2016 Creation Retreat Recap

Core Academy's 2016 Smoky Mountain Creation Retreat was another great success.  Once again, we gathered with our friends at the Beech Mountain Lodge in Beech Mountain, NC.  Our theme this year was human origins.  We spent a lot of time looking at fossil replicas and talking about Homo naledi.  We spent even more time just chatting.  The point of the event is not to be a conference with presentations but to be a casual gathering where we can relax and talk and brainstorm.  I understand there was a conversation about trilobites that went to 6 am the first night.

I'd love to tell you about all the brainstorming, but some of it will just have to be a surprise.  (After all, what happens in Beech Mountain stays in Beech Mountain.)  My conversations ranged from human disease to San Andreas (the movie) to textbooks to hominins to technical articles to pterodactyls to prayer requests to seminary professors to people we wished were there.

The best part is that it's good for the soul.  The best comparison I can make is having a big weekend getaway with your friends.  You let your hair down and just be yourself, and you can talk about the things that most interest you with people who actually care.  That's very refreshing.

The second best part is the students.  Like last year, we had a good representation of students.  I spent a lot of time talking with them and answering their questions, and so did many of the others there.  It's a great place for students to get "plugged in," and that's a big reason why we do it.

If that sounds interesting to you, put March 24-26 on your calendar for the 2017 Smoky Mountain Creation Retreat.  We'd love to see you there!  If you can't come but you'd like to support the work we're doing, please click that donate button below.  Thanks!

Feedback? Email me at toddcharleswood [at] gmail [dot] com. If you enjoyed this article, please consider a contribution to Core Academy of Science. Thank you.