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L.O.G. Program History L.O.G. is one of many adaptations of the Roman Catholic Cursillo (pronounced cur-SEE-o) Movement which originated in Spain in 1949. Cursillo de Christiandad means "little course in Christianity." Cursillo crossed the ocean to American Catholics in the 1950's and since that time, many different expressions of the program have been established in Protestant churches around the country. There are many similar programs in Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist and Episcopalian churches - including Walk to Emmaus, The Great Banquet, Tres Dias and De Coloras for adults and Chrysalis, Awakening, Deco-T.E.C. and Teens Encountering Christ for youth. In the mid 1980's, the senior high youth group of Novato Presbyterian Church in Novato, California attended a "Search" retreat sponsored by a Cursillo community in the Reno, Nevada area. They returned home with the intention of starting a similar program only to find that a local Catholic church was already using "Search" as the name for one of their programs. The Novato group decided to call their new program "Love Of God." In 1988, the Goleta Presbyterian Church in Goleta, California was invited to send a team of four youth and an adult leader to experience the Novato group's L.O.G. #5. The following spring, Novato sent a team to give the gift of L.O.G. to the Goleta church. In 1992, First Presbyterian Church in Bellevue, Washington sent three youths and one adult to Santa Barbara, California to attend Goleta's L.O.G. #8. And in August, 1993 a team from Goleta went to help Bellevue experience their first L.O.G. Retreat which was held at Sammamish Presbyterian Church in Redmond, Washington. In the following years, the Novato church has continued sponsoring L.O.G. retreats and the Goleta Church is working toward L.O.G. #30 and has "planted" a L.O.G. program for the Carpinteria Community Church in Carpinteria, California and the Presbyterian Church in Los Gatos, CA. The Bellevue church is working toward L.O.G. #25 and has given the gift of L.O.G. to Community Presbyterian Church in Wapato, Washington, and "planted" L.O.G programs for Sammamish Presbyterian Church in Redmond, Washington and for the youth of the Koinonia Community sponsored by a Presbyterian Church in Kent, Washington. In addition, individual teenagers and adults from many other churches have shared in the L.O.G. experience through these churches' programs. Rev. Terry McBride became the Associate Pastor at First Presbyterian Church in South Bend in January of 1997. Previously, he had served as the Associate Pastor at the Goleta Presbyterian Church from 1985 - 1996 and was instrumental in the blossoming of the L.O.G. program. After researching a few programs similar to L.O.G. which were already available in the area, the decision was made to establish a new L.O.G. program at First Presbyterian Church. A team of 30 students and adults from the Goleta church traveled from California to South Bend in the summer of 1997 to "plant" the L.O.G. program in here. L.O.G. #1 took place in August 1997 and subsequent events have occurred in December and March of each following year. First Presbyterian Church in South Bend continued to sponsor the L.O.G. program for eight and a half years. Over four hundred youth from the Michiana area participated in seventeen L.O.G. weekends and seven Love • 4 • God weekends. Michiana Youth Ministries, Inc. was formed in 2005 as an ecumenical ministry to the youth of Michiana. MYM, Inc. now sponsors the L.O.G. program for senior highs and the C.A.S.T.L.E. program for mid highs. Love • 4 • God is a "Next Step" weekend for those who have already participated in a L.O.G. weekend and wish to take the next step and move ahead in their Love for God and their journey of faith. The weekend is similar to a L.O.G. weekend, but different. Leadership is provided by a guest keynote speaker and other adult leaders. Lo4oG weekends usually take place in August. |
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