 My name is Ken Slottie. We're here at Silver Lake Conference Center in Sharon, Connecticut, the conference center of the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ, where we have just completed three days of the first ever clergy camp. So I've got some of my colleagues here. They're going to introduce themselves to you and they are the organizers of this wonderful just completed event. I'm Liz Miller. I serve in South Glastonbury, Connecticut and clergy camp came about because I'm a part of the board of directors for Silver Lake and we're always thinking about how can we get people up to Silver Lake to just experience it and clergy are a natural part of that conversation and it sort of came to us of why don't we take them to camp and give them the space where instead of being in charge or facilitating for other people they can just go and experience the wonder of summer camp and have fun together, connect with one another, unwind a little bit and just be present at this place together. I'm Rhonda Myers. I serve United Congregational Church in Torrington and when Liz asked me to be on the planning team for a clergy camp I said sure. I've had great experiences here at Silver Lake usually with younger people so brainstorming ideas for what we might do with the clergy, with the adults was actually pretty easy because we just thought of all the things that the kids have fun doing and that adults would enjoy doing also. So we had physical activities like the ropes course and the challenge course and an opportunity to go off-site and bicycle. We had arts activities like collaging and tie-dying shirts. There was plenty of singing. There was ritual and worship as well and we had some time at the waterfront. We had wonderful meals prepared by the staff that cooks here. They did a great job. Might we have anything out? It's a pretty well covered meal. That's wonderful. Thank you. And my name is Eric Olson and I am on the board of Silver Lake and also serve happily as the pastor of the Norfolk Congregational Church and it was really an exciting prospect when the idea of clergy camp started to be thrown around in our conversations early on. It was very exciting to me and it has exceeded all of my expectations. It was an outstanding opportunity for again as has been said those of us who have been here before in leadership capacities to really experience life at Silver Lake as a camper. I think everybody on a regular basis should have the chance to sit around a campfire and make us some more. But the opportunity really to be in this setting, to be apart from the busyness and the demanding nature of our lives as pastors, I found that when I was out in the canoeing time that we had, it was really refreshing for me to be able to talk about the work that I do with a true depth of joy and I think the context of being here at Silver Lake really made that possible and I was able to do that with a colleague that I had never met before. So building those relationships is also a key part of being here at Silver Lake. It's great. We are so thankful that this event, this first ever clergy camp was such a success and really an opportunity for our clergy to come together and to be together and to build relationships with one another in this beautiful spot, this great resource of the Connecticut Conference and I'm grateful to the planners of this highly successful event. We're already talking about clergy camp next year. So again, thank you for being part of the process and making this event such a great, great opportunity for our colleagues to gather. Thank you. Blessings. So I'm here with Tim and Ann Hughes, our co-directors at Silver Lake Conference Center to tell us a little bit about what happens here at Silver Lake. I want to first ask Ann. Ann, tell us a little bit about Silver Lake Conference Center and what takes place here? Silver Lake is a sacred place. We are the outdoor ministry of the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ. We are a year round retreat facility for thousands of folks to come during the fall, winter or spring on retreats and they have their own group retreat experience of outdoor ministry and in the summer, we are a summer church camp of the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ for ages eight to 18. All ages, all God's children are welcome here and this is where we develop leaders for the church and for the world and where we change lives. So you said something about the summer. The summer is one of the most important times of the year here at Silver Lake and Tim, why don't you share a little bit about our upcoming summer conference program? Okay, yeah. We have a great program lined up for this summer. Each week, we have five different conferences for different age groups from going into fourth grade all the way through high school. Amazing things happen here. They get a chance to meet young people from all over the state. They come up, sometimes they'll come up with a friend, but often just by themselves and we do things like climb on the high ropes course and the low ropes course and we go swimming and we play all kinds of cool games and lots of music happens here. The most important thing is that young people get a chance to feel like they are accepted for who they are and that makes this a safe place for young people to really think about who God is in their life and talk with one another about that. And be themselves. And be themselves. So how would you register for the summer program? What's the process that you would use? Well the easiest way to do it is on our website. If you go to our website, you can just click on the register button and that'll bring you to the registration page or you can also go to there's a section that has videos so you can actually meet some of the deans for the conferences that are this summer and you'll know who's going to be leading your week. It's pretty fun actually. Some of them are pretty hilarious I have to say. And that website is? And that website is www.silverlakect.org. Excellent. So we are excited about what's happening here at the Silver Lake Conference Center. We're excited about the ways in which lives are changed and we hope you will take advantage of what I believe to be one of the greatest assets of the Missionary Society of Connecticut the Connecticut Conference, our beloved Silver Lake Conference Center. Blessings to you. See you here. Although you may have heard that Silver Lake is full for the summer there's still room available so call us or email us or go online to the website and we want to see you at Silver Lake this summer.