If your life is anything like the rest of us, you have a to do list a mile long that only seems to be growing. Responsibilities within our family, work, church, and
community often seem to crowd out time that could be spent in fellowship with our Heavenly Father. Every once and a while, we all need a break to refocus on
the One who entrusts us with so many responsibilities. The Bible tells us that even Jesus rested with his disciples when things became too busy:

Mark 6:30-32: The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.

Often times the “break” you need to refocus on God can take place at your own kitchen table over coffee, on a walk around your neighborhood, or even during your drive to work in the morning. But there is great value in an extended “break”, a real retreat from everyday life and its surroundings. Though we may think they are immune, even children need an opportunity to get away and experience life at a slower pace.

 

Christian camps and conference centers serve as a perfect place to find rest and retreat. As explained by the Christian Camp & Conference Association (CCCA), a camp “offers a relief from ordinary distractions, extended time for spiritual reflection, and a healthy change of pace.” There are countless such camps or conference centers ready to provide the relief and change of pace you’ve been searching. So why choose CrossRoads for your next church retreat, personal weekend away, or your child’s summer camping experience?

The following are four reasons that hundreds of summer campers and thousands of retreat guests each year choose CrossRoads:

Quality Accommodations

CrossRoads is not your average summer camp! Maybe you have visions from childhood trips to camp that include outhouses, questionable dinner menus, and leaky, squeaky bunk houses. (The winding five mile road to CrossRoads often helps to conjure up these images for first time guests.) Contrary to what you may expect, the accommodations at CrossRoads are not like this at all! There are four large cabins perfectly suited to summer camp and youth groups, but there is also a 31 room hotel that is often used for women’s retreats, couples weekends, or deacon events. Other quality accommodations at CrossRoads include a large auditorium with a stage and sound system, a suite-style lodge for small groups or families, and a dining hall that serves healthy, delicious meals.

 

Natural Surroundings

On your first (or maybe even second or third) trip to CrossRoads, you may wonder if you will ever really reach your destination. CrossRoads is at the end of a long 5 mile road; 30 minutes away from the closest town and nearly an hour away from a city of any size. Somewhere along the road leading into the property, you will probably lose cell reception, not to regain it again until your trip home. For most guests, a feeling of seclusion upon arrival to CrossRoads quickly changes into an awe at the beauty that God has created. On almost any evening you can enjoy a cup of coffee on the porch of the dining hall and see five or six deer grazing in the field. A mile hike can lead you to a rock face with a spectacular view of the valley and the peaks that surround CrossRoads. In viewing the natural surroundings of CrossRoads, guests can’t help but respond to the God that created them as Paul describes in Romans 1:20:

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

 

Guest-centered Experience

One advantage of choosing CrossRoads over a larger camp or retreat center is CrossRoads’ ability to meet guests’ needs. During the summer, the high staff to camper ratio means that each child is valued and given time for individual attention. Campers have opportunities each week to choose individual activities which interest them, and counselors are encouraged to recognize and support every child’s strengths. The CrossRoads staff also seeks to provide a guest-centered experience for each retreat guest. Whether it’s accommodating a food allergy, starting a fire for a late night campfire service, or guiding group members through a team-building low ropes exercise, the staff goes out of their way to meet each group’s individual needs.

 

Missions Focus

The staff at CrossRoads takes its heritage as a ministry of the Woman’s Missionary Union of Virginia seriously. WMUV has always been about missions, and the CrossRoads staff strives to make missions a priority in everything they do. This missions focus is perhaps most clearly seen in the summer camping program. CrossRoads hosts international student missionaries during the summer, invites a different missionary or missionary family to share with campers each week, collects a missions offering, and attempts to incorporate missions education into many of the daily summer camp activities and conversations. During the conference season, the CrossRoads staff thinks outside the box for ways to live a missional lifestyle within each of their own roles. The staff is currently exploring ways to become “greener” in all parts of the ministry, participate in mission projects within the local Amherst community, and serve as Christ-like examples in relationship to other local businesses.

Whether or not you choose CrossRoads this year, do make it a priority to find a time and a place to rest, relax, and refocus on the Creator. This can only benefit your efforts to serve in your family, church, career and community.

If you would like more information about CrossRoads, please view our website at www.crossroadsccc.com  or call 434-277-8465.