F.O.C.U.S. Ministries
Presents
Our 6th Annual
Singles Retreat 2006
Hudson Valley Resort & Spa
Kerhonkson, NY
Website: http://www.hudsonvalleyresort.com
August 18-20, 2006
(3 days/2 nights)
Theme: Constructing Character
Purpose: To facilitate authentic character development in the personal lives of participants
Featured Facilitators:
Pastor Alphod C. Sinclair, MSW, LCSW, ABD
Gwendolyn Florant, MSW, LCSW
Nicole Reid, MD
Colors:
Orange, Lemon & Ebony
Our "Mountain Top" X-Perience.......
Re-living the 6th Annual Singles Retreat 2006 X-Perience…………I bet UR saying, it was MORE than U thought.......... It was well worth the 7 months that went into planning this event. A Mountain Top X-Perience was felt by all who attended. We were blessed Spiritually, Physically & Mentally at this spectacular event. Ask anyone who attended. We had representation from 146 people who represented 46 churches. This was the most folks we ever had. There were SINGLES who came from New York (Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Texas, Minnesota and Jamaica West Indies. They came by airplane, train, bus, van & car to get to the scenic Catskill Mountains, nestled in New York. This place was the Hudson Valley Resort & Spa in Kerhonkson, New York. I just personally want to "Thank" the 2006 Committee, for the time and effort put into making this event a GREAT SUCCESS. Without all of them this event would not have happened. Thanks to: Assistant Coordinator-Vidal Forde, ND, PA (my right hand person), Activities Committee-Ross Noe, Edwin Soto, Jeremy Sherron & Nancy Rutledge, Music Coordinator-Kimberly Holmes, Hospitality Committee, Keicha Gosling, DC & Stacy Browne, Photography Committee-Nancy Rutledge & Monique Anderson, Public Relations Coordinators-Yvette Meade & Mervis Anderson, Webmaster-Ross Noe, Legal Consultant, Keisha Godfrey, JD, Medical Consultant-Vidal Forde, ND, PA, Consultants-Kyna Giles, Antoinette Russell & I. Chrissila Serapio, Main Facilitator-Pastor Alphod Sinclair, ABD, CSW, Co-Facilitators-Gwendolyn Florant, MSW, CSW & Nicole Reid, MD and last but not least, our 2006 Praise TEAM: Shilda Albert, Kimbelee Jonas, Keicha Gosling, DC, Selina Gill, Kyna Giles and the Maestro Roy Ashmeade. We will never forget the melodious music from our band, thanks Ricky Venters and Company. I want to say a SPECIAL THANKS to Pastor Ali’s wife: Corinne Sinclair. Thanks, for allowing your husband to assist in transforming the lives of singles everywhere.
Re-cap of our Event.......
Friday, August 18, 2006
We left on a beautiful and hot & sunny morning. It was sooo nice riding on the highway through the scenic mountains of New York. Our 46 passenger luxury bus pulled up to the Resort at 10:15 am. We were the first retreaters to arrive. The lobby was soo spacious and nice. Most of the folks who arrived were impressed as how nice the resort was. Lunch was served at 12 Noon and was enjoyed by all. The Hospitality Committee registered retreaters who started arriving. They handed out the Welcome Packets which included: welcome letter, property map, colored program brochure, room key and the gift (Junior Padfolio). Some Singles played golf, miniature golf, tennis, table tennis, walked, just relaxed or caught up on some needed sleep. Now it was time to get STRESS-FREE. Some of our STRESSED-OUT Retreaters decided to get a much needed Spa Treatment. Boy, did those Retreaters feel like butter afterwards. Now, it was time to EAT again...seems like we did a lot of this.... Dinner was served at 6:30 PM, and now even more of the Retreaters had arrived. Our Praise & Worship theme song of the weekend was.......Ron Kenoly’s "The Battle is the Lord’s" (it's still ringing in my head). Our 2006 Praise TEAM and Band was outstanding. They are from the following churches: 1st Patterson SDA in Patterson-New Jersey, Shiloh SDA in Springfield-Massachusetts, Kingsboro Temple of SDA in Brooklyn, New York, City Tabernacle of SDA in Manhattan-New York and Linden SDA in Laurelton-New York. I just want to thank Kimberly Holmes, Roy Asmeade & Elliot Lamour for organizing the 2006 Praise TEAM. The Roll Call for the Churches was sooo X-citing....everyone got up, shouted and clapped when their church was called. There was representation from 46 churches. Andrea Hicks & Vidal Forde welcomed everyone to our signature event. We did Praise & Worship for an entire hour. It was sooo uplifting. There was a PowerPoint presentation of the previous theme songs & photos of the retreats from 2001-2006. We were truly blessed by Friday evening’s program.
Sabbath, August 19, 2006
We woke up to another sunny and bright morning. Now it was time for our annual Prayer Walk. Our Prayer Walk Leader, Vidal Forde led approximately 25 Singles on our Prayer Walk. We all gave testimonies of our X-Periences prior to the retreat. We formed a circle and started praying on the golf course. Now it’s time to....you guessed it......EAT!!! Breakfast was soooo delicious. Even more Singles arrived on this day. The 2006 Praise TEAM, was phenomenal. The harmony was soooo tight. Everyone was praising and worshiping the Lord. Roy Ashmeade led the Praise TEAM. Ricky Venter’s & Company assisted the 2006 Praise TEAM by stroking the keyboard, drums & guitar with melodious tunes. The tunes were so nice that we attracted several other worshipers in the building; among them were some Jewish worshippers. Some of these Jewish worshippers were children and were hypnotized by the sound of our music. The topics for this day were very serious. We learned the foundations of our character development. Many people were blessed during these sessions. Then we...... yes.......we ATE again.....Lunch. After lunch, Nancy Rutledge and her TEAM of "Sure Shots" started gathering the Retreaters together for our Photo Shoot. We took a nice group photo on the lawn near the gazebo. Before the session, Vidal Forde & Roy Ashmeade had all the MEN serenade the women in song. Boy, was this a treat. The MEN also, gave a tribute to Pastor Ali in praise & song. Pastor Ali then introduced the audience to his Men’s Ministry. Now it was time for our next session, where we learned how to confront 4 character issues of the 21st century (failure, feelings, faith & flesh). Now it was time for.....DINNER.... we ate again. We presented Pastor Ali, Gwen, Nicole, Praise TEAM 06’ and the Executive Committee with praises and thanks for assisting us in making this one of BEST retreats yet. Now it was time for our "Saturday Night Live." We started off with the "Gospel Slide." Ross Noe and his TEAM came up with some real X-citing interactive games that required lot’s of stamina. This eneded up being the BEST social we ever had. Boy do those retreaters have a lot of energy..... What an X-citing time we had. Some people still wanted to continue hanging out....so....the “After Parties” (playing uno, table tennis, group games, etc.) continue until……we’ll never tell J!!
Sunday, August 20, 2006
This was our last day.... Another beautiful sunny morning. Vidal Forde led 15 Singles outside to have our Prayer Walk. We all ATE our last meal breakfast. The 2006 Praise TEAM started off with Praise & Worship. Our next session was the most intense. It was on how to clean up the mess of betrayal. The Men and Women separated to discuss their various X-periences. This conversation was sooo deep that we were never able to come back together. F.O.C.U.S. Ministries will make a commitment to having a follow-up to complete this session. Now we are at the end of a most wonderful spiritually uplifting weekend. Over these last days....there was a lot of networking, friendships & reconnecting. A GREAT time was had by all.
In Closing
We would like all SINGLES to take back the information you learned to your local church. Then we will have more Singles who are ready for the next step........this step is a decision that only YOU can make.
I know everyone returned home a different way than they came. This was "MORE than you thought". May this X-Perience stay with you for a long time......
For those of you who were not there, you really shoulda...been...there.....
Still X-Cited J......
Andrea D. Hicks
Singles Retreat 2006 Coordinator
