The goal of Grace Place Lutheran Retreats is to offer preventative wellness skills, attitudes and resources to our Lutheran professional church workers and their families, so they can experience and live the abundant lives to which Jesus Christ called them - spiritually, emotionally, physically, intellectually and relationally.

The Grace Place Lutheran Retreat concept was initiated by John D. Eckrich, M.D., who has provided integrated health care to many pastors and their families, seminarians, and other professional church workers in the St. Louis area for more than 25 years.

The standard Grace Place Retreat consists of roughly 10 to 20 church worker couples who participate in a five-night, five-day retreat, held at relaxing and beautiful resorts, camps, lodges and parks around the United States. The goals of a retreat are designed to encourage professional church workers to:

• Explore - Consciously address personal health and wholeness issues in their own life.

• Exemplify - Model integrated health to their congregational members and others in their community.

• Engage - Enable congregational members to integrate personal health and wholeness in their Christian walk and witness.

• Energize - Positively encourage preventative and proactive means to affirm and support health in pastoral families and all professional church workers and leaders through their parishes, education institutions and judicatories.

The retreat is led by a professional team who specialize in personal growth through physical and spiritual disciplines. Mornings begin with physical exercise and interactive educational sessions. Afternoons offer recreational activities, and evenings stress fellowship and devotional time.

Grace Place is the creation of Lutheran medical, counseling, and theologically trained professionals to limit the "back door" losses of church workers via deteriorating health, family issues, money problems and increasing "burn out". It is a highly proactive "time-out" offered to all Lutheran professional church workers. Providing them the opportunity to renew, refresh, regroup and re-energize both their personal pilgrim walk and professional ministry. All Grace Place retreats are led by its founder John D. Eckrich, M.D. and a variety of clergy and educational leaders.