The 2018 New Canaan Society New England Regional Retreat was held November 2-3 at Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort in Hancock, MA. The theme was “Community Changes Everything”. This is Doug Goulding’s “Keepin’ It Real” testimony shared on Saturday morning. Doug was introduced by his brudder Paul Michalski.
NCS New England Regional Retreat 2018 – Chip Skowron – Keepin’ It Real 1 (Intro by Rob Brinkman)
The 2018 New Canaan Society New England Regional Retreat was held November 2-3 at Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort in Hancock, MA. The theme was “Community Changes Everything”. This is Chip Skowron’s “Keepin’ It Real” testimony shared on Saturday morning. Chip was introduced by his brudder Rob Brinkman.
The Journey to God (Dr. Skip Moen – 11/2/18 – NCS New Canaan)
With great transparency, Dr. Skip Moen shares what he believes are the stages in a journey to finding God. Skip’s belief is based on his own journey of spiritual transformation that occurred as a result of a crisis. His experience led to the cathartic writing of a daily devotional for over 7,000 consecutive days exploring Scripture. www.skipmoen.com
Skip explains how money and a desire for independence had displaced God in his life, until God allowed it all to be taken away. Skip discusses how, through that experience, he came to discover a world of dependency that made life worthwhile.
Skip walks us through the stages of faith that begin with the joy of discovering God’s forgiveness and end with finally finding God.
He also shares why he believes, based on traveling the world, that the common language of human beings is pain and the common antidote is to “be heard” by someone who does not try to fix you and cares enough not to walk away. Healing comes through community.
Ambition and Life Choices (Paul Michalski – 4/20/18 – NCS New Canaan)
Paul Michalski transparently shares his amazing faith journey and the lessons he has learned about ambition, priorities and identity. He talks about a life of performance, achievement and control that had to face the reality of a marriage crisis in 2003 and near-divorce in 2004. Paul explains the promises of God that he leaned on through that crisis, the way that his life priorities were perfectly upside down, and the stages that eventually culminated in a miracle reconciliation in 2004 (chronicled in Eric Metaxas’s book “Miracles”).
The next turning point in his journey came in 2009 when he felt God’s prompting to leave his prestigious Wall Street legal practice for “a different plan”. Paul discusses what he believes to be a critical identity choice for every follower of Jesus–whether you see yourself as “what you do” or “who you are”. He also shares the implications of that choice in the workplace. Paul’s ensuing nine-year journey since 2009 has included helping NCS in its transition from a regional to a national organization and, most recently, has led to the formation of Integrous LLC (integriosity.com)–an advisory and legal practice helping faith-inspired leaders integrate their work into their faith by pursuing “Integriosity”.
Click the link below for a PDF copy of the slides Paul used in his presentation.
Ambition-and-Life-Choices-NCS-New-Canaan-4-20-18
Click the link below for a PDF of the chapter “God and Marriage” from Eric Metaxas’s book Miracles.
You Are NOT a Piece of Sh** (Wm. Paul Young – 11/3/17 – NCS New Canaan)
Wm. Paul Young shares his journey from believing he was a piece of sh** to understanding that the “truth of his being” is that he was made in the image and likeness of God. He describes how his modern, evangelical, fundamentalist upbringing as the son of missionaries taught him that he was a piece of sh** and how everything in life was about trying to cover it up. Young explains that the Holy Spirit helps reveal the truth of our being–which is that everything true about God is actually also true
about us. Young urges vulnerability in relationship–understanding our true nature and taking ownership of how we have messed things up so that we can get on the road back to wholeness and authenticity. He quotes Brene Brown: “If you don’t own your story, it will own you, but if you do own your story you will have the authority to write the ending.”