I've been invited for the upcoming walk in March and my wife will go in April. I've heard this retreat will change your life; have any of y'all been? I'm going at the same time as a friend from church and we are looking forward to it.

Have several friends and relatives that have done it. They all speak very highly of it.

WHAts it about ?

Googled it, and I kept running into the "culty" vibe, but to each his own

I Googled it and found that too but also have the benefit of talking to people I know that have gone as well. I think the cult thing comes up because the sponsor will not tell you exactly what is going to happen and you are not supposed to bring watch, phone, etc. The person who sponsors you will drop you off and pick you up as well as arrange communication between you and your family in case of emergency.

It is only 72 hours so frankly I dont think I'll miss my phone. I also fully trust the people that have gone before me but not sure what happened to the Internet posts where people felt it was a cult. I'll be sure to let y'all know how it went. If I don't ever post again after the 6th of March then grab the tin foil hats! Lol

I'm in the Tres Dias community which is the same thing but non-denominational. The reason it's so "secretive" is because they don't want you coming in with certain expectations. Everyone that goes seems to get something different out of the weekend which probably wouldn't happen if you had an idea of what was going to happen on the weekend. It is a life altering experience. The best way I describe the experience is it's all about serving. You will be served all weekend and by example they teach you what serving others is all about. It's not designed to save people, but rather to help current Christians have a deeper relationship with God and to want to be the best servant they can be when they get home. Your home church will be glad you went through. If you have any questions feel free to ask me. In the Tres Dias community we are getting away from so much of the secrecy. We don't want to make it feel cultish. There are a couple of things that happen on a weekend I won't tell you but it's because it's so impactful that I would want you to experience it yourself without knowing in advance it's going to happen. You can go to btresdias.org and maybe we have more information on what it's about. We do the exact same things on the weekends. I was rector (which is the guy in charge of the weekend) on BTD#31 if you go to our pictures.

I have a Methodist friend who did the walk with Emmaus and found it very good. He recommends it all who want a deeper relationship with God.

I'm in the Baptist version, Faith Walk. It was life changing for me, in a good way.

Emmaus is a wonderful experience. Its essentially bible boot camp in small groups. I did Emmaus Walk # 101. People are secretive about it because there are many "surprises" during your weekend. About as far from a cult as anything on earth could ever be. All of the surprises are just actions of love and caring that are done by others so that the participant is blessed. I would hope everyone that has the opportunity to attend does so because I believe it will enhance their relationship with Christ. Thus, helping them in so many aspects of their life.

The Walk to Emmaus is a 72-hour experience of Christian spiritual renewal and formation of singing, learning, laughing, praying, worshiping, and participating in small groups with other men. You’ll also discover how grace is real in your life, how you live a life of grace, and bring grace to others.You will leave with an experience of Christian love in action that will equip you for new levels of grace-filled life.

I have a business associate who attended one and it really changed his life and saved it too. Had a teenage daughter who was killed in a traffic accident and has said without the life changing experience before hand, he would have never made it through all the grief, guilt and anger of her death.

I agree with this entirely. I went back in 2006 and it literally changed my life. Outside of accepting Christ, it is the best thing in my spiritual walk to happen. My wife and I are very involved and I also work Chrysalis Flights (the teen version of Emmaus). My son has also gotten involved with that. My two older children have been, neither wanted to go, and my oldest daughter told us how terrible we were for making her go. She hated us. Blah blah blah. She finished it and said it was the best thing she had ever done. Same for my son.

I could go on, but you get the idea. The best advice I can give you is to go into it with no expectations, as was said. Let the Holy Spirit work. It affects everyone in different ways.
The second piece of advice I can give you is that if you are at Camp Alimisco at Lake Martin, you best be the first one in the shower in the morning, or shower at night.

Feel free to message me if you would like.

emmaus and others are children of the cursillo movement that started in the spanish roman catholic church after the spanish civil war. the movement spread to mexico, then got to the states via the episcopal church from texas, then mississippi and alabama. despite its origin, it truly is non-denominational. it was designed to get spanish men back into the church, by equipping them with a toolbox for Christian living, with small-group accountability for each individual (Biblical, indeed). the effect, as someone mentioned above, is to experience grace. when my bride and i went through cursillo 23-24 years ago as pilgrims, we were changed. when we back to cursillo as staff members, we were PROFOUNDLY changed; that is when i made my profession of faith (got saved). i had head knowledge as a pilgrim, and considered myself a believer. on staff, i went through heart change. and i finally knew what grace is, through service. it was soul-shaking.
we long ago left the episcopal church, and became evangelical fundamentalists. but i will never forget cursillo; i cannot.

oh, yeah, despite my personal experience, cursillo/emmaus/etc is NOT for non-believers; it is for believers, those who already are pretty active in their church communities.

Great information fellas, thanks for sharing. I look forward to the experience.

Good morning y'all, I wanted to update this post and tell you a little of my experience this past weekend. I was completely blown away! The reason for secrecy is to allow each person to have a unique experience that is not limited by expectations created by others. I can tell you that for me it truly made the surprises better. I experienced more Love and Grace than ever before. I also have a new bond with other members and a different perspective on the rest of my life. If you get the opportunity, please prayerfully consider going. Everyone deserves to experience this. God bless y'all.

Well said. I wondered which man was you on Friday night. Really glad to hear what it meant to you.

I was the only one with tears in my eyes, lol! Thank you!

Never met anyone who went on the "Walk" that did not come away feeling more blessed than ever to be a child of God. I've been and had three friends on your walk this past week.

My Walk was life changing, too. Glad you had such a great experience!