Conferences
Couples Retreat: March 10-12
Couples Retreat: March 10-12
Overboard Ministries Couples Retreat* (Sexual Intimacy)
March 10-12
Northport, Michigan
$300 (if registration is paid in full) or $50 deposit ($275 due 30 days before conference)
14 spots available
About Sexual Intimacy
Marriage is a unique relationship. All of us have friendships and relationships where we share intimate details of our lives and each of us connects with people at work, at home, in the family and in the neighborhood. We share special moments with special friends, but marriage is a relationship the exceeds them all and the sexual relationship is preserved exclusively for the bond of marriage.
While most of us grew up learning about relationships and how to create healthy boundaries in our communities, few of us learned about how to create strong sexual intimacy in marriage. Obviously the mechanics of sex are quite simple, but to get from having sex to fostering sexual oneness between two people is a huge step!
Traci and I are so thankful we grew up in a very strong Bible believing/preaching church, but neither of us can remember any specific teaching from the pulpit on the beauty of sexual intimacy in marriage. Even in our youth group, where sex was a more open discussion, there was always this sense that sex was "dirty" or "forbidden." After all, we lived in the era of "Just say no" purity pledges and "true love waits" events. The message always seemed the same: avoid sex like the plague until you're married.
The problem is the mixed message: Yes, we should avoid sex until marriage according to God's design for relationships. BUT, sex isn't the plague and when we continually connect sex to bad things (STDs, unwanted pregnancies, social ruin etc...) as a teenager, we bring those concepts into our marriages and they affect our ability to enjoy sex the way God intended, in the only relationship He intended sex to be shared.
During the course of our weekend, we are going to examine God's plan for sex and develop strategies for creating and maintaining sexual intimacy in marriage. Our conversations will be open, Bible-based, fun (yes, you will laugh!) and engaging. Our desire is to help you understand biblical intimacy, open conversations about sexual matters in your marriage and equip you with tools to deepen your intimacy for years.
So whether your marriage is strong and going well, or maybe you've lost some connection and need some encouragement, the Overboard Ministries Couples Retreat can be a catalyst for creating intimacy in your marriage.
About Joe and Traci Castañeda
Traci and Joe have been in ministry all 20 years of their marriage. While the bulk of their early years were spent working with teenagers, they developed a passion for reaching the whole family, and especially connecting with parents. They soon discovered that healthy teens most often come from healthy parents who have a strong marriage.
This led them to begin teaching classes aimed at couples and marriage, to explore the key concepts of a healthy relationships and to open up dialogue about sexual intimacy in marriage. Through classes, seminars, books, experience and growth in their own marriage, they discovered key principles about marriage and the need to share those principles with others. Their teaching style is fun, very interactive and super practical.
About the Northport Bay Retreat house
The retreat is March 10-12, 2017 (Friday-Sunday). We will begin at 4pm (registration begins at 3) on Friday and end at 12pm on Sunday. Two excellent cooks will be preparing all of our meals (5 meals with a sack lunch option for Sunday afternoon) and we are certain you will enjoy the food and no one will go home hungry! (Please be sure to contact us ahead of time if you have any specific food allergies!)
The Northport Bay Retreat house in Northport, Michigan. The address is:
6512 West Bay Shore Drive, Northport, MI 49670
The house has 16 rooms (14 available for our retreat) and each room comes with a queen bed, private bath, towels, linens and deck access. Many of the rooms have a view of Lake Michigan! There is also a fitness room, game room, washer/dryer and plenty of space to connect with your spouse. Internet access is available, and depending on your carrier, you should have cell phone service, too.
To help you connect with your spouse more effectively, we ask that you leave your little ones at home, including your 4-legged friends. We love children and pets, but we ask you to make care arrangements for them in order to maximize the benefit of everyone in attendance.
Your registration fee covers all of your meals and snacks, and includes all of the group materials used in our teaching sessions. A resource table will be available, providing you the opportunity to purchase extra materials to help you and your spouse.
Please contact Joe Castaneda if you have any other questions about the retreat. You can call or text at 551.333.3363 or email him at: joe@overboardministries.com
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*The Overboard Ministries Couples Retreat is designed to help people in marriages (not dating or engaged) as defined in the Bible (one male and one female). We recognize our expertise, experience and teaching fits one segment of relationships and if your relationship falls outside of this segment, we encourage you to look at other retreat options for your relationship needs. One we highly recommend is Weekend to Remember. Traci and I have loved our WTR experience and their format and context fits a much broader audience than ours is targeting.