Jonny and Lisa Lobel

The pitch floated in right down the pipe and I hammered it to deep center field.  While the students oooo-ed and aaah-ed at the high arc of my blast, I started a celebratory victory trot around the bases.  Caleb, a first year BMA student, was still backpedalling and squinting into the sun.  Much to my chagrin, he stuck his glove up, brought down my home run ball, and tossed it back to the infield.  ”You were out anyway,” the catcher gleefully reminded me.  ”You threw your bat.” I knew I would regret letting my wife play for the other team.

 ”Catch It” was the name of BMA’s first student planned and led retreat weekend, which lasted all day Friday (a Czech national holiday) and Saturday at a local hotel in the Beskydy Mountains.  Baseball was one of many highlights including music by a student band, drama and photography workshops, a tea house evening, midnight Frisbee, and spiritual discussions.  Lisa and I supervised the event, which sounds more ominous than it should.  Hanging out with twenty-five BMA kids for the weekend was an absolute delight.  Judging by the Facebook albums and status updates, the students enjoyed it even more than we did.

As the resident adult, I was invited to give introductory topics to spark a couple of the spiritual discussions.  On Friday morning, I lectured on “Surviving a Zombie Attack” before getting more serious and discussing how our daily lives are full of zombie like tendencies.  The students then broke into small groups to discuss what they think really gives life meaning.  After a full day of sports, games and workshops, our local youth pastor, Boža Lach, spoke that evening about what a relationship with God means.  Again, students got to discuss the topic together before enjoying a late night of tea, music, and Frisbee.

Saturday morning was powerful.  The student band, led by BMA fourth year Tyler Patty, belted another round of dance-invoking songs before a second year student told everyone her stunning life story.  Every eye was glued to her as she shared the hope she found in Jesus.  I told the students how new life comes through God’s free gift of grace and our willingness to repent.  We took a half hour of quiet time so that everyone could comfortably respond in his or her own way and ask questions.

For the rest of the day we continued our workshops and played baseball again before heading home.  The atmosphere was excited, sweet, and close.  I think the whole weekend embodies our vision for BMA.  It is a place where students are empowered to dream, achieve, and enjoy themselves in a close family atmosphere; where students are challenged to think about important things; where they will hear the message of hope in Jesus, and can feel free and valued as they respond in any way; a place where students are encouraged to run with crazy ideas and do new things.  Though it is full of Czech students, BMA is quite unCzech in these ways.

The students that participated in “Catch It” caught more than just baseballs.  There is a contagious energy at BMA right now that has everyone excited and looking for more!