Shoot Straight Retreat 2025
Starting October with our Mens’ Shoot Straight Retreat is always such a great kick off to the fall season!
Men gather from Florida, Colorado, Georgia, and North Carolina to get into the woods and do some man things. Hatchet throwing, sling shots, giving each other a hard time (as men do), sitting around the campfire, eating good, and shooting a bow and arrow. There’s a place for competition, but there’s also something about doing what you don’t always get to do with people you don’t always get to be with. It’s pure fun and special!
Friends, Fathers and Sons, Small Groups, Coworkers, family — there’s a place for all of it at this retreat! Anyone 8 and older gets to come and be part!
Weston Eckert flew in from New Jersey to share challenging and encouraging messages with the guys. Be Strong & Courageous seems familiar and simple enough, but it isn’t always easy. Learning to depend on the Lord’s strength rather than their own for the impossible they face in their lives can be transformative. Many good things said about Weston’s encouragement and challenge to them! 🙌🏻
Of course there is the competition part of the weekend! The big event is the 3D Archery Tournament in the afternoon! We split everyone into groups and send them throughout our woods and property to try to score points on the targets they (ideally) hit! There are plenty of guys who feel less than excited about their end scores, but everyone says they have fun trying!
We have three categories for the archery tournament: Youth, Amateur, Hunter. Most people are Amateur unless they are a kid or have a super bow that shoots powerfully! These guys were the winners for each category!
After the tournament, we have the Long Shot competition. Who can hit closest to the target from one end of our playing field to the other — 100’! Only one hit the target! You can see in the group picture above where the rest of the guys’ arrows fell (they are standing in the spot their arrow landed!).
On the first night we give all the guys tickets. These tickets are used to drop into the door prizes they hope to win! All throughout the weekend we have drawings. There always seems to be hot seats or the lucky few who have their numbers called multiple times! To great sadness to many seated around them, some guys go home with a haul! On the final morning of the weekend, we give everyone a new ticket — the BIG PRIZE ticket — one for youth and one for adults. Below are the winners of the BIG PRIZES! We also have gifts we send everyone home with to encourage them and remind them of their weekend at Whisper Mountain Camp!
We have people who come back year after year, telling us this is one of their highlights of the year! We can’t emphasize enough the importance of getting out of the everyday noise and routine to go to a place filled with God’s natural beauty, surrounded by people who care, to have fun and new experiences in a way we don’t always have opportunity for in “normal life.” The reset, the refresh, the refocus keeps us going and walking strong in the Lord!
Thanks to everyone who came out for this weekend of manliness! We are grateful for the opportunity to serve you all and hope to see you again next year! [FIRST WEEKEND IN OCTOBER ANNUALLY!] Spread the word and plan to come!
