We packed up five vans full of kids and chaperons and headed down to Ocean City Maryland for a weekend Youth Conference. With scattered, ambiguous messages from profound speakers, a musical worship group with fluffy lyrics and adequate skills, and a band that provides a frying pan of diversity which captured our kids hearts and emotions; we all left with an impact worth the $60 ticket price. The Will Smith esque speaker quickly became the hero of us all. He had a gospel presentation that was clear in the midst of all his scattered, yet hard drawing stories. Tyra, the sign lady, had a kindness and a life story that could only have been the redemption by the Sovereign God. There were some question of the integrity of the acting man who told the prodigal son story as his own, then confessed it was made up in regards to his own life. The profound Impacts happened within our own group. My revealed goal was to provide an environment from which the kids could bond into deeper relationships. My unrevealed goal was to provide an environment that was similar to home in goofiness and the use of cellphones and tvs. I wanted the kids to learn that God can show up in the midst of their regular lives and lifestyles so that when they go home, that they will learn that God is still there with them. God did indeed show up. We prayed for one another on the first night and there was an immense time of building one another up. The Holy Spirit left a rich impact on us all. It was one of two times in my life where God impacted me by showing up in a profound way when His people built one another up. Or maybe it was that when God showed up, His people built one another up. Additional Highlights included tackle football on the beach, ultimate frisbee, shopping, apples to apples, boppy ball (volleyball on beds), hearts, chess, throwing shield game, hallway soccer, drunken hallyway golf (not our group of course but some other crazy, shady people), piles of pizza, burger king and Mcdonald’s, snack bags in the car, fog and drizzle, rebuke of one of our own for wearing a “demonic sweatshirt”, a bayside sermon on the freedom of Christ, bad bathroom experiences, middle school bonding, senior send-off, giddy girls, Chris the chick magnet, midnight pranks of tying kids to their beds, piling cream in someone’s hand and tickling their face. Then we came home and had a massive hailstorm while we were just getting settled in our houses. For me, it is an attestation and reminder that God showed up!
True story.
Impact was exactly what Aaron said. I want to say a little bit about our prayer time though. After the first session on Friday night we all gathered in Aaron’s room for discussion. He asked us to pray for each other out loud for about 15 minutes. Over an hour later, when just about everyone had offered a prayer and every single person had been prayed for, the front desk interrupted Jamie to let us know our dinner was here.
The one other thing that impressed me was the use of cell phones and tv. This was our first trip without a ban on phones and tv and I was impressed that it did not isolate anyone. Room 203 actually had some bonding time learning some tips from Stacy at 2am before our shopping trip the next afternoon.
I’m very proud of our youth and am excited to see God continue to move in this group and in their individual lives. I was blessed to be allowed to help chaperon this trip.
Aaron requested this comment be added:
Simon says right hand up . . . good! Simon says left hand up . . . good! hands down . . . Simon didn’t say! You’re out.
Jesus says right hand up. . . good! Jesus says left hand up . . . good! Hands down . . . Jesus didn’t say! But don’t worry, it’s ok, you’re still in!
~Tyra, the sign art speaker and several thousand high schoolers playing Simon says / Jesus says
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