Diocesan Youth Gather for Spring Break Getaway

Six verses. Three thousand years of staying power. And for one weekend at Camp Wingmann in Avon Park, Psalm 23 became the lens through which youth from across the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida rediscovered what it means to be refreshed. The diocese’s new Spring Break Youth Getaway brought students together not for high-energy programming, but instead for something they may have needed even more: stillness, worship and the steady presence of God.

The event is a new addition to the diocesan youth ministry calendar, shaped around a year-long vision centered on the diocesan themes of Gospel, Church and Mission. “We wanted to reshape things so there is a clearer purpose and flow,” said the Rev. Kevin Bartle, rector of St. Mary of the Angels, Orlando, and one of two diocesan youth ministry coordinators. Under that framework, spring focuses on the Church through worship, making the Spring Break Getaway a natural fit. Youth leaders across the diocese were eager to make it happen; the event drew 30 students and leaders from St. Edward’s, Mount Dora; All Saints’, Lakeland; All Saints, Enterprise; Good Shepherd, Lake Wales; St. Jude’s, Orange City; and Holy Apostles, Satellite Beach.

From the moment students arrived, the weekend had a unique rhythm. Bartle introduced intentional moments of silence throughout, signaled by the ring of a chime. “When I mentioned we had ‘built in time for them to be bored,’ there was no resistance,” he said. “In each moment of silence, you could feel the stress fade and the Holy Spirit fill the space.” What at first felt uncomfortable became something students leaned into. Chloe King, a student from St. Edward’s, noticed the effect directly: “I loved how we had lots of quiet moments to calm my mind, especially before worship, because I feel like it made worship a lot more powerful.”

And it did. Worship leader Amy Yates described a moment when something shifted in the room. “There was a quiet shift, and I realized I didn’t need to keep singing,” she said. “In that space, their voices rose. It wasn’t just singing. It became prayer. Genuine, unfiltered, wholehearted prayer.” Moments like that are the most meaningful, she said, “When it stops being led and starts being lived.

Saturday’s teaching, led by the Rev. Dan King, a deacon at St. Edward’s, walked students through Psalm 23 in three movements: shepherd, valley and table, exploring God’s provision in the ordinary, his presence in the darkness and his scandalous generosity toward us even in the middle of unresolved circumstances. Garrett Waldron, director of youth and young adult ministries at All Saints’, Lakeland, brought his group because he wanted them to have exactly that kind of experience at a place he described as “one of those thin spaces.” The Rev. Garcia Barnswell-Schmidt, chaplain at Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy, Melbourne, and a diocesan youth ministry coordinator, noted how quickly even new students found their footing. “This palpable connection is an affirmation that this Spring Break Retreat belongs to everyone, old and new,” she said.

The weekend culminated Sunday morning with a Eucharist celebrated by Barnswell-Schmidt, who invited students to gather around the altar together. After two days inside Psalm 23, arriving at the table was the psalm completing its arc in real time. “It was synergy between the message of our God, our shepherd who lays a table before us, with the actual gathering of youth around the altar,” Barnswell-Schmidt said. “It drove home that we are truly fed and nourished at God’s table.”

Students left Camp Wingmann carrying the reminder that the same God who leads beside still waters and walks through dark valleys also sets a table and goes with us back into the ordinary days of real life. The next opportunity for diocesan youth to gather is the Summer Local Mission, July 13-17 at Holy Apostles, Satellite Beach. For more information, visit this link.