Fall means SALT
When the temperature drops, and the leaves change color to bright oranges, reds, and yellows, and there’s that special, crisp, smell in the air, you know it’s FALL. Massanetta is a wonderful place to be during the fall. Contrary to popular belief, we stay pretty busy during the fall. Most of our fall schedule involves hosting a lot of guest groups that come here for their fall retreats and conferences, but we also have our own fall program called SALT (Serving and Learning Together).
SALT is a themed, weekend-long, fall retreat designed for high school students, college students, and adults to have fellowship with one another and to grow in Christian discipleship. This year’s title theme was, “And Who Is My Neighbor?” We explored the story of the Good Samaritan within the context of interfaith relationships and friendships. With the guidance of our keynoter, Matt Hartley, who leads the Interfaith Center at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, and our music leader, Alex Fischer, we learned, discussed, sang, and questioned what it means to be a good Christian neighbor to our neighbors of other faiths, and how to create meaningful relationships with people of different faiths. In a world divided by so much fear and uncertainty, this conference was a much needed, safe space, for learning and questioning how to overcome those divisions. We had a fun time with some interfaith trivia, diving into the text of the Good Samaritan, enjoying evening recreation Saturday night, and growing closer to our peers through three different age-specific workshops that unpacked the theme more. We even got to hear from two women of the Muslim and Jewish faiths during our Saturday night keynote. It was an incredible blessing to have these women give of their time and selves to come talk to us, sharing their personal stories and connecting with us. We closed with worship and communion Sunday morning, being much more aware of other faiths, our own faith, and the importance of fostering friendships across faiths. A good place to start creating those kinds of friendships is to look up interfaith programs that may already exist in your community and get involved.
Fall and SALT go hand in hand. It is a fantastic retreat, tucked away in the off-season corner of Massanetta Springs. Participants this year got to share what the three best things about their SALT experience was, and the three that rose to the top were: making new friends, being in community, and growing in faith through the theme. The number one wish that participants have for the conference is simply for more people to know about it! You can help us with that, please share this blog post with anyone you know who might be interested in attending SALT. We encourage you to consider making SALT your high school or college campus ministry’s annual fall retreat! If you are an adult looking to find a peaceful and recharging fall respite, we’ve got you covered as well.
Cheers to Fall and the beauty it brings, like SALT, and blessings to you all for a wonderful Christmas and Holiday season.
Many thanks to our amazing SALT 2019 leadership team! Todd Davidson, Alex Fischer, Matt Hartley, Christopher Tweel, Jayme Babczak, Ken Worsham, Rachel Erb, Beth Curfman, Ginny Pearson, Jeremy Cannada, Rachel Shepherd, and James Compton.