Weekly News | 9.20.24

Happy Friday,

If you haven’t had a chance to register for the COTC Parish Retreat yet, be sure to do so by 10/1 to take advantage of early bird fees. Prices will go up on 10/2.

If you’ve attended a Parish Retreat in the past, you know that in the past they’ve taken place on Saturday, starting early in the morning and ending after dinner. This year, we’re taking a different approach, with the retreat occurring Friday night and the first half of Saturday. Friday will be focused on a meal together and games; hilarity is guaranteed, and you won’t want to miss out!

While there will still be lots of fun to be had, we’ll shift gears for Saturday, spending time together in scripture led by our speaker— another not-to-be-missed portion of the retreat.

Friday night activities are for all ages, and on Saturday, there will be separate programming for kids 5th grade and under, as well as a youth activity for kids 6th grade and up.

Culture Making:

This past spring, as we began praying about and planning the 2024 Parish Retreat, we felt a sense of the Lord calling us our time together in October being one of culture-making for our parish, with the values of COTC helping shape it. If you aren’t familiar with our vision and values, you can check them out here.

When we gather on 10/18 and 10/19, keeping our values of celebration, consolation, transformation, and participation in mind, we’ll spend time in the Word, share meals, connect, and have a lot of FUN. We pray that in this time, as we log hours with each other and the Lord, God will enable us to continue creating a culture of celebration, consolation, transformation, and participation at Church of the Cross.

Speaker Information:

We’re especially excited to welcome Lindsey Olesberg, this year’s speaker. In our two Saturday sessions, Lindsey will lead us through inductive Bible Study. We invite you to begin praying for her as she prepares for this time.

Lindsey is a Bible teacher and Scripture Engagement leader with more than 35 years of ministry experience. She has provided Scripture Engagement leadership for numerous Urbana Missions Conferences, Cape Town 2010 (Lausanne’s Third Global Congress), and Lausanne’s Younger Leaders Generation. Lindsay is the author of The Bible Study Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to an Essential Practice (IVP) and Ephesians: Studying with the Global Church (Hendrickson). She serves as chair of Wycliffe USA’s board of directors and as a member of the board for Revive Europe and Servant Partners. Lindsay holds degrees from Pomona College (B.A. Asian Studies) and Fuller Theological Seminary (M.A. Theology). She and her husband Jon, a physicist working in the biotech industry, moved to Austin this fall. They have two adult children.