Section 3: The Becoming a King Retreat Schedule

All sessions will be taught by Morgan Snyder via video. (Remember your commitment to neither add nor take away from the content/schedule.)

Technology-Free Zone – In order to create the best possible environment for mens’ hearts to show up, make your retreat a digital technology-free zone. First, establish an emergency contact number for your BAKR. Please provide that number to all attendees before the retreat and again when they arrive. Then cast the vision of this tech-free zone for your attendees. Remind them that this event is an invitation to let their masculine hearts take center stage, shut out the sea of distractions, and allow their souls to surface and be cared for. Assure them that their Father is present and eager to connect personally with them, and this retreat is the next great chance to receive, distraction-free. Then, invite your attendees to prepare to secure all phones, smartwatches, etc., for all four days in the safekeeping of a designated leader (we find it helpful to assign someone on your leadership team to keep all devices in a secure location). Set the men at ease; assure them they can be reached as needed. Encourage your attendees to call or text anyone who needs the emergency number so that they can confidently surrender their technology. Compassionately normalize that this might feel really tough or uncomfortable. Make sure the emergency contact number for your retreat is manned 24 hours a day. Finally, remember to prioritize the spirit of the law over the letter of the law when enforcing the tech-free zone. It’s not worth kicking a man out if he won’t comply. It’s his heart we are after. Do everything in your power to stay winsome and kind around the challenge of surrendering digital devices, remembering we all are addicted to our technology, and detox is never pretty.
 
BAKR Session Overview

1. Becoming Powerful
2. Becoming the Man You Were Born to Be
3. Becoming a Son 
4. Becoming Good Soil
5. Becoming Deep Roots
6. Becoming Like-Hearted
7. Becoming a King
8. Closing Counsel and Where We Go from Here

Eight Video Sessions are provided. Please do not add to or subtract from these video sessions. They have been prayerfully choreographed to shepherd the hearts of the participants through the retreat. Note that Sessions 3 and 4 are designed to be paused during the content for a 10-minute break to use the restroom, get a drink, or catch your breath. 

Becoming a King Retreat Master Schedule – This is included in the front of the notetaking guide.

Using Facilitators to Host Story Groups – This is optional. If you are hosting your first Becoming a King Retreat and do not have seasoned leaders, the story groups work fine without facilitators. If, however, you have more mature men among your leadership circle who have been through the material and experience themselves, we recommend you add a facilitator role to your story groups. If you are using facilitators, see below:

• Facilitator’s Training – This is an optional training video to be played in a Facilitator Training session on Day 1 of your retreat BEFORE the participants arrive. This is not to be shared with participants. This is only for leaders and facilitators. If you have facilitators, watch and process the Facilitator Training session together before your participants arrive at the retreat.

• Consecrating a Men’s Event – Whether you are leading the BAKR with a team, with facilitators, or on your own, we strongly encourage you to consecrate the event in prayer. Watch this short video from the Wild at Heart team for some simple training on Consecrating a Men’s Event.

• Facilitator Touch Points – During each of the “Time with God” opportunities on the schedule for the duration of the retreat, facilitators and the leader(s) of the event will circle up. This is a confidential time to share what is surfacing among attendees and within the story groups. It’s a chance to offer encouragement, ask for prayer, and be strengthened as a community of guides throughout the retreat. 
• Facilitator Closing – Once all participants have left the retreat on the last day, we strongly encourage facilitators and leaders to circle up one last time. It’s a chance to share stories of what God did during the event. Use the time to pray, releasing all the men and all the unfinished work in their lives to God as you make the transition from the mission to home.

Story Groups – (These are explained in more detail in the Facilitator Training session. Leaders should all watch this video.) 
Every participant will have the privilege of being part of a Becoming a King Retreat story group. Facilitators for these groups are optional. If you have mature leaders, assigning facilitators to each story group is recommended. Story groups should have no more than four participants and no fewer than three (not including facilitators). In addition to a check-in each morning, there are four story group gatherings scheduled during the retreat. Each man gets one full hour to share his story and receive prayer in response. These story groups are explained to the participants at the end of Session 2. Facilitators do not share their stories in the story groups. If attendees are interested in hearing a facilitator’s story, that sharing can take place over meals or during free time.

Morning Story Group Prayer – Days 2, 3, and 4 all begin with a chance for the men of each story group to connect and pray together. The goal is to both consecrate the day and also to have a check-in to ensure that no guy is struggling on his own or stays isolated. The retreat leader will announce the story groups over breakfast on Day 2, and the first story-group gathering for prayer and check-in will follow immediately after that breakfast. Days 3 and 4 will begin with story-group prayer and check-in, then move straight into breakfast.

Time with God – Every session for Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 concludes with a 30-minute time with God. These times with God are explained at the conclusion of Session 1. Reflection questions are presented via the video at the end of each session and included in the note-taking guide as well. These dedicated windows of silence provide each man with an opportunity to share conversation with God, journal, and go deeper into the issues raised in the sessions. They are the centerpiece of the retreat, and you will need to help preserve and protect them.

Story Group One – This will take place the morning of Day 2 after Session 2. Story-group training for ALL participants is included at the end of the Session 2 video.

Session 2 – We have built in a 10-minute break after worship and prayer to go to the bathroom, get a drink, take a few breaths. Hit pause on the video when Worship is over, at time code 13:00. Then after 10 minutes when the participants are back, play the video to proceed.

The evening of the second day is intentionally spacious so that men can get what they need. Some may need rest. Bless them to go to bed early. Some may need solitude. Bless them to be alone. Some may need conversation to process what is coming up for them. Bless the men to tune in to God’s heart and get what they most need from him.

Free Time – You’ll notice consistent blocks of free time built into the retreat. This is not space to add more content or a formal activity. Instead, it is an intentional space for each man to discern what would be best for his soul. Maybe he needs rest. Maybe he needs solitude. Maybe he needs to process what is surfacing in his heart with other men. Invite the men to follow God’s invitation to personally and courageously choose what they need most during these times.