Identity

Above all, this retreat is about identity. We invite you to go beneath labels, titles, roles, accomplishments, and shame, and ask,  

“Who am I?"  
“Who am I really?”  

After learning tools, identifying and clearing away obstacles and forming answers to that question, you are encouraged to look at your relationships. You will learn to relate intimately, and clearly with others by asking,  

“Who are you?”  

Finally, we challenge you to envision your identity in the community, by asking,
 
“Who am I as part of God’s creation?” 

Brotherhood

Many men live in isolation and are unaware of their inability or unwillingness to share their life experience with other men.

 As I Am gives you the opportunity to experience safety, intimacy, vulnerability, and trust with brothers. It also provides tools to do the same in daily life, with the objective to create brotherhood in your life, whether in quorums, families, or communities.

Healthy Relationships

Whether interacting with one’s wife, father, sister, child, or grocer, much of the discord men experience in relationships is a result of not recognizing the origins of their perceptions. We teach you to look beyond the person or event, and ask of your reaction,  

“How is this about me?”  

By understanding why you respond in a specific way, you can be both authentic and compassionate in your interactions with others and create healthier relationships through clear communication. 

Emotional Literacy

The ability to feel is a gift from God and forms part of His plan of creation. Feelings and emotions enable us to receive inspiration from Him and be guided through our mortal experience.  
 
Awareness of our feelings, and healthy expression of those feelings moves us to greater wholeness. However, some feelings – like shame, depression, or anxiety – keep us stuck.  

We strive to create a safe environment where you can practice moving through your feelings, learning from them, and thus create an on-going state
of emotional health. 

Generativity

A little-known term with the same roots as “generation” and “to generate” (i.e. create), generativity is about creation.  

We were created in the image of God, and therefore have an innate urge to create, like Him.  

Be it through creating and developing posterity, through programs, community, or church involvement, or through relationships and personal healing work, you are given the opportunity to envision what you will generate in the present and for future generations. Our purpose is to enable you to step more fully into your generativity. 

Christ-Like Masculinity

Who is the perfect male role model? Is he “macho” like Rambo, or “passive” like Ghandi? Or is he somewhere in between? Our belief is that we need look no further than Jesus Christ to find a man who embodies whole masculinity. His masculinity was both powerful and vulnerable, compassionate and authoritative.

  We do not pretend to have all the answers defining Christ-like MasculinityTM, because we believe it is a concept that each man must discover and create on his own. During the retreat and beyond we search with other men to define our individual and collective masculinity, as modeled by the Master, even Jesus Christ.