Central Florida Jurisdiction COGIC Number 1

The Annual Gainesville District Church of God in Christ MOD Squad was held October 10 thru 11, 2008 at Montgomery Presbyterian Conference Center in Starke, Florida.

Arriving on Friday afternoon, the men enjoyed a time of fishing prior to the start of an evening dinner where they were blessed to catch a couple bass and bluegills in the lake. Then, starting in the early evening, we kicked off the weekend of activities with an in-house dinner which included fried catfish and bluegills, jerk, curried, and sweet-n-sour chicken plus chicken salad. There also was potato salad, Groveland mustard greens, string beans, and salad.

It doesn’t stop there.

There was pound and red velvet cakes, potato pies, banana pudding, and even hamburgers and hot dogs. Then, there were accompanying soft drinks and water. Whew! All of this was thanks to the women of the Gainesville District and Mother Anderson of Groveland.

Following the ‘in-house’ feast, we went into a time of devotion including prayer, scripture reading, and praise songs. Following this time of devotion, we entered Friday evening workshops dealing with the following subjects (simultaneously):

·    How Married Men Should Treat Their Wives, presided over by Pastor Lowell T. James

·    Relationships Between Unmarried Men and the Opposite Sex, presided over by Pastor Jacob D. James

At the same time, Elder Allen Colbert, Sr. and Elder Alvin Jones, Sr. took turns presiding over sessions of subject matter for the youth who attended the retreat.

Following the workshop sessions, and on into the wee hours of the morning on Saturday, there were ‘bonding sessions’ between the men of the district. This involved games of checkers, chess, dominoes, bingo, and even some chat sessions and movie watching. The youngsters enjoyed themselves just being youngsters. And believe me, they are lively youngsters full of energy.

On Saturday morning at 7:00 am, there was “morning manna” followed by breakfast in the retreat’s on-site cafeteria at 8:00 am. Then, at 9:00 am, there was a workshop presided over by Dr. D. R. Williams dealing with the subject, “How Men Should Treat Their Pastors.”

Following the workshop, there was a time of various sports activities presided over by Brother Rod Clark. These sessions included basketball and football and other activities such as were of interest to the group as a whole.

At noon we broke for lunch, then right back to sports activities, which included fishing and a rocking chair round talk by some of the men.

At 2:30 pm, we met for a session wrap-up the weekend activities and to pass out certificates of appreciation by our superintendent, Dr. D. R. Williams. The weekend of activities were dismissed at 3:00 pm.

All praises go to the Lord for a full weekend of feasting, fun, workshops, and overall enjoyment!