Women’s retreats are not new. These two-day getaways offer spiritual replenishing, fellowship and personal revival. In the Central California Conference, they also offer something more—an evangelistic outreach opportunity.

"We have seen the retreat play a part in more than 30 baptisms over the past several years," says Janet Page, women’s ministries coordinator. "We see God’s presence move in dramatic and personal ways."

Scholarships from the Camp Meeting Evangelism Offering and local churches are available so Adventist women can invite their friends, neighbors and co-workers. The stories about lives being changed are as varied as the women who lived them.

Guillermina Andres had been attending the Tulare Church for years. Her husband was an Adventist, she was Catholic. She never felt good enough to officially join the church. "It was the feeling that there were things I needed to change in my life," she says. "I wanted to be perfect."

A friend, Shawn Greeves, invited Andres to the Winter 2003 retreat at Tenaya Lodge and made sure there was a scholarship for her. "I was really touched, seeing so many women being touched by what was being said and knowing that I wasn’t the only one," she says. "I could open my Bible and read that what they were saying was the truth. What really touched me is that when you worship God, you don’t have to go through other people."

As a result of this and a continuing relationship at church, Andres, her husband and son were joined together in church membership at the following camp meeting.

"Inviting non-Adventists to the retreat has helped our women to feel proud of their church," says Page. "They are doing more social outreaches at the local church, too."

Marla Truscott, a member of the Fresno Sunnyside Church, was surprised when she heard herself invite her neighbor Gayle to a retreat. "The invitation just popped out," she says. "I didn’t know her very well and thought she would say no."

Gayle said she’d love to go. "She told me later that she accepted without really thinking about it. Afterward, she tried to find way to get out of it."

Fortunately for both women, she attended. That was three years ago and Truscott still remembers the unusual group that roomed together: a non-churched, a Pentecostal, a Catholic and an Adventist. "We had a good time," she says.

Truscott remembers other things she’d never noticed before—the incredibly friendly atmosphere. "Gayle was amazed at how quickly she was made a part of the group," she says.

And there was no holding Gayle back once she had an opportunity to hear about God’s love.

"She responded to every call," says Truscott. "On the way home we organized a Bible study group and we got to be good friends. Two years later, Gayle was baptized."