The Power of Good Questions
As many of you know, this last weekend was our annual Leadership Team Retreat. All of the church elders and their wives, both Spanish and English, spent intentional time together on the Long Beach Peninsula. Over the course of the weekend we shared meals, laughed together, prayed for one another and the church, and worshiped the Lord in song. Every year the retreat looks a little different. Some years are heavily focused on vision casting. Others on marriages. But if I had to summarize this year’s retreat in a single phrase, I’d say it was all about the power of good questions.
Our retreat began Friday night with a simple but meaningful assignment. Each couple was asked to find another couple to go to dinner with, and before we left, Ryan D. handed each pair an envelope of questions not to be opened until dinnertime. The questions ranged from spirituality to family upbringing and everything in between. They weren’t surface-level or informational questions; they were the kind that invite story, reflection, and honesty. It was a reminder of how good questions, asked with intentionality and care, open doors to deeper understanding and connection.
Then after dinner during our Friday night session, Ryan D. asked us to express our hopes and dreams over the next 5 to 10 years. Everything from vocation to family, and ministry to vacations. I was so encouraged to hear our team share of their dreams. Many on our team spoke of hopes to use art and creativity to publish books. Others shared about hopes of retirement, and using the extra time for goals of disciple making. And one general consensus shared around the room was the goal of seeing Evergreen continue to grow, make disciples, raise up missionaries, and (Lord willingly) plant churches.
Saturday morning was led by another thoughtful prompt. Each couple was asked to share a worship song that had been especially meaningful to them in recent years. One by one, couples described how these songs had ministered to them, reminding them of truth, sustaining them through hardship, and lifting their eyes to Christ. Then we sang those songs together. It was a beautiful way to enter into one another’s stories as songs have a way of expressing emotions that words cannot fully articulate.
There’s much more I could recount, but my hope here is more than simply giving you a window into retreat. I want to remind you that there is real power in good questions. There is joy, encouragement, and connection to be found when we sit with one another and truly listen. I believe one of the things God seeks to grow in each of us is a genuine curiosity for understanding others. One of the best ways we can love and encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ is not only by speaking truth to them, but by listening well to them.
In fact, I believe this is something we will do for eternity. In heaven, we will tell stories from our lives, and recount how those stories intersected with the God of the universe. We will share of our hopes, our labors, and the many ways we experienced God’s faithfulness. We will share about the goodness of God together—and all of it will be shaped by a perfected ability to listen, to wonder, and to ask good questions.
And if good questions have such power to help us connect with one another, how much more do they help us connect with God? We were created not only to be curious about each other, but to be curious about the LORD. And the good news is that we could never exhaust Him.
His understanding is unfathomable (Isaiah 40:28).
His greatness is unsearchable (Psalm 145:3).
His judgments are inscrutable (Romans 11:33–34).
His works are immeasurable (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
Friends, let me encourage you to keep asking good questions. Stay curious. Ask them of one another, and ask them of God. Do so for the sake of deeper connection—and for the joy of knowing your God more fully.
In Christ’s mercy,
Pastor Ryan A.