What's Involved In A Two-Day Spiritual Retreat?

Introduction:
Here is a description of our Ministry Life Assessment Process here in the desert. It serves a variety of options depending on the profiles we use in a two-day interview. We have a process for interns entering ministry, church planters, and mid-career evaluations for seasoned pastors, and staff blending assessments for team building and pastoral search committees. We call this process a spiritual retreat.

What Is A Spiritual Retreat?
It is an intentional time set aside to encounter God and examine how we are converging upon our purpose in life. It's putting aside time to refocus the lens of our life because the terrain around us is constantly changing.

A Spiritual Retreat is like half time in the game of life. Spiritually, the players of ministry pull aside to rest, eat some oranges, drink some water, adjust their gear, strategize, and prepare to finish what they started out to accomplish. We all need to do this because our lives have natural cycles where we need to refocus and converge towards the goals God has placed within us. We like to think of this as a half-time talk with our coach, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Why Do We Need To Retreat?
Because the tyranny of the urgent squeezes out our time for personal reflection in our schedules. By pulling away from the sounds of the city, we can stand at attention to receive our orders from our Master. If we do this, we will finish well.

1. To Clarify Our Direction
   We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which He prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph. 2:10) In Psalms 139:16, we are told that the book of our life was written out before we entered our time on this earth. So, understanding our assignment is important.
2. To Focus On Our Purpose
   God wants us to seek His Spirit as we walk with Him. He wants us to continue to depend upon Him for instruction to get to the next chapter of our life's purpose.
3. To Hear God Speak To Us
   This type of retreat is an act of withdrawing, especially from the sounds of the city, in order to seek the mind of God. It involves a place affording peace, quietness, and privacy so that you can reduce your RPM's from 6000 to an idle of 2000 and hear God. What does it take for you to lower your RPM's so that you can hear God's direction for you?

 
Two-Day Interview For Focusing Ministry Direction

History shows that in almost every arena of life there is a vacuum waiting to be filled by someone who can impart vision and steer people's energies into the" best" endeavors. For this reason, Church Resource Ministries in Palm Desert has developed an intentional assessment process to help place others into ministry based around their gifts, passion, and long-range ministry direction. The following summary will explain what is involved in this process.

1. What is involved in a two-day interview?
   It's a two-day interview on location here in Palm Desert. The interview acts as a catalyst for clarifying where the client's ministry formation is evolving for ministry placement. As you fill out the material provided, prayerfully ask God the questions being posed to you. If you do, the results will be most beneficial. Please notify your intercessors to pray for you during this period also.
2. How Do You Preparation For The Interview?
   You will need to purchase The Ministry Assessment Packet from CRM-PD and fill out various ministry tools as part of your spiritual retreat. This will help you think through many issues before you come in for the interview. It will take commitment on your part. This packet equals what you would do in a one-week intensive course. When you have completed your material, make an appointment with our office for the interview dates you would like.
   
   The two-day interview is set up for both the client and their spouse. Our approach involves a high degree of client participation as you interpret your self-scored inventories during the interview. As you reflect upon your actual experiences, we record your responses and feedback what we hear being said for clarification. This gift of listening helps you sort out your vision and become more intentional in exploring your ideal ministry role. In the end, you will hear your own description coming back to you through the ears of the assessor.
   
3. What Tools And Worksheets Do You Use For Preparation?
   Dimensions Of Behavior DiSC - 2800 . . . To identify personality profile and team-building skills
   
   WorkStyle Preference Inventory . . .To determine actual and preferred leadership & management style
   
   Team Building Interview Guide . . . To think out long-term goals and coaching that will be needed and to determine the dimensions of leadership needed by your vision to meet its challenges
   
   Understanding Our Giftedness Set . . .To examine your leadership giftedness of natural abilities, spiritual gifts, and acquired skills
   
   Writing Out Your Personal Time Line . . .To help you understand how God has processed you into a leader and developed your ministry values
   
   Developing Your Personal Mission Statement . . .To help you clarify your future ministry direction
   
   The Mentor's Toolkit . . .To develop your mentoring systems for future ministry growth
   
   Ministry Career Questionnaire or Questionnaire for Senior Pastors . . . To evaluate what skills you have developed in ministry to achieve the dream, call, and vision you are seeking.
4. What is required of a spouse during assessment?
   Your spouse is asked to only fill out the Personal Profile System DISC in preparation for the interview. Their role is to assist you in clarifying priorities from better to best and verifying your view of the experiences that have shaped you as a family in ministry. If the spouse is requesting ministry assessment also, we simply adjust by adding an additional two more days and have the spouse fill out their own assessment packet of material on themselves. In this case the cost would double.
5. What are the benefits for you in this assessment process?
   
   • You will begin to develop a ministry direction around your gifts and interests for your next steps in leadership development.
   • You will acquire a higher degree of anticipation of where God is going to use you in the future.
   • You will have tools to assist you in composing your biographical sheet, resume, and description of who you are in ministry.
   • You will begin to perceive others in terms of their unique leadership development and become more deliberate in your selection and training of emerging leaders.
   • You will experience how to use these tools and interview process with those you lead.
6. How does this effect your ministry?
   
   • It helps those who coach you to do so intelligently in your best interest.
   • It helps you recognize, select, and encourage your emerging leaders.
   • It helps you focus on finishing well by gaining a big-picture perspective that enables you to converge toward your ideal role and place.
   • It helps you to grow, create, innovate, think, and contribute to something that counts beyond yourself.
   • It helps you to remove barriers and obstacles and transform the thinking required of church leadership to develop a positive attitude for how to bring out the best in those you lead.
7. What Are The Costs? . . .
   $480.00 is requested as a donation to our western regional account to offset ministry expenses and $15.00 shipping and handling if you come to Cathedral City.
   
   The Ministry Assessment Packet . . . $ 145.00
   
   This individual assessment packet includes handling/shipping. We ask that this expense be paid upon receipt of the assessment packet. Please make all checks payable to CRM-PD.
   
   The Two Day Behavioral Interview . . . $ 335.00
   
   This process includes 18 hours of interview and write-up of assessment summary. Complete the Ministry Assessment Packet at your earliest convenience and make an appointment with our CRM office in Palm Desert. For parents concerned about childcare, arrangements should be made that allows for your full attention during the assessment process. Payment for the interview process should be paid the day of the interview.
   
   If Randy has to fly to your city, cost for assessment goes to full price that is $1000.00 per assessment plus expenses of hotel, meals, and flights.
   
   For enrolled students of Trinity Learning Center required to do an assessment, there will be a 17% discount to their assessment lowering the price to 400.00 a student.
8. What Are The Directions To Your Office?
   The Palm Springs International Airport is 10 minutes from our office. The Ontario Airport is 1 1/2 hours away. LAX is three hours with traffic from us. From Los Angles or the Ontario Airport:
   
   Take I-10 East towards Palm Springs. You will take the Date Palm Exit off of the I-10 Freeway and turn right onto Date Palm for a two miles into town. Next, you will turn right onto Ramon Road go to the second street that turns right. You will be looking for Century 21 office and Farmers Insurance on the right side of the road. Turn RIGHT on the street after Desert Vista Road called Avenida Del Yermo.
   
   You will go around to the backside of the office on Avenida Del Yermo. Take the first driveway that turns right into the backside parking lots for our office. I share an office with a friend who runs The Farmers Insurance Group. Our doors are fifty feet in where the first and second building separate. The receptionist will lead you to my office.
   
   I suggest you use the Internet such as, Yahoo! Maps, and type in the address you are coming from along with the address below for specific driving directions. Beware it is a Roman Rd address but parking is in the back.
   
   I share an office with:
   Tom Breitfeller's Farmers' Insurance
   68828 Ramon Road, Suite A (Shared Inside Farmers Ins. Office)
   Cathedral City, Ca. 92234
   Email: rknutson@earthlink.net
   My Cell Number is . . .760 272 6071
   
9. How Do I Make My Hotel Accommodations?
   The desert is one of the most popular winter locations in the country. If you do not know the 800 number of your favorite hotel, the Palm Desert Visitor Center will make your accommodations for you and within your price range. Call them at 800-347-7746 to make your reservations today. You can also make some great accommodations by using www. Priceline.com. With Priceline.com you can name your own price for a hotel and flight.
10. What Are The Starting And Ending Times Of The Two Days?
    We begin at 9:00 AM and finish by 4:00 PM the first day. The evening is yours to enjoy with your spouse. The second day, you have the entire morning to enjoy. We begin the second day, after lunch, at 2: 00 PM and finish by 5:30 PM so you can make your travel plans.

Note the free time you and your spouse will have during this assessment. No working! Just enjoy each other and the desert. Remember this is a retreat so bring your swimsuit, golf clubs or tennis rackets. If you like hiking, we can suggest some cool trail to various water oasis and waterfalls.

CRM-PD has created this Spiritual Retreat for those interested in pausing as they explore what it means to converge upon their next stage of life. We pray that this process will assist you in clarifying your interests, identifying your options, designing your next ministry assignments, and becoming proactive about your future.

Lord Willing,

Randall K. Knutson

CRM - Assessment & Network Director