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Thank God for blessing our 2011 Ottawa UBF Spring Retreat held on Mar. 5-6, with the theme, “The Gospel of the Resurrection,” from 1 Corinthians 15.

The goal of the retreat was to be strengthened through Jesus’ resurrection in preparation for the upcoming Canada-wide Summer Bible Conference. With this goal in mind, we planned this retreat with a clear resurrection theme in all the programs: GBS, messages, the Bible memorization contest, group presentations, and skits. We experienced several difficulties when many of our co-workers and students developed a serious flu, and we were tempted to postpone it to April, but decided to do it as scheduled by faith. Then God blessed all the attendees with his words.

In our first program on Saturday afternoon, we studied 1 Cor 15:1-34 (“The Gospel of the Resurrection”), which looks at the contents of the gospel—Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection—and the power of Jesus’ resurrection over death, failure, and sin. Dana led the group Bible study and Joshua delivered the message. Through his message, he revealed the failure he experienced in trying to publish his PhD research that planted fear in his heart so that he couldn’t give his heart fully to shepherding students. But he accepted that Jesus’ resurrection conquers death and there is no failure in Jesus, not even in death. He decided to die to his fear and serve 7 Bible studies per week with resurrection faith. After the message, we wrote one-word testimonies.

The Saturday evening program consisted of a Bible memorization contest. Leaders recited 1 Cor 15 and Bible students recited gospel key verses. This was followed by group presentations related to Jesus’ resurrection—skits, songs, testimonies, a video presentation, and resurrection-themed Bible Jeopardy! Through these activities, each co-worker was deeply strengthened by memorizing and meditating on the words of God about the gospel of Jesus’ resurrection. It was through Bible meditation, thinking about the words of God again and again, through these activities that one’s mind was filled with His Spirit and words.

On Sunday, we shared our one-word testimonies from the day before and then began our second group Bible study on 1 Cor 15:35-58 (“The Glory of the Resurrection”), which looks at the glorious hope we have through Jesus’ resurrection to receive glorious resurrection bodies. Samuel led the GBS and Stephen delivered this message. Through the message, we were all filled with this wonderful hope to be changed into Jesus’ likeness and receive our glorious spiritual bodies.

In conclusion, we decided to give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord based on 1 Cor 15: 58, "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." Thank you for your prayers for Ottawa and Ottawa UBF. Please continue to pray for Ottawa to be a spiritual capital city of Canada!