Nearly seventy people from West Virginia journeyed to Daytona Beach, FL where they met up with 2,500 other young people to worship, celebrate communion on the beach, and learn through workshop opportunities. The theme for Youth 2023 was BOLD – Being Ourselves. Living Different. Each worship experience reminded and challenged students to be BOLD in their faith, to be BOLD and share about Jesus’ great love for them, and to be BOLD and follow Jesus!
Rend Collective kicked off the event with opening worship on July 25th. One participant told me, “Rend Collective was worth the bus trip!” To watch videos about each day, visit this page.
Youth events are opportunities for our young people to get away and experience God in ways they otherwise would not. They are moments where transformation can happen because students get out of their daily routine and see God clearly. These “mountain top” experiences allow students to take time away, just like Jesus did numerous times throughout scripture, to focus on their relationship with God.
The next opportunity for students to take time away will be our conference’s youth event, Fall Workshop, November 10-12 at Jackson’s Mill, with Render the Hearts joining us as our band! Help a young person experience this event where our theme will be “Hello, my name is ….” We’ll focus on various stories from scripture about how God uses even the least likely people to share good news with the world!
Continue to pray for our young people preparing to start school this fall!
Churches Represented at YOUTH 2023:
- Bridgeport
- First UMC, Huntington
- Forrest Burdette Memorial
- Quiet Dell
- St Andrew, St Albans
- St Marks, Charleston
- St Paul’s, Nitro
- Sand Hill
- Simpson, Moundsville
- Stout Memorial
- Wayside, Vienna
