Judging by the numbers in attendance of nearly 1,100, the smiles on participants’ faces, the number of expressions of gratitude and the smoothness of operations, this year’s Winter Family Weekend was a great success! The WFW was held Dec. 20-24, and was internationally attended (several from Canada, the Netherlands, Jamaica, Sweden, Switzerland and Croatia were among the attendees).

The theme was “The Two Great Commandments.” The Friday-evening Bible study by Chris Rowland and the Sabbath sermon by Victor Kubik spoke clearly and inspirationally on that topic as they urged the brethren to live up to those commands to love God and love our fellow man. The Bible study was followed by dessert and fellowship time. Five musical presentations by younger members were also highlights of the Sabbath services.

Many of the seminar topics added information around that central theme of the Two Great Commandments. There was good attendance of 475 in all at 10 different seminars by the teens and adults on Sabbath morning, while preteens had Sabbath lessons. Sunday and Monday seminars had good attendance as well while others participated in sporting events or enjoyed the water park at Great Wolf Lodge. Troy Phelps, assistant event coordinator, looked after the seminar presentations while Peter Eddington was available for technical assistance throughout the seminars and weekend.

The All-Ambassador Reunion after services had more than 200 in attendance as former Ambassador Bible Center, Ambassador College and Ambassador University students and families enjoyed refreshments and fellowship. Kathy de Campos and her staff did an outstanding job of decorating and choosing the snacks for the occasion.

The art expo organized by Amy Stephens consisted of two segments. The artistic side featured the talents of the brethren, and the performing arts segment showcased the musical performances of the brethren. Two bands played some of their numbers to the enjoyment of the audience. There was a jam session and karaoke to round out the musical events for the weekend. Mitch Moss and Jason Nitzberg looked after the jam session and the karaoke events.

The three dances planned by Jan Cook, Amy Stephens and Roy and Barb Fouch were very well attended and successful. The decorations of all three added to the dance themes. “All American Fun” was the theme for the teen dance while “A Night in Paris” was the adult dance theme. For the family dance, we had a theme of “Welcome to Our Tropical Paradise.” The three DJs did outstanding work in keeping the evening and music lively and appropriate.

The sports venue featured volleyball and basketball with several more games having to be scheduled this year as there were about 20 percent more participants. Other games such as ultimate frisbee and speedaway were available across the parking lot from the volleyball/basketball venue. Duane Phelps, Mike Cook and Rudy Rangel did the planning for the sporting events. This year’s basketball games were very exciting as many came down to the last possession or so to determine the winner. A few games went into overtime. Ultimately the team from Chattanooga coached by Allen Dance won the tournament. In volleyball there were many close matches, but once again, the Hands-Smith family team from Tennessee and Ohio was victorious.

Various board games and corn toss games were available to all throughout the weekend and were handled by John and Peg McClain.

This year featured two new events: activities for those children aged 0-3 years organized by Mandie Cobb and a prom dress exchange organized by Penny Martin.

Finally, the entire four-day event would not have run so smoothly without the aid of around 40 leaders on the WFW staff, mainly from the Cincinnati congregations, and the 60 plus volunteers to help them. Our gratitude goes to them for their tireless service. We also appreciated the cooperation of the staff at Great Wolf Lodge for their cheerful service to us, especially in removing all of the Christmas trees from the conference center, which we had exclusive use of. They put their trees on rollers and had them tucked away in a storage area since they know we do not keep Christmas.

Next year, the Winter Family Weekend will begin on a Tuesday evening and conclude on Sabbath. The dates are Dec. 23-27, 2014!

We of the Winter Family Weekend staff look forward to welcoming you to the 2014 WFW at the Great Wolf Lodge. Please mark those dates on your calendar and plan to attend this great winter-time event! See you next year!