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Gary Janetzke
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Youth ministry provides support, encouragement, leadership, and resources for young people and their congregations, including youth gatherings, leadership training, community service events, confirmation workshops, youth oriented seminars and retreats, counseling training, and spiritual growth opportunities for both junior high and senior high young people.
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Grace Place Retreats
Wednesday, August 08, 2007 :: 2027 Views :: Schools :: 
Grace Place was founded in 1999 by John D. Eckrich, M.D., a life-long Lutheran from a family of Lutheran health care professionals. He has personally witnessed the stresses and strains experienced by those in ministry. For more than 25 years he has treated hundreds of pastors and their families, seminarians, and other professional church workers in the St. Louis area. Church workers cannot maximize their ability to give of themselves unless they are in top physical, spiritual, emotional, and intellectual condition.
This program was developed by top pastoral care professionals nationwide in conjunction with Lutheran leaders and created to sustain church worker excellence through an extended, intentional retreat program for Lutheran church workers and spouses.
Generally, each retreat is focused on a specific worker category: pastors retreat with fellow pastors; teachers with teachers, etc. Church workers are always encouraged to attend with their spouse.
The goals of Grace Place for professional church workers
- Explore– consciously address personal health and wholeness issues in their own life
- Exemplify– model integrated health to their congregational members and others in their community
- Engage – enable congregational members to integrate personal health and wholeness in their Christian walk and witness
- Energize – positively encourage preventative and proactive means to affirm and support health in pastoral families and all professional church workers and leaders through their parishes, education institutions and judicatories
Modeling the gifts of grace
Many church workers enter the ministry excited and ready to serve their Lord. Soon the demands of their office take over. As servants, pastors and educators are to spread the Gospel and carry many administrative duties within the congregation. This is in addition to the many hours pastors counsel members, visit the sick, bury the dead, and marry engaged couples. And we are all aware of all the extra classroom activities our teachers & DCEs do daily. Well-meaning workers spend so much time taking care of parish members, they may fail to make time to take care of themselves and their families. Ironically, as the workers strive hard to help members be healthy, they themselves forget to keep their body, mind and soul in great shape.
The cost?
The actual cost to retreat a worker couple is $2,000 for the week. However, through grants and generous donations of individuals and organizations, the couple pays approximately $300 for the week plus travel expenses. This covers room, meals, and program costs. Their congregation may wish to pay for their travel expenses.
Click here for a brochure.
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