During an icy weekend in February, students from colleges in the region gathered at Windermere Baptist Conference Center for the annual PAUSE college retreat sponsored by CBF Heartland, a regional body in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Meeting Feb. 9-11 with the theme “Community, Reconciliation and the Mission of God,” some students and retreat leaders stayed over another day after a winter storm blanketed the roads with ice.
Students worship during CBF Heartland’s PAUSE college retreat in February. (Chris Chappell/Windermere Baptist Conference Center)This year’s retreat featured guest speakers Edem and Pamela Dzunu. Members of Third Baptist Church in St. Louis Mo., the Dzunus founded Baobab People, a community organization brings together people from diverse backgrounds to encourage cross-cultural understanding and to work towards racial reconciliation and healing.
Ian Langford, a junior at Missouri University of Science & Technology said “the whole retreat felt really different than retreats typically do.”
“We spoke about dealing with issues in a civil and radicallypatient way,” he added “It was a fantastic break from life. Even though we almost got snowed in, it felt like we left too soon. It was also a good time getting to know believers from other schools and in other communities.”
