you've been pouring out for everyone else.
It's time someone poured into you.
A three-day retreat for youth pastors — designed around rest, honest conversation, and the kind of community that only happens when a room full of people actually understand what you're carrying.
March 8–10, 2027
Camp Timber-lee
East Troy, Wisconsin
Ministry is a calling. But you're running on empty.
You are always on. Always available. Always carrying someone else's crisis, someone else's doubt, someone else's marriage, someone else's kid.
You preach about rest. You counsel others toward it. But when was the last time you actually had it?
Most youth pastors we know aren't struggling with their calling. They're struggling with exhaustion. With isolation. With the quiet fear that they don't have anything left to give — and the guilt that comes with admitting that.
If any of that sounds familiar, this retreat is for you.
Three days where nobody needs anything from you.
This isn't a conference. There's no stage to perform on, no pressure to network, no notebook to fill.
What we're offering is simpler — and rarer: a few days at Camp Timber-lee where the only agenda is yours. Sleep. Eat. Breathe. Talk honestly with other youth pastors who are in the same trenches. Let someone pour back into you for once.
We'll have chapel sessions and optional workshops, but nothing is mandatory. There's no schedule you have to keep. You can spend a morning at the lake, take a long walk through the woods, sit around a bonfire at night, or just finally sleep without your phone blowing up.
This is your time. We mean that.
This is for youth pastors — full stop.
You don't have to be at a large church. You don't have to have it together. You don't have to come with anything to offer.
Whether you're thriving and want to stay that way, quietly burning out and not sure who to tell, or somewhere in between — you belong here. The only prerequisite is that you're doing youth ministry and you need a breath.
Senior and executive pastors are welcome too, but this retreat was built from the ground up with youth pastors in mind — the particular exhaustion, the particular loneliness, the particular weight of that role.
A place that was made for this.
You may know Camp Timber-lee as a place you send your students. This March, we want to welcome you.
We've spent decades creating space for life change. We know what it takes to make people feel genuinely cared for — good food, beautiful surroundings, and the freedom to actually rest. That's exactly what we're offering here, just for you this time.
The lakes, the trails, the bonfires, the quiet — all of it is yours. Come and remember what it feels like to be on the receiving end.
A note from Todd Ballard
I've been in ministry long enough to know what burnout looks like — and I've seen it take good people out of the work they were called to.
Youth pastors carry something most people in their churches will never fully understand. The late nights. The parents who are angry with you. The student who's in crisis at midnight. The feeling that you're always running on not quite enough.
I started this retreat because I believe you are worth caring for. Not because you're more productive when you're rested — though you are — but because you are a person, not just a role. Someone should be pastoring you.
I'd love for you to come. Not to impress anyone, not to learn a leadership framework, not to network. Just to rest, to connect with people who get it, and to let God remind you why He put this in you in the first place.
— Todd
F E A T U R E S
Simple & Powerful
dates
March 8–10, 2027
price
COMING SOON
location
Camp Timber-lee, East Troy, WI
who's invited
Youth pastors + ministry leaders
