Origin of GodQuest

Origin of GodQuest

By Founder/Director Donna Lewis

We were experiencing an unusual amount of stress within our family. With four school age children, the demands of the pastorate, and a rebellious teenager, tensions were mounting, and I felt like running away.

It was either I “run away” or “plan a get away’.

So I called a nearby Christian retreat center and that next week planned a two night stay. It was time alone to think my own thoughts and to be my own person.

During those days away, I had time to sort out my feelings, pray, and be quiet before God. I read the Bible in large portions, gaining an overview of what the book was about. I also had the time to mediate on a single verse. I came back refreshed, and with a whole new perspective.

Ready to be stressed again, but this time fortified, stronger, and healthier. Every year after that for six years, I went on a 3-day personal retreat.

In the fall of 1992, I participated in a silent retreat at the Laurelville Mennonite Church Center, southeast of Pittsburgh, PA. It inspired me to have the first GodQuest in April, 1996. Since it’s inception we have held many retreats in several different geographical locations.

God is so good… the problems we were experiencing when I took my first retreat have all been resolved. Praise be to His Holy Name. Personal retreats for me have been like an oasis in the middle of a desert.