Winter Blast
Winter Retreats to Connect Youth Groups Together
Connect
Challenge
All-Inclusive
Michigan Winter Youth Group Retreats
Bring your group to a life-changing weekend at Grace Adventures. This isn’t your ordinary winter retreat. Grace provides a distinctive experience by removing the responsibility of planning and running a youth retreat, allowing you and your leaders to focus on connecting with and discipling your students. Let us take care of the scheduling, cooking, and speaking so that your youth group can have fun and grow closer to God and one another.
Join us for a winter weekend and experience fun activities like our climbing wall, snowtubing, broomball, horseback trail rides, laser tag, and much more!
2025 Dates, Speakers, Bands
Session 1
January 3-5
Middle & High School
Speaker: Apollo McCullough
Worship Band: Modern Day Cure
Status: Open
Currently serving as the Lead Pastor at Port City Church McGraft, Apollo has 8 years of experience in ministry, including 6 years devoted to youth ministry. He possesses a deep understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities that come with mentoring young hearts.
Apollo's passion for preaching God’s Word is ignited by witnessing firsthand the transformative power of the Gospel. This fuels his dedication to reaching the lost and building up the saints, sharing the Gospel's transformative power in every way he can.
Session 2
January 10-12
Middle & High School
Speaker: Chuck Connell
Worship Band: Olive Worship
Status: Wait List Only!
Chuck works as a youth pastor for the Evangelical Covenant Church of Whitehall. Prior to his current role, he served seven years in the United States Army and was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
When Chuck isn't spending time with his wife, Courtney, and their two sons, you can find him actively involved in his community or speaking at a camp near you!
Session 3
January 24-26
Middle & High School
Speaker: Jason Wavle
Worship Band: Olive Worship
Status: Wait List Only!
Jason Wavle is a Yinzer (Pittsburgh native) turned Texan. For almost 15 years he has dedicated himself to the highs and lows of student ministry as a youth pastor and Bible teacher, motivated by a passion for students to know Jesus and a desire to see their lives transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit.
Jason is a gospel-centered and relationally-driven communicator. Currently, he's finishing seminary and serves his church as a worship leader and middle school small group leader. When he's not doing schoolwork, you can find him spotting airplanes, going for runs, or rewatching movies he’s seen 1000 times. He is so pumped to meet you!
Session 4
January 31-2
Middle School Only
Speaker: Aaron Chip
Worship Band: Modern Day Cure
Status: Wait List Only!
Aaron Chipp is a pastor, songwriter, and founder of the worship collective, Modern
Day Cure. He has served in ministry for over 15 years as a pastor and worship director.
Aaron’s heart is to see people encounter the power of God and to see them changed by the
truth of God’s unchanging word with his bold, relevant, and humorous teaching style.
Originally from Michigan, he now lives in the Greater Nashville Area with his wife of 15 years,
Tamar, and their two boys, Brave and Justice.
Session 5
February 7-9
Middle & High School
Speaker: Ben Vander Kodde
Worship Band: Matt Ellis
Status: Wait List Only!
Ben Vander Kodde has worked at Grace Adventures in Silver Lake, MI since 2000. He loves to live an adventurous life for Jesus Christ.
As a speaker, trainer, facilitator, and coach, he ministers to others at the Grace Adventures campus and wherever God leads. He loves to learn from God's Word and share with others. He believes that stories help people engage and understand God's powerful truths and the Holy Spirit enables lives to be transformed!
He and his beautiful wife Laura have 4 incredible kids.
Session 6
February 14-16
High School Only
Speaker: Jason Magnuson
Worship Band: Circle East
Status: Open
Jason Magnuson has been in youth ministry for over 15 years in a wide variety of church and non-profit contexts. He is currently the youth pastor at Hopevale Church in Saginaw, MI. Jason has his Masters of Divinity from Cornerstone Theological Seminary, and seeks to apply that training to raise up the next generation of church leaders through discipleship and leadership training from a Biblical worldview.
Session 7
February 21-23
Middle & High School
Speaker: Apollo McCullough
Worship Band: Olive Worship
Status: Wait List Only!
Currently serving as the Lead Pastor at Port City Church McGraft, Apollo has 8 years of experience in ministry, including 6 years devoted to youth ministry. He possesses a deep understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities that come with mentoring young hearts.
Apollo's passion for preaching God’s Word is ignited by witnessing firsthand the transformative power of the Gospel. This fuels his dedication to reaching the lost and building up the saints, sharing the Gospel's transformative power in every way he can.
2025 Retreat Rates
Students
Includes:
- All Lodging and Meals
- All Activities
- All Sessions
Leaders
Includes:
- All Lodging and Meals
- All Activities
- All Sessions
Cancellation Policy
Upon registration, a $25.00 Non-Refundable deposit is due per reservation.* Any cancellations will forfeit that deposit.
Canceling spots within 45 days of the retreat, you are obligated to 60% of your retreat fee
Canceling spots within 14 days of the retreat, you are obligated to the full retreat fee.
* If any of your participants has COVID-19 or is quarantining because of COVID-19 exposure and needs to cancel their reservation, we will work with your church for a partial or full refund of that participant’s fees.
2025 Theme: Hall Of Fame
Theme Overview
What makes someone famous? TV stars, athletes, musicians, and influencers are in the public eye all the time. Sometimes we see the best of them, but we often see the worst. There are lots of similar people in the Bible- individuals who did incredible things but also had major failures. In spite of those failures, God still used them to bring Himself glory. He gave them a place in His Hall of Fame – and He can use you too!
Lip Sync Battle!
Get your youth group together and start practicing because we are bringing back the lip sync battle on Saturday night of Winter Blast! Your group will receive a list of pre-approved songs to choose from.
Feel free to bring props, fun outfits, and anything else that might add to your performance. You will be judged on group participation, creativity, organization, and the wow factor! The winner from each weekend will get to emblazon their name on the legendary Adventure Cup!
Resources: Promotional Material
Tentative Schedule
Friday
7:00 Registration / Move-In
8:00 Session 1
9:00 Small Group Time
9:30 Evening Activities
11:15 Cabin Time
Saturday
8:30 Breakfast
9:45 Session 2
10:45 Small Group Time
11:30 Large Group Game
12:30 Lunch
1:30 Free Time Activities
6:30 Dinner
7:30 Session 3
8:45 Small Group Time
9:15 Evening Activities
Sunday
9:30 Breakfast
10:30 Session 4
11:45 Small Group Time
12:15 Pack and Depart
Grace Adventures has been an incredible partner with my youth group for the last several years. We are a high-energy group that loves lots of flexibility and options. Grace Adventures has come alongside us to curate amazing weekends that work specifically to our group’s needs. I am so thankful for this facility and their great staff and will always love working with them.”
– Leader, Grace Community Church