YES Retreat 2025

On March 28th, the Ignite youth program in collaboration with the Family of Faith community sent over 50 students and staff to Hillsdale, Michigan for YES 2025. The YES Retreat is a three day, two night high school retreat for Sword of the Spirit youth and their friends. The goal for this weekend is to create an environment where youth have the chance to say YES to the Lord’s call of discipleship. The retreat also aims to bring youth to initial or deeper conversion, to pray with them for Baptism in the Spirit, to help them grow in confidence in worship, and to encourage them in the use of the gifts of the Spirit. The theme for this year’s retreat was “Attention → Worship”. In other words, what we give our attention to will shape us, ultimately reflecting what it is that we worship. We heard about how the world tries to steal our attention through secular temptations, yet so often we fail to realize that we already have the Lord’s attention. In order to live a life of fulfillment, glorifying the Lord in all that we do, we must learn to turn our attention away from distractions or idols. We must lean into Christ’s love for us, orienting our lives to the Lord as a form of worship knowing that He is God and we are not. 

-Ray Molnar, Ignite Youth Leader