The most effective way to continue the support, excitement and enthusiasm of your Via de Cristo weekend is to get yourself established in a reunion group promptly.  DO NOT DELAY!

   You may want to group with someone you met on your weekend, someone from your church, your neighborhood, even your family. Any mature Christian is potential.  It's not absolutely necessary that the persons have attended the Via de Cristo.

   What is necessary is a desire to share openly and honestly, to support each other, be accountable before the Lord and to pray with each other.

   Your time and location is your choice but remember, public places are sometimes intimidating.  Keep your group focused on the Group Reunion Card.  Meet consistently and keep realistic expectations.  Lifetime friendships do not happen overnight.

   Check with your sponsor or the Secretariat board member in charge of reunion groups if you are having a problem locating or establishing a group.  Be persistent and persevere!

   Remember, group reunions are the heart of the Via de Cristo.  Your weekend was just the beginning.

   Do you wonder what has happened to all those people on your weekend?  Come to a Celebration and find out.  Celebrations are sometimes called "Ultreya's" in other movements.

   Celebrations are gatherings of the entire Via de Cristo community for fellowship and inspiration.  They are held in various churches, usually the second or third weekend of every other month.  Watch the newsletter for notices giving the time and location.  Also check this website for the most recent updates and map directions.

   A program is usually held relating to some area of Via de Cristo or your Christian walk.  The evening ends with worship and communion and as always......more food!

   Spouses and visitors are welcome at Celebrations even if they have not attended a Via de Cristo, Cursillo or other affiliated movements weekend experience.  A nursery is provided for young children.  The green palanca ($$$) box is always available and appreciated for monetary contributions. These donations are important.

    Do you wish you had been one of those people clapping and singing instead of the one running down the church aisle to get on a bus?  Now is your chance.

   You don't need to have a candidate to participate in the fun of a send-off.  The more people there, the greater the power of the send-off!  Now you know what lies ahead for the candidates, so you can send them off with enthusiasm.  Just remember to practice the chicken song so you can sing it with gusto!

   A brief prayer service will be held after the candidates leave.  Lists of candidates and team are available for your prayers and palanca letters.

   Watch the newsletter for the place of send-off's.

    Were you surprised to walk into a church full of people at the end of your weekend?  Now you can be one of those people and help welcome the new pilgrims into the Via de Cristo community.

   You do not have to be sponsoring anyone to attend a closing.  Like a send-off, the more people there are at a closing, the greater is the bond of love and community shown to the new pilgrims.  The newsletter and website will give the time and location of the closing.  The rector or rectora tries hard to keep on schedule, but be considerate if the closing doesn't start quite on time.

   A closing is not only a time of celebration, but also one of worship.  It is a time to recall your own weekend and the impact it has had on your life, and it is a time to show support for the new pilgrims.  When they receive their crosses, it may be a good time to pray for each new pilgrim.

   Because the atmosphere of a closing should be one of worship and also because the service may be long, it is recommended that children be left at home.  If this is not possible, a babysitter is provided for children five and under.

    Do you remember that heavenly choir of angel voices you heard on Saturday night?  Well, even if you think you can't sing, don't stay away.  God will take your voice and use it to his glory.

   At each serenade, we need to practice for a short time before going into the dining room to sing.  This practice time is important for two reasons.  It is the time when the special instructions for that particular serenade are given, and it is the time when we ask God's blessings upon our serenade.  The newsletter and website will have the schedule for serenades and rehearsals.

   You will want to look your best for the candidates.  Wear your Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes.

   During the serenade, your job is to sing, so refrain from touching or hugging the candidates, tempting as it may be!

   Following the serenade, the head cooks for the weekend provide a delicious dinner for the whole community, both serenaders and servers.

   A "green ($$) palanca" basket is passed around for a freewill donation.  We encourage those able to help defray the cost of the dinner to do so generously.

   Children are welcome, but only under close supervision of an adult.  There is a nursery provided; please use it, and please pick up your children promptly after serenades (before eating dinner).

   Men, if your wife or fiancee is a candidate on the weekend, you are strongly encouraged not to participate in this serenade.  Likewise, ladies, if your fiancee is a candidate on the weekend, we ask that you do not participate on this serenade.

    Do you wonder who puts the banners up?  Who cooks the meals and washes the dishes?  Who sets the tables before each meal?  Who packs up all the stuff when the weekend is over?  It's not a group of elves - it's your Via de Cristo community in action.  Now you are a part of that community and can be a part of that action.  Except for serving meals in the dining room, all behind the scenes tasks are open to both men and women on all weekends.  Here are some of the ways you can help:

   SET-UP AND TEAR-DOWN
Many hands make light work, so come and help, even if it's just for a short while.

   Via de Cristo keeps its belongings in a semi-trailer and has to be hauled to the site on the Wednesday before the weekend.  Likewise, all the food and other purchases must be transported to the site.  Do you have a truck or van that could help in this job?  If so, let the Physical Arrangements chairman know.  All telephone numbers are listed in the newsletter regularly and found on this website too.

   At the site, the rooms must sometimes be cleaned a bit before they are ready for us to use.  Then all the boxes must be unpacked and everything put in the right place.  All those beautiful banners must be ironed and hung.  The chapel and rollo room must be set up and the kitchen made ready to go.  Beds have to be unloaded and the sleeping quarters set up.  Maybe your reunion group could volunteer for a part of the set-up or you can bring your family and help set-up.

   What goes up must come down, and Sunday is the day for tear-down.  After you've been to church, why not drive to the site and offer your help?  Or better yet, come to the site BEFORE 6:30 a.m. to begin the tear-down process.  We really need help for tear-down so that everyone can finish and get to the closing.

   KITCHEN HELP
If you want to really enjoy Christian community, come to the kitchen during a weekend.  The love and fellowship that flows through the kitchen is hard to beat!  We need many willing hands to chop vegetables, knead bread, peel potatoes, and wash dishes, pots and pans.  Remember, God is ultimately in control, but has empowered the head cook to be in charge of the kitchen.  Be sure to take your orders from him or her.

   Also, check with the head cook(s) before you snack on anything in the kitchen, so that you do not eat something needed for the candidates.

   A day in the kitchen usually runs from 6:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.  You're welcome to come anytime and stay as long or as little as you want.  You are welcome to work on any weekend - men's or women's.

   Please note that the kitchen is not a place for children.  Not only are we limited in space, but with all the hot ovens, pots and pans, it is not a safe place for them.  If this is a problem perhaps you could trade babysitting with another pilgrim from the movement.

   A special time of day in the kitchen is a communion service, usually just before breakfast.  Did you notice on your weekend that one of the pastors left after your communion service each morning?  He was going to the kitchen to give communion to all of the community help.

   DINING ROOM SERVICE
That crazy head server can't do it all alone.  Your hands and feet are needed to help shuttle all the food from the kitchen to the tables.

   If you are coming just to serve, be there 30 minutes prior to the meal (mealtimes are listed in the newsletter and website).  The head server is in charge of the dining room, so follow his / her instructions.

   One rule to remember is that as a server you are not there to visit with the team or candidates in the dining room.  Just smile a lot!!

   Following the meal, you are welcome to stay and eat if there is food left over (which there always is!). There is always a basket for green ($$) palanca donations in the kitchen.  We may sit and eat in the dining room after the candidates leave.

   CHAPEL PALANCA
The power of Via de Cristo is prayer, and one of the best places to be during a Via de Cristo weekend is in the prayer chapel.  All of the speakers go there before their rollos to join their friends and the prayer palanca team in asking God's blessing on their rollos, and afterwards to thank Him for what they have been able to do.  During rollos, you will continue to pray for the speaker and the candidates, and also read scripture passages and sing songs that have been selected by the speaker.

   If you are not on the team for the weekend, but are at the site to help in the kitchen or dining room, going to chapel for a rollo can be a nice break from work.  It is really the place to be if you have nothing to do during a rollo since it is against Sonshine Via de Cristo policy for anyone other than candidates and team members to be in an area where they can listen to a rollo.  You should not be seen by the candidates at any time other than serving meals.

    So you want to be a cha-cha or give a rollo?  There are certain steps involved before you may be asked on a team.

   Calling a team is not done haphazardly - it is done after much prayer and careful thought.  A rector or rectora has many guidelines to follow in calling a team, and the Secretariat plays an active role in this process to ensure a good distribution of team members by age, experience, churches, denominations and reunion groups.  Please do not make the job more difficult by telling the rector or rectora that you or your friend want to be on their team, for you do not see the whole picture of the team as they do.

   Generally, you will not be called to serve on a team until you have some behind the scenes experience. If you know what is going on behind the scenes, you will be a much better team member and you will realize that this is also a very vital part of the weekend.

   Team members are expected to be active members of their churches and in reunion groups. You may only serve on one team a year and you must have attended a leadership workshop to serve in certain roles.

   If you are called to serve on a team, take a couple of days to prayerfully consider your answer.  Serving on a team requires commitment and sacrifice.  Before the weekend, the team meets for several team meetings.  If your schedule will not permit you to attend all of these meetings (or miss one at the most), you should not accept the call to serve on the team.  Team community cannot be built when team members are not there.

   When you accept a call to serve on a team, usually you are not given your assignment until the first team meeting.  The rector / rectora makes assignments only after much prayerful consideration, so be assured that your assignment will be the right one for you and the team.

   To help defray the costs of the weekend, team members are requested to pay for the cost of the weekend.  However, no one will be prevented from serving on a team for financial reasons.

    By the time your weekend ended, you were probably thinking of several people you felt "should" attend a Via de Cristo weekend, and would like to sponsor.  Before you approach anyone, however, take time to pray.  As you heard on your weekend, "Talk to God about man, before you talk to man about God".  Remember, Via de Cristo is not for everyone.  It is not intended to solve anyone's emotional problems or to convert anyone, but to renew Christian leaders so that they might more effectively serve their Lord and their churches.

   When you decide to sponsor a candidate for a Sonshine Via de Cristo, here are some guidelines:

• Before the weekend, give your prospect an application and talk to him or her about the weekend - the talks, singing, worship, fellowship, food, etc.  Be open about it and answer any questions honestly.  There is nothing you can tell a prospective candidate that could ruin his / her weekend experience.

• Be sure he or she understands the registration form and the need to be honest about any special physical needs.  Make sure he / she signs it and has his / her pastor sign it too.  Then you should mail or bring it to the Pre-Cristo Coordinator or send to the address on the registration.  When your candidate is accepted, continue to follow up to be sure he / she knows what to bring and will be ready.

• During the weekend, be sure your candidate has transportation to the send-off and home from the closing (you should provide this if at all possible).  Be sure spouses and close family members write letters and see that the letters are at the site no later than Saturday afternoon.  Write a letter to your candidate yourself.  If your candidate is a married man, be sure his wife gets to the wives' information meeting.  Be available to the family in case the absence causes any special needs or circumstances.  Be sure to attend the closing.

• After the weekend, help your new pilgrim find or form a reunion group.  After all, you've made the commitment to your candidate for one year.  Offer to take your pilgrim to the first Celebration following the weekend.  When the next weekends are scheduled, encourage your pilgrim to work behind the scenes along with you if you are not on the team.  Continue to follow-up on your pilgrim, offering any assistance needed for a successful Fourth Day walk with Jesus.

• Before, during and after the Via de Cristo weekend, pray for your candidate.

    Remember how you felt when the pastor introduced palanca on Friday afternoon?  The banners, the letters, the magnets, the bookmarks, the food gifts - all just for you and your weekend!  Later you learned that people had been praying for you all weekend.  All of this is palanca - which acts like a lever to lift you up and support you during the weekend.

   True palanca is prayer and sacrifice.  It is done in a spirit of love.  It may be an individual act, or done by several people working together, such as a reunion group.

   Before the weekend, you should notify the Head Cha-Cha of any palanca you intend to give, especially if it is food or weekend supplies.  Check the newsletter and / or website for the name and number to call.  Palanca may be brought to the send-off to be taken to the site, or it may be delivered directly to the mailroom there.  It should be clearly labeled with the number of items and who is giving it.  Write a letter to the candidates explaining what you have given and why.  Once the palanca is at the weekend site, it is up to the Head Cha-Cha when it will be given out.  If you would like it to be used at a specific time, please indicate that on an attached note.  Your request will be honored if possible, but no guarantees can be made.

Quantities of palanca needed are:

• 70 for the dining room.

• 70 for the rollo room.

• 40 for pillow palanca.

    The Secretariat is the governing body of Sonshine Via de Cristo. It is comprised of approximately 15 lay people and one pastor who serves as the movement's spiritual director.

   All Sonshine Via de Cristo policies and activities are determined by the Secretariat in accordance with its Constitutions and Bylaws. The Secretariat also selects rectors and rectoras for Via de Cristo weekends and assists in selection of team members. Most Secretariat members have responsibility for a specific area of Sonshine operations, such as

• pre-Via de Cristo
• physical arrangements
• post-Via de Cristo
• outreach
• palanca
• leadership training

    Sometimes we forget that nearly 200 pilgrims attend Sonshine Via de Cristo weekends every year.  Sometimes we just presume that all of you know things that we haven't told you.  So for those of you who haven't been told and for those of you who may have been away from the movement and have forgotten, here's a list of "understood, but often forgotten" dynamics that have worked for the last 27 years. 

Please Do Not...

• bring or use any photographic equipment (i.e. standard, reflex, digital or video cameras) to the weekend site.
• bring or use any audio equipment (i.e. tape recorders, CD players, stereos, boom-boxes, etc.) to the weekend site.
• bring or use pagers, cellular telephones, two-way radios, laptop computers with modem links to the weekend site.
• present any palanca (group or personal) before dinner Friday evening.
• use candles for any Serenades, table settings or rollo room effects.
• decorate dining room, rollo room or chapels with any balloons.
• distribute flowers (of any kind) to individual candidates or teams members prior to conclusion of the closing Sunday evening.
• distribute any flyers, bulletins or announcements of church events or activities at Sonshine Via de Cristo weekends, Celebrations or Training Schools.
• use the weekend roster for any type of solicitation or fund raising.
• have the husbands of wives, who are attending a weekend as a candidate, participate in the Serenade.