayer coming out of the retreat is that people would continue to develop their “vertical and horizontal relationships”; their relationship with God as well as showing love to others.

I am thankful now for a season where events slow down, but we get to see the community that was started during kickoff start to take root and grow.  Ally and I are so excited to see our Hokie Family of engage groups really catch the vision of inviting others in and helping people grow in their relationship with God.  Thank you for helping make all this a possibility!

In Christ,
David