Year-Long Fellowship

November 2-5, 2025

Lone Rock Retreat Bailey, Colorado 

The first RLP Fellowship will convene 20-24 social impact leaders from across the country for three retreats spanning from November 2025 to November 2026. Our first retreat will focus on facilitating a powerful, healing Encounter with God and with this community. The second retreat will dive deep into an exploration of core spiritual disciplines and practices that support lasting Formation as a Christian leader. And our final retreat will synthesize everything learned throughout the year as we move toward Integration of our faith into every aspect of our lives and leadership.

Within the group of 24, we will form small groups of 4-5 people who will gather consistently both at the retreats and virtually between retreats for ongoing support and accountability.

Retreat Elements:

  • Prayer: We pray (a lot) individually, in small groups, and over and with each other as a whole group.

  • Testimony: Multiple members of the community share raw honest testimony of how God is moving in their lives and leadership.

  • Worship: We gather and worship God together and call on the Holy Spirit to open our hearts and minds.

  • Socratic Reading Discussion: We unpack themes and insights from selected readings in socratic discussions.

  • Somatic Reflection Stations: We build reflection stations throughout the campus and give participants the chance to engage in deep inner work in silence, solitude, and solidarity. 

  • Rituals: We integrate several rituals and daily rhythms into our retreats that often speak to the heart and our bodies in unique ways individually and as a community.

  • Small Groups: Each member of the community is part of a small group that meets consistently to go deeper into retreat themes and build more intimate relationships across lines of difference.

  • Meals & Table Discussions: We spend time integrating discussions during meals so that these moments of breaking bread together build on the themes of the retreat.

May 12-15, 2026

Trinity Retreat Center West Cornwall, Connecticut 

November 1-4, 2026

Lone Rock Retreat Bailey, Colorado 

This approach is both ancient and novel.

Some of the most extraordinary and impactful movements over the past two thousand years - domestically and across the globe have stemmed from hundreds and then thousands of leaders who submitted their lives and leadership to God and served their communities with radical love and humble conviction (ex: civil rights movement in our country, the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, the independence movement in India). We need to regain and recapture those insights and apply them to our current context. And if we can do so within intentionally diverse communities - of leaders who hold different views and lived experiences - we can foster relationships and networks that are required to repair the fractures that hold us back today.

Cost

The standard cost for the full year-long fellowship is $8,500 plus personal travel, which can be paid upfront or in monthly installments over the course of the year. While this price reflects the true cost of the model, we believe that Christ-centered transformation belongs to everyone and are committed to reducing financial barriers to participation.

That’s why we’re offering two additional price levels — $4,250 and $2,500 — so you can choose the one that best aligns with your current financial circumstances. These reduced options are made possible by the generosity of our donor community.

If your employer offers professional development dollars for leaders in your organization, we strongly encourage applicants to seek support from their employers. This not only defrays costs but also increases institutional visibility of this important work. We can support you in requesting funding for RLP as an investment in your development with drafted language, forms, and more that have been used successfully by prior participants.

We do have some scholarships available for those who feel called to participate but are prohibited by cost.

Enrollment is limited to 24 participants and registration is by application only.

Complete your confidential, simple application form by August 18th

FAQ’s

  • RLP is made up of a growing community of people who hold positions of leadership and great responsibility in various sectors.  They are followers of Jesus and passionate advocates for equity but are different in every other category: race, politics, ideology, gender, theology, sexuality, and more.  Our first Fellowship will include leaders who hold significant leadership roles in education or in adjacent spaces (church leaders committed to education equity, leaders in the youth mental healthcare space, leaders in youth development, leaders working to transform economic mobility for young people, etc). 

    Our members hold a diverse set of beliefs and embody a diverse set of identities. In our last convening, 35% of participants identified as politically independent, another 35% identified as right of center or left of center (split equally), and the remaining 30% identified as progressive or conservative. This level of political and ideological diversity is increasingly rare in our fractured sector and country. You will likely not agree with everything that is said or done, but you need to be able to respond to divergent opinions with respect, curiosity, and genuine love.

    Please read through our Community Commitments to ensure this is a community you feel comfortable engaging in.  This is a living document that will updated as we learn together. We expect this cohort to be made up of leaders who are new to RLP and some leaders who have attended retreat(s) in the past.

  • We ask that all selected leaders seriously commit to attending all 3 retreats. RLP is designed to be an immersive experience of transformation in community, and each member of the community is an essential part of this process. In addition to the retreats, we will have virtual small group sessions twice a month, and a few hours of pre-reading before each retreat.

  • The retreats will be facilitated and moderated by members of the RLP community including trained moderators Traci Dove, Tina Fernandez, and Bill Kurtz.  Irvin Scott will be our pastoral lead.  Jeff Nelson and Mindy Flach (alongside many others) will support with retreat design.

  • The November 2025 and November 2026 retreats will be hosted at Lone Rock Retreat campus about an hour outside of Denver in the Colorado mountains. 

    The May 2026 retreat will be hosted at Trinity Retreat Center in Connecticut.

    Ground transportation to both retreat venues from the nearest airport (DIA for Lone Rock and Bradley International Airport/ Newark for Trinity) will be provided as will a three-night single occupancy room with excellent meals.  

  • Participants are selected based on a willingness to participate in the messy work of building the beloved community with other Christians across difference and an earnest desire to give God the reins of our lives and leadership on behalf of others.  Great care is put into creating a cohort that reflects the diversity of the Body of Christ that is made up of leaders who hold significant responsibility in this important moment in our nation and world.

  • We are hoping to announce additional retreat dates for 2027 and beyond towards the end of 2026. If we reach capacity for the first cohort, and you’d like to be put on a waiting list in case of cancellations, or on the waiting list for future cohorts, that option will be made available to you.