I do not recall when the thought of building a retreat facility first crossed my mind.

 

Perhaps it was the first time I signed a check for thousands of dollars for a place to take our staff, or maybe the day I signed a check for tens of thousands to host our Extreme Youth Leadership summer camp.

I do remember once in college creating a business plan for a retreat center. (Do you know how much water 100 people would use in one day? That is water in and water out…)

The plan showed me how many days I would have to sell to offset the expense of building and maintaining the facility. How much does one hundred mattresses cost? And then you need one hundred sheets, blankets, pillows, covers, bed frames… What kind of commercial grade kitchen would we want? How much is a food warmer or commercial ice box? I was overwhelmed at an almost $1,000,000 project. Time to scale back. Instead of focusing on what we could not do we asked, “What can we do?

We stayed at a “Quilting” retreat center and I was amazed that clubs like quilters and scrap bookers were looking for a place to get away for a weekend.  The facility was small and run by a couple. This is doable I thought.

Then when our son’s were married at very beautiful locations, (and I saw the price paid for their event centers) I decided that this would be an excellent way to create income while helping small groups afford a place to get away. (as well as family gatherings)

Now, how does one go about building a retreat center?

Pray first, “Is this a mission or just busy work”?

If it is a mission then is it MY mission?