Name Your Own Price on Yosemite Summit?

Yosemite Summit was first a dream – a weak sliver of a dream in the mind of a frail and broken man who was issued a challenge by his pastor to dare to intentionally build re-creation into his life.

I have written the story in detail in the post, “Thank You Pastor Jeff Griffin.

It took another two years for that dream to become a reality. First, I needed to heal the wounds of my own brokenness – and the consequences of overextended ministry passion. My marriage, my soul and many relationships needed focused repentance, repair and restoration.

Only then was I ready invite others to join me on a retreat in Yosemite for a week of hiking, reflection, and connecting with God in a way I had never done before.

At first I was going to go alone. Then with just one friend. And then I realized – I can’t be the only children’s pastor who needs this. So I created Yosemite Summit – an annual event where I CHECK OUT of ministry and CHECK IN with God and make sure I never again get going so fast, I out-pace God.

I’ve now done this event three times and every year has bee so unique, I can’t wait to see what God does in 2011 to make the fourth Summit special.

The event isn’t cheap – it costs me over $5000 to pull off this event, regardless of whether 3 or 8 guys come. The cost is basically the same, for the lodge, the van, the fuel, and all the food. If I can fill the lodge, it averages out to about $600 each.  So that is what I charge, I actually lose money every year. But I don’t do this to make money – I do it because I need it. And because I know other men need it too.

However, I know that there are guys who need this event, but can’t afford to pay that much – plus the airfare to get to Sacramento. So this year, I’m taking a step of faith, and instead of offering a few scholarships, like I did last year – to help a few guys come for free – instead, I am going to offer the option of allowing guys to optionally pay less – on their honor – if they need to.

Hear me out, if a guy’s church can afford the full $625 plus the Sacramento lodging (that’s an extra $100 that everyone pays) then I expect ’em to pay. BUT if they need to pay less, I’m giving that option, between them and God.

Crazy, huh?!

One year, I had a guy from a big church who picked up the gasoline on the 15 passenger gas a few times to help me out. I’ve had others who have donated. I’m gonna trust God to honor this, because I have a sense there are a few guys who NEED this trip, and I want them on it…

There are only a few openings available. My only concern with this is, I don’t want to scare off guys who CAN afford it. This retreat is open and available to anyone who needs it. Big church, little church – doesn’t matter. There are guys at big churches who can easily afford it – and they need it! They are crazy busy, and NEED to get away and disconnect and hike and commune with God.

But I just want to also make sure that guys who look at that $625 price tag and say, “I could never go to Yosemite Summit” to know that they CAN come… I’m willing to work with them and they can opt to pay several hundred dollars less.

Details are on the COST page of the Yosemite Summit site.

Please pray with me that God would bring together, again, just the right group of guys for Yosemite Summit 2011.

Help Spread the Word: http://tinyurl.com/YS11reg

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

2 Comments:

  1. Just curious, cause I wouldn’t be able to go, but is this for only male children’s pastors?

  2. Shannon, yes, Yosemite Summit is for men only, but that’s why after many women kept buggin’ me, I asked a good friend of mine, who is a woman children’s pastor, to create a similar retreat for women. You can read about it at http://www.unbridledretreat.org It isn’t discounted because unlike YS, it has a per-person cost. My cost is the same regardless of how many come, but Unbridled has a person cost so it works a little different. But we hope many women will be able to attend next year again.

Comments are closed