Refresh: A Retreat for Creatives 2026

Refresh is soul care for creatives. Refresh will be facilitated by Melanie Spinks, a Gordon-Conwell alumna and visual artist, with special contributions from Leighton Ford, and Dr. Wesley Vander Lugt, with more revealed soon. Creatives and artists of all kinds are invited to attend this retreat, with the understanding that some content will have an emphasis on visual art.

Step into a sacred space of renewal and connection at this soul-care retreat for Jesus-following creatives. This retreat invites you into three transformative movements:

UPWARD- where you’ll reconnect with the Creator who inspires and empowers your work. INWARD- an invitation to restore the inner landscape through soul care, identity, and renewal in your calling. ONWARD- for equipping to deliver light and life through your creative capacities to those who engage with your work.

Through biblical reflection, glimpses of artists through-out history, brainstorming workshops, listening prayer, Visio Divina, and authentic community you’ll experience renewal in your spirit, calling, and creative purpose. While some lessons will draw from the visual field, also welcome to join this creative refresh are writers, musicians, dancers, performers, and others creatives. Humble and open hearts are invited to journey together in grace, renewal, and imaginative exploration for the renewal of kingdom creativity.

Refresh will kick off Thursday at 4pm with arrival and a dinner followed by a session and opportunity for reflection. All lodging and meals will be covered with your registration fees.

There will be an additional opportunity after the offiical retreat ends on Saturday to explore and enjoy art together in the area, and for those who would like to stay and do so.

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Feedback from last year's inaugural Refresh Retreat:

"It was hugely encouraging, and I felt that the power of the synergy that can rise between people of similar callings, passionate for Christ, is immense."

"Definitely gave me a stronger sense of purpose towards the call to serve the creative body of Christ."

"It was amazing! The connections were amazing!"

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Deadline to register is JULY 23rd, 2026.

Multiple tickets options are available, including shared suites, singles suites, and local participants without lodging.

25% Discount for Gordon-Conwell Students/Staff. Please use code "Student/Staff25" when checking out.

10% Discount for Gordon-Conwell Alumni. Please use code "Alumni10" when checking out.

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Alumna Melanie Spinks is an artist whose ministry focuses on soul care for culture-shaping creatives. A longtime member of the Leighton Ford Mentoring Community, she has been discipled by Leighton for over a decade. She holds an MFA in Visual Arts from Georgia State University in Atlanta and an MA in Biblical Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Melanie has taught at Georgia State, Charleston Southern, and Wingate Universities and is a speaker on arts, visual culture, and theological aesthetics. She has collaborated on arts initiatives with Gordon-Conwell, InterVarsity, the Lausanne Young Leaders Movement, and New Wine Skins. In her work at Experience Design consulting, she is a trusted advisor bringing design thinking principles to Fortune 500 companies to approach challenges with a creative problem-solving mindset.

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Since 1985, Leighton Ford has focused on identifying, encouraging, and mentoring the next generation of Christian leaders. After 30 years as Vice President of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and 16 years as Chairman of the Lausanne Committee on World Evangelization, he describes these ongoing days of his ministry as “a friend on the journey and an artist of the soul.” Through Leighton Ford Ministries, his current endeavor, he has helped organize and sustain more than 30 ongoing mentoring communities supporting ministry leaders worldwide, facilitated many personal spiritual retreats for ministry leaders, and personally mentored or counseled a wide variety of pastors, ministry leaders, and lay leaders. One of the great gifts God has given Leighton are his talents as an artist. Visit LeightonFord.art to learn more.

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Dr. Wes Vander Lugt is a pastor-theologian, writer, educator, nonprofit leader, and arts advocate. He teaches theology and directs the Leighton Ford Center for Theology, the Arts, and Gospel Witness at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Charlotte and is the Co-Founder of Kinship Plot, a nonprofit that creates stories, places, and schemes of rooted belonging. Wes holds a PhD in Theology, Imagination, and the Arts from the University of St Andrews, and he is the author and editor of several books, including Beauty is Oxygen: Finding a Faith that Breathes (Eerdmans, 2024), A Prophet in the Darkness: Exploring Theology in the Art of Georges Rouault (IVP Academic, 2024), and Theatrical Theology: Explorations in Performing the Faith (Cascade Books 2014).

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