Free for men's ministry leaders · print or copy
Two ready-to-run schedules — a full weekend and a one-day — with six session themes, discussion questions, and the planning checklist that keeps a retreat from turning into a long church service in the woods.
Most men's retreats fail the same way: too many sessions, not enough space, and no single idea a man can carry home. Three rules save more retreats than any theme does.
Friday evening through Sunday lunch. Four teaching sessions, deliberately spaced. Adjust meal times to your venue and keep the margins intact — they are load-bearing.
Friday
| Time | Item | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 4:00 – 6:00 | Arrival & check-in | Coffee on. Name tags. Don't program this — men need to land. |
| 6:00 – 7:00 | Dinner | Assign tables to mix regulars with newcomers. |
| 7:15 – 7:30 | Welcome & ground rules | Phones policy, weekend map, one sentence on why we're here. |
| 7:30 – 8:15 | Session 1 | The big idea, stated plainly. Shortest session of the weekend. |
| 8:15 – 9:00 | Small groups | 6–8 men. One question, not five. |
| 9:00 – late | Fire pit / games / open | Leave it alone. This is where the weekend actually happens. |
Saturday
| Time | Item | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 7:00 – 8:00 | Optional early prayer | Optional means optional. No guilt from the front. |
| 8:00 – 9:00 | Breakfast | |
| 9:15 – 10:15 | Session 2 | The teaching core. Give men something to write down. |
| 10:15 – 11:00 | Small groups | Same groups all weekend — trust compounds. |
| 11:00 – 12:30 | Solitude block | Sent out alone with a worksheet. The most-mentioned hour in every exit survey. |
| 12:30 – 1:30 | Lunch | |
| 1:30 – 5:00 | Free afternoon | Sport, hiking, fishing, shooting range, cards. Organized options, nothing mandatory. |
| 5:00 – 6:00 | Dinner | |
| 6:30 – 7:30 | Session 3 | The hard one. Where you name what men actually struggle with. |
| 7:30 – 8:30 | Small groups / testimony | One or two men from your own church tell the truth. Beats any outside speaker. |
| 8:30 – late | Open / prayer available | Have two or three leaders visibly free to talk. This is the night men come forward. |
Sunday
| Time | Item | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 – 9:00 | Breakfast & pack | Rooms cleared before the last session so nobody is watching the clock. |
| 9:15 – 10:15 | Session 4 | The send-off. Every man fills in his page and books a date. |
| 10:15 – 10:45 | Commitment & prayer | Pair men up. Names and phone numbers exchanged, out loud. |
| 10:45 – 11:15 | Communion or closing worship | |
| 11:15 | Depart | Send the follow-up email Tuesday, not three weeks later. |
A Saturday, 8:30 to 4:00. Three sessions. Cut a session before you cut the margin.
| Time | Item | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 8:30 – 9:00 | Coffee & arrival | |
| 9:00 – 9:45 | Session 1 | The big idea. |
| 9:45 – 10:15 | Small groups | |
| 10:15 – 10:45 | Break | Real break. Get men outside. |
| 10:45 – 11:30 | Session 2 | The teaching core. |
| 11:30 – 12:15 | Solitude block | Worksheet, alone, outdoors if possible. |
| 12:15 – 1:15 | Lunch | |
| 1:15 – 2:15 | Free / activity | Do not skip this to add a session. |
| 2:15 – 3:00 | Session 3 | The send-off. Fill in the page. |
| 3:00 – 3:45 | Commitment, pairing & prayer | |
| 3:45 – 4:00 | Close |
If you need a theme, here is the one this site exists for — six entrusted domains, in order, with the sessions mapped to a weekend or a one-day. Use it, adapt it, or ignore it and keep the schedules above.
| Session | Rung | The one idea | Discussion question |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Portfolio Lie | You've been managing assets you don't own. Life isn't a portfolio to balance — it's a ladder of entrustments, in order. | Which of your "accounts" quietly got the leftovers this year? |
| 2 | Abide | Apart from Him, nothing — not less. The top rung isn't a category; it's what the ladder is bolted to. | What gets your first attention most mornings, honestly? |
| 3 | Covenant & Legacy | Your marriage is what your kids inherit. Someone gets cheated every week — cheat downward, never upward. | Who got cheated last week, and was it upward or downward? |
| 4 | Vessel & Provision | A broken vessel serves no one. The buried talent — not the lost one — is what the Master condemned. | Where is your work: buried talent, faithful trading, or eating the rungs above it? |
| 5 | Overflow | Service ranks last on purpose, because it has to be funded. Serving from empty isn't ministry — it's hiding. | Is any of your serving an escape from a rung you've abandoned? |
| 6 | The Send-Off | Rhythms, not resolutions. One page, six rungs, three slots each — filled in before anyone leaves. | What is your first quarterly audit date, out loud, to the man next to you? |
Weekend format: sessions 1, 2, 3+4 combined, and 5+6 combined. One-day format: sessions 1, 3+4, and 6.