By Dakota Jackson, Salt Company Resident, Cottage Grove Church
The end of October is one of the busiest and best times of the year in the life of Salt DSM as it is Fall Retreat season. As a Salt staff, we had been praying and thinking about the retreat for a long time and had come to the conclusion that we really wanted to see God do two things in our students. We wanted him to make Jesus really clear and beautiful, and we wanted him to help them have fun.
Andy Norris, the head pastor of Cottage Grove Church, was the preacher for this years fall retreat and he went through Colossians 1:15-20. In a text all about Jesus Andy broke down how Jesus is the creator, sustainer, and reconciler of all things. What a sweet time this was for all of our students to so clearly see that God is in control of everything and that gives us so much freedom in this life because his hands are far more trustworthy than our own. God used Pastor Andy to do such an incredible job of helping our students to see Jesus so clearly.
Along with that, we had been praying diligently for God to allow our students to have some fun. The universities of Des Moines are very academically intensive and we could feel the pressure that many of our students were under when it came to school or work. Because of that, we wanted to create an environment where they could really let loose and have a good time, knowing that Jesus is in control of everything and that is worth celebrating. JoAnna Davis, our women’s ministry leader here at Salt DSM did an incredible job of throwing a weekend-long competition where students broke into teams and challenged each other in a variety of games and races. This alongside the dance party that we threw on Saturday night was such a great time for the students in our ministry to understand that having joy in Jesus sometimes means acting like a fool for the sake of making memories and building community.
