3-Day “Blessed Are the Peacemakers” Retreat

November 11th - 14th, 2024 

Lone Rock Retreat | Bailey, Colorado 

The next RLP retreat will convene a cohort of 20-24 social impact leaders from across the country just six days after what promises to be one of the most contentious elections in our lifetime. No established democracy in recent history has been as deeply polarized as the United States is today. Toxic polarization is impacting all elements of modern life and education has become highly politicized. What is our role as education leaders of faith? What does it mean to lead redemptively in a time of great fracture? From this backdrop, the theme of our next retreat emerged: Blessed are the Peacemakers – finding ways to move beyond toxic polarization to embrace God’s great commandment to live and lead with love.

Retreat Elements:

  • Prayer: We pray (a lot) individually, in small groups, and over and with each other as a whole group.

  • Testimony: Multiple members of the community share raw honest testimony of how God is moving in their lives and leadership.

  • Worship: We gather and worship God together and call on the Holy Spirit to open our hearts and minds.

  • Socratic Reading Discussion: We unpack themes and insights from selected readings in socratic discussions.

  • Somatic Reflection Stations: We build reflection stations throughout the campus and give participants the chance to engage in deep inner work in silence, solitude, and solidarity. 

  • Rituals: We integrate several rituals and daily rhythms into our retreats that often speak to the heart and our bodies in unique ways individually and as a community.

  • Small Groups: Each member of the community is part of a small group that meets consistently to go deeper into retreat themes and build more intimate relationships across lines of difference.

  • Meals & Table Discussions: We spend time integrating discussions during meals so that these moments of breaking bread together build on the themes of the retreat.

Enrollment is limited to 24 participants and registration is by application only.

Complete your confidential, simple application form here.

FAQ’s

  • RLP is made up of a growing community of disciples that hold positions of leadership and great responsibility in various sectors.  They are followers of Jesus and passionate advocates for equity but are different in every other category: race, politics, ideology, gender, theology, sexuality, and more.  The next retreat in November 2024 will include leaders who hold significant leadership roles in education or in adjacent spaces (church leaders committed to education equity, leaders in the youth mental healthcare space, leaders in youth development, leaders working to transform economic mobility for young people, etc). 

    Our members hold a diverse set of beliefs and embody a diverse set of identities. You will likely not agree with everything that is said or done, but you need to be able to respond to divergent opinions with respect, curiosity, and genuine love. Please read through our Community Commitments to ensure this is a community you feel comfortable engaging in.  We expect the 2024 cohort to be made up of leaders who are new to RLP and some leaders who have attended retreat(s) in the past.

  • This retreat will be facilitated and moderated by members of the RLP community including trained moderators Traci Dove and Tina Fernandez.  Irvin Scott will be our pastoral lead.  Jeff Nelson and Mindy Flach (alongside many others) will support with retreat design.

  • The fully loaded cost of the retreat is $3,240 per leader.  We ask that all selected leaders help contribute to the ongoing work of RLP in one of two ways.

    • Sponsorship: If your employer offers professional development dollars for leaders in your organization, we ask that you seek to finance your convening experience at the full cost of $3,240 through your employer.

    • Contribution: We ask that you consider making a donation to RLP at whatever level is meaningful to you to enable the ministry to grow beyond 2024.  RLP is a fiscally sponsored project of Grove Collective which is a tax exempt charitable organization that is qualified under Section 501(c)(3) and accordingly donations to RLP are tax-deductible to the extent permitted under the Internal Revenue Code.  Your retreat experience has been underwritten by a generous donor which means your generosity will help ensure that RLP can continue this impactful ministry in future years.

  • The November 2024 retreat will be hosted at Lone Rock Retreat campus about an hour outside of Denver in the Colorado mountains.  Ground transportation to Lone Rock will be provided as will a three-night single occupancy room with excellent meals.  

  • Participants are selected based on a willingness to participate in the messy work of building the beloved community with other Christians across difference and an earnest desire to give God the reins of our lives and leadership on behalf of others.  Great care is put into creating a cohort that reflects the diversity of the Body of Christ that is made up of leaders who hold significant responsibility in this important moment in our nation and world.

  • We are hoping to announce additional retreat dates for 2025 and beyond towards the end of 2024. If for some reason you are not selected to attend the November 2024 retreat, and you’d like to be put on a waiting list in case of cancellations, or on the waiting list for future retreats, that option will be made available to you.