Every man’s heart is yearning for an adventure, a battle, and a beauty…
This past October I had the opportunity to join 11 other men for the diocese’s first Wild at Heart Basic Retreat. It was great to be at St. Christopher. The camp used their personal retreat format to safely provide lodging, meals, meeting space, and outdoor encounters for this adventure based on the book Wild at Heart. In over 70 live Boot Camps John Eldredge and his team have presented this to tens of thousands of men worldwide over the past 20 years. They offer their entire Boot Camp via video session and call it Wild at Heart Basic. This was our fourth event in South Carolina and our first at St. Christopher Camp and Conference Center.
After arriving Thursday afternoon and enjoying a delicious meal in the cafeteria, we began the quest with evening and morning sessions. During free time Friday and Saturday afternoons we hiked, fished, kayaked, relaxed, and simply enjoyed God’s creation in the unique St. Christopher setting. Saturday evening, we had a steak cook out on the pavilion as the sun set over the ocean. We left Sunday at noon to continue our search for truth.
The video sessions include scenes from movies including Braveheart, Gladiator, Robin Hood, Saving Private Ryan, and others that stir masculine souls and reveal truths common to us all. The team then uses scripture references and biblical teaching, testimony, prayer, and codes of silence. The goal is to allow men to hear God speaking directly to them and invite Him into their hearts. Mission accomplished!
“Written on every man’s heart is a yearning for adventure, battle, and a beauty.,” Eldridge says.
Why Do I Need Wild at Heart Basic?
As John Eldridge says in his book, “A man needs a deeper understanding of why these longings govern him—and why God made him just like that. And he needs a deeper understanding of why women long to be fought for, to be swept up into adventure, and to be the beauty.
What if?
What if those deep desires in our hearts are telling us the truth, revealing to us the lives we were meant to live? God gave us eyes so that we might see; He gave us ears that we might hear; He gave us wills that we might choose; and He gave us hearts that we might live. The way we handle the heart is everything. A man must know he is powerful; he must know he has what it takes.
This is not a retreat about the ‘seven things a man ought to do to be a nicer guy.’ It is a four-day quest into the recovery of a man’s masculine soul, the release of a man’s heart— his passions and his true nature—all given him by God. It is an invitation to rush the fields at Bannockburn, to go West, to leap from the falls and save the beauty. For if a man is going to know who he truly is as a man, if he is going to find a life worth living, love a woman deeply, and not pass on his confusion to his children, he simply must get his heart back. Join us.” John Eldridge
Our mission is to continue hosting Wild at Heart Basic events and training others to do likewise. We plan to offer several events throughout the year. We are planning for January 14-17 2021. Our team would also love to help you host an event. All we need are: Men committed to getting away and unplugging from the world for four days/three nights (or longer), and a place for the men to sleep, eat, enjoy, and engage. FYI, we encourage you to read Wild at Heart by John Eldridge.
To learn more visit https://wildatheart.org/basic/ For diocesan opportunities contact us for more information: Lee Jones ljones14@sc.rr.com; Rags Coxe coxe.rags@gmail.com; Tom Rowland tcr@americantimberlands.com; Brad Wasserman bwasserman@debordieu.com
By Lee Jones, Prince George Winyah, Georgetown
