Eagle Eyrie - A Wonderful Youth Retreat

I had heard only great things about Eagle Eyrie, the Baptist Conference Center, in Lynchburg, Virginia, since becoming the Blaze youth director, but I had never had the opportunity to take our youth until St. John's youth director invited us to go with her group. The middle school retreat started on Friday, a school day, which meant we had to leave after all the youth got out of school. Driving through the dark and fog presented a real challenge since Eagle Eyrie is located atop of one of the many hills surrounding Lynchburg, the home of Liberty University.

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Blaze joined 700 other United Methodist youth for a weekend of worship, fellowship and fun. We stayed at Clarendon Lodge which is one of a dozen or so houses which literally form a neighborhood above one side of the Eagle Eyrie complex. Sharing the house with us were a great group of youth from Amelon United Methodist Church and their leaders E-dee and John. E-dee and John made a great team and clearly loved being there with their youth group.

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The Baptist Conference Center is run by some really great people who are committed to making the retreat as comfortable and enjoyable as possible for the young people there. The Eagle Eyrie staff were always ready to help us when ever we had a question or problem. The food provided at the retreat was great (and all-you-can-eat). The Keith Elgin Band was a real crowd pleaser and were there for the whole weekend performing during worship and the Saturday evening concert. It was a busy weekend, but our youth also found time to visit the ice cream and gift shops on site. I highly recommend Eagle Eyrie for anyone considering a youth retreat, but bring comfortable walking shoes (the terrain is hilly) and a flash light (for walking through wooded paths at night).

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"I know you've heard the old cliche that 'things won't make you happy.' What I want you to realize is that unless you purposefully choose another direction for your life, you will spend it acquiring things and maintaining them. And in the process, you will become a slave to them. You won't be doing this because you truly believe that things will bring you happiness. You will be doing it because you didn't decide to do something else with your life." - John W. Whitehead, founder of the Rutherford Institute, A Well-Spent Life.