By Rolf Hammersborg
The Men’s Retreat at Cascades Camp was a good time where men from around the conference were able to talk about race, racism, hope and faith in a way that they may not get to do in their everyday lives. We started things off Friday night with kind of a Race and Faith 101 and talked about why things like white privilege and institutional racism matter. Saturday morning we heard from Phil Berlin, Jim Sequeira and Mark Hjelmervik about their experiences on Journey To Mosaic and other personal stories of race and racism. Then, we had breakout workshops, with opportunities to continue conversations about race with Phil Berlin, hear about Hurricane Harvey rebuilding from Dick Nystrom and Jim Milton, and a financial class from Phil Wuerffel and Jeremy Dawson.
Saturday afternoon, we had our own version of the biathlon with football and golf, complete with trophies for competitors of all ages. Saturday night, Phil Berlin spoke about his experience growing up in a Jamaican family in Portland, and how that’s affected his worldview and his life in church ministry. Sunday morning, we took communion together and Greg Yee sent us off with some real-life applications on race and racism. We had 110 guys there, including about 20 kids, 18 and under. It was a great time of fellowship, father-son bonding, and grandpa-grandson bonding, and church bonding, and friendship. The worship was awesome. The food was awesome, and Cascades was a great host, as usual. Thanks to everyone who helped make the retreat possible, especially Greg Yee.