Registration Details

• ALL individuals must fill out the form, regardless of age (a parent may fill out the form for those who are too young to use the internet, who do not have the necessary motor skills to operate a computer mouse, or who are not yet properly toilet trained). The question asking if you are registering as a family is for room assignments only. Family room requests can be made and will be honored by priority:
  1) Parents with young children 11 and under (children ages 12+ are not eligible unless for medical or other special reasons)
  2) Married couples (contingent upon space)
• Age 3 and under: free
• Age 4 and up, to and including 5th grade: $75 (regardless of the date registered)
• Grades 6-12, college, graduate school, young adult, adult, mid-life crisis, old adult, geezer:
•        Early: Sunday, October 17, 2010, 11:59 pm: $175
         Regular: Sunday, November 21, 2010, 11:59 pm: $190
         Late: Sunday, December 5, 2010, 11:59 pm: $205
• Refund: $140 for grades 6 and higher (regardless of the date registered). $75 for children's registration. Last day to request a refund is December 12, 2010.
• Fellowship with other EFC churches: pricele$$
• Absolutely NO SUBSTITUTIONS allowed. :/
• For part time registration considerations, you must contact the registrar for details. You MUST have a signed Pine Summit Consent and Release of Liability Form (121 kb PDF) in order to attend ANY portion of Winter Retreat.

Registrars

Your local church registrar has a wealth of information about winter retreat. They will collect two things from you:

1. A signed check (payable to your local church) for the appropriate amount based on your registration date. If your church has no registrar, please contact us.
2. A signed Pine Summit Christian Camps CONSENT AND RELEASE OF LIABILITY FORM.

EFC Alhambra: Frank Yang
EFC Arcadia: Prudence Lu
EFC Berkeley: Mimi Ling
EFC Cerritos: Joe Chen
EFC East Valley: Connie Chen
Grace Bible Church: Mike Lin
EFC Hacienda Heights: Ming Huang
EFC Irvine: Peter Guei
EFC Los Angeles: Andy Kuo
EFC Orange County: Andrea Chen
EFC Pomona: Ian Liu
EFC Saddleback Valley: Danielle Mailloux
EFC San Diego: Charlie Hsu
EFC San Fernando Valley: Alaine Bagamaspad
EFC South Bay: Jack Wu

Pictures from Previous Retreats

Promotion

Win a contest and get a fast pass for you and a friend! Your entry should be appropriate relating to your interpretation of the retreat theme, "Christ Alone." 

This year's contest is split into FOUR categories. You are allowed a maximum of one entry PER category. You MUST be registered to go to Winter Retreat. Submissions become the property of EFC Churchesand its staff, and we reserve the right to modify any aspect of the rules to fit into the spirit of the contest.

The four categories:

Creative Writing

• Maximum length: 300 words
• Poetry or prose

Artwork

• Take a picture of your artwork (drawing, painting, sculpture, etc.)
• Include a title and a brief paragraph (maximum 100 words) on how your artwork relates to the Winter Retreat theme.
• May be original photographs, photoshops, or electronic illustrations

Video Performance

• Maximum length: 3 minutes
• Upload to YouTube

Original Song

• Maximum length: 3 minutes
• Include the lyrics, if any (instrumentals are acceptable)
• Format: MP3 or WAV preferred. Don't make us cranky.
• Allow creative content to carry a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License for the free sharing and remixing of content for the public domain.

Voting

A small committee will choose the top entries in each of the four categories, and open voting for those signed up to go to Winter Retreat will occur December 6-20, 2010. We reserve the right to modify any aspect of the voting to fit into the spirit of the contest.

Prize

Each category winner will earn TWO food fast passes (allows cutting in food line). If a person wins in two categories, the second place winner with more votes in their own category than the other second place winner in the other category will earn two food fast passes. The same principle will apply if a single person wins in three or four categories. Just trust us, it makes sense in our heads.

2010 Winners

• Creative Writing: Albert Luo (EFC Orange County)
• Artwork: Christine Hsu (EFC EFC East Valley)
• Video Performance: no entries :/
• Original Song: Serena Lee (EFC Irvine)

Speakers

Workshops

Workshops are an important part of Winter Retreat. It gives campers the opportunity to choose among different topics that interest them. Topics and sessions are subject to change. That's just the way it is.

Science & Religion
Pastor Andy Kuo, EFC Los Angeles

NOTE: All ages welcome, but recommended for 10th grade and higher.

How do we reconcile seemingly contradictory issues regarding science and our Christian faith? Topics to be explored: Origins of life: Age of earth (Creation account, 238U and 14C dating), Abiogenesis (Primordial soup), Big Bang model (Doppler shift of light, evidence, issues), Creation (intelligent design, literal/allegorical), Evolution (Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species, Second Law of Thermodynamics, Adaptation, Natural selection).

A nap, my friend, is a brief period of sleep which overtakes superannuated persons when they endeavor to entertain unwelcome visitors or to listen to scientific lectures. George Bernard Shaw

Abortion & Biotechnology
Pastor Andy Kuo, EFC Los Angeles

How do we reconcile seemingly contradictory issues regarding science and our Christian faith? Topics to be explored: Abortion: Definition of life (conception, blood, trimester, birth). Biotechnology: Human Genome Project, Stem cell research, Cloning (Reproductive and Therapeutic)

Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born. Ronald Reagan

Too many people in America believe that if you are pro-choice that means pro-abortion. It doesn't. I don't want abortion. Abortion should be the rarest thing in the world. I am actually personally opposed to abortion. But I don't believe that I have a right to take what is an article of faith to me and legislate it to other people. That's not how it works in America. John Kerry

Eschatology: End Times (TENTATIVE)
Pastor Andy Kuo, EFC Los Angeles

(TENTATIVE) Do heaven and hell exist? How will the world end? What does the Bible have to say about final judgment? We will discuss the four methods to interpret Biblical eschatology that have surfaced, especially as it relates to understanding the vivid imagery of John’s Revelation, and we will go indepth into the three millenial views (premillennialism, amillennialism, postmillennialism) of the end times. 

It’s the end of the world as we know it. REM, “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine),” Eponymous, Capitol Records, 1998

Get the Most out of Your Bible
Pastor Gabe Barber, EFC Orange County

You don't need a Seminary degree to study the Bible! The beauty of God's word is that it was written by normal people, for normal people. Come to this workshop to learn how to deepen your personal relationship with God through reading, studying, and applying Scripture to your life.

Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand. Mark Twain

Tackling the Torah
Pastor Gabe Barber, EFC Orange County

Does God still speak to us through the first five books of the Bible? You bet He does! Studying them might not be easy, but it really can be enjoyable. Come to this workshop to discover the value of reading, studying, and even applying the Torah to your life.

It is a mistake to look to the Bible to close a discussion; the Bible seeks to open one. William Sloane Coffin

Growing Through the Gospels
Pastor Gabe Barber, EFC Orange County

Jesus Christ is the most crucial figure in all of human history, and we have four different accounts of His life in the Bible. Each of these Gospels is unique and contributes something different to what we know about our Lord and Savior. Come to this workshop to learn how best to approach the Gospels in your personal times of Bible Study.

If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.Saint Augustine

Practical Purity: Rules of Engagement
Danielle Mailloux, Youth Director EFC Saddleback Valley

Do you want to seek sexual purity in your life but you just don't know where to begin? Have you ever thought that seeking purity is just too hard? This workshop will give you practical tools for proactively living out sexual purity in your life. This year's workshop will be co-educational to allow teaching and open discussion on how each gender struggles with being sexually pure. Together as brothers and sisters in Christ we will learn how to avoid the top stumbling blocks for the opposite sex and how to help each other seek purity.

Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity. 1 Timothy 5:2b

Identity Crisis
Pastor Mike Kim, EFC San Fernando Valley

Who am I? Who am I looking for? What am I striving to become? In every aspect of our life, we take on a particular role: Father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, friend, employee, or employer. We look in the mirror, turn on the television, or walk down familiar hallways and convince ourselves we know who we are or at least what we want to become. A couple questions we need to ask ourselves, “Am I striving to become who I was created to be?” and “Do I see others as I ought to see them?” Do you know your identity in Christ? Or do you have an identity crisis? 

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. Desmond Tutu

Bible Translation
Pastor Levi Hwang, EFC Alhambra

With so many Bible translations, which one should I choose? When we step into any Christian bookstore, we are immediately confronted with an abundance of English Bible translations. A few questions will immediately come to mind: What is a good translation? Which translation should I use? By understanding the different translation philosophies which undergird various translations and the strengths and weaknesses of each philosophy, the believer can profitably use different translations to gain greater trust in God's Word, to understand God's Word better, and in turn to live a life which pleases Him.

Never place a period where God has placed a comma. God is still speaking. Gracie Allen

Odd, the way the less the Bible is read the more it is translated. C.S. Lewis

Back to Basics
Pastor Mike Kim, EFC San Fernando Valley (Tentative)

Is Christ missing from your Christianity? Have you forgotten why you are a Christian? Have a hard time explaining what it means to be a Christian? Join us as we explore what it means to be a Christian and why choosing to follow Jesus is the most important decision you will ever make. Discover or rediscover the joys of following Jesus Christ.

Jesus loves me! This I know, for the Bible tells me so. Anna B. Warner

Healthy Christian Parenting (I)
Aileen Hong, M.S. MFT, Certified Family Wellness Instructor

As a parent, you're committed to helping your child to worship God, grow in character, and build healthy relationships with others. There are two main jobs a parent must do: to be a leader and to be a role model. In Part 1 of this workshop series, we will focus on parents being leaders. You will learn effective ways in which parents can set rules, stay in charge, and stick together.

Healthy Christian Parenting (II)Aileen Hong, M.S. MFT, Certified Family Wellness Instructor

As a parent, you're committed to helping your child to worship God, grow in character, and build healthy relationships with others. There are two main jobs a parent must do: to be a leader and to be a role model. In Part 2 of this workshop series, we will focus on parents being role models and spending time with their children. You will learn how to listen, encourage, and talk with your child in ways that build cooperation.

Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you. Robert Fulghum

Post-Retreat Media

2010 Winter Retreat Slide Show

Courtesy Dann Chen (EFC East Valley) and Ted Kau (EFC East Valley)

Group Picture

Courtesy Dann Chen (EFC East Valley). Click for full size.

Slide Presentation

Courtesy Andy Kuo (EFC Los Angeles)

Post Retreat Survey

We hope you had a wonderful time at the 2010 EFC Winter Retreat, and we hope you were blessed in your time there. We would really like to know how to make Winter Retreat better! Please fill out our survey and let us know how we did!