FourFiveSix Retreat

After the 2012 preteen leaders’ conference, which ended last Friday, the FourFiveSix team, who coordinated the conference, got away for a few days. We drove from Sacramento to a town called Truckee (near Lake Tahoe) in northern California. We hung out together, played SuperSmash Brothers (yes, on the Gamecube…the cabin even had a Nintendo 64), ate a lot of awesome food and brainstormed the next year. We dreamed how the world would be different if preteens everywhere would begin to own their faith in Jesus. We were inspired by each others passion to help the church better reach preteens and  brainstormed around the clock this year’s strategy.

Thanks to Patrick Snow, our fearless leader (also bald like me), we better refined why we exist. We always knew that FourFiveSix existed to help your preteen ministry take the next step. But we needed a strategy and focus. After a few hours of discussion we came up with this. I guess you would call it our mission statement.

How does FourFiveSix help you take the next step? By helping the Church figure out how to lead preteens towards owning all aspects of their faith. We do that by providing and cultivating resources, consultation, a credible voice, affirmation, advocacy, awareness  & understanding, networking, community and training.

Like many you, we want to take on the world. But we acknowledged that we have a limited amount of time and resources. So we decided to focus on three main things this year: the 2013 preteen leaders’ conference, the FourFiveSix.org website and peer groups (launching in July/August). We also have some things on the drawing board for the future (can’t let the cat out of the bag). Focusing on those three things assures that we stay focused and maximize effectiveness.

I am honored and excited to be a part of the team!