Youth Conference Reminiscence

by Jason & Jessica

Since Youth Conference is only a week away, we thought we'd take some time to share some of our favorite memories, themes, sermons, and any other thing we can think of about the Youth Conferences we've been to in the past. My favorite theme for a Youth Conference was definitely the last year I went as a teen in high school. It was '06 and the theme was RESOLVED:I WILL STAND. Dr. Schaap had set a goal the year before to have 10,000 teens at that Youth Conference, and that year I was part of 10,119 teens to attend the 3 days in Hammond. The theme of RESOLVED:I WILL STAND also hit very close to home with me as this was the first year that our youth group was there with one mind and one purpose and one goal: to stand for Christ. For too long, I'd felt like I was the only one who would stand, or who wanted to stand. But that Youth Conference confirmed to me that I wasn't the only one. What a joy to me as God showed me the multitudes of young people still standing for Him. That year I also had the privilege of singing in a combined choir on Friday afternoon on the platform which was incredible. What an honor and a privilege. Now that I've given you my memories, here is Jessica with hers...

Jessica here to add my little blurb, and I have to add that I sang in that very same combined choir and had no idea who Jason was at the time! Crazy, huh? Actually, if you look in some of the pictures from that year of Youth Conference, you can see Jason in the choir one side of the platform, and me on the other. Who would have thought that we were both on that same platform and had no idea who the other was! Also, this is even crazier, Dr. Young had his prayer challenge throughout the year before that, so when everyone came to Youth Conference, everyone who'd completed the challenge got to go to a special banquet/meal. Joel and I both went and when we sat down at our table, guess who was sitting across from us! Yep, Jason and his sister! They sat right across from us the whole meal and we chatted and joked, but when we got up and left, no one gave a second thought about it. God is so amazing to have me sitting right across from Jason like that, and I didn't even know who he was. What funny memories!