Many people have commented that this year’s GYC (December 30, 2009–January 3, 2010) was the best yet. It is hard for me to make such a judgment, since each GYC I’ve attended has had its own special qualities, and sometimes disappointments. But I think it was truly one of the best.
Quality may be subjective, but quantity is not. This was clearly the most attended GYC ever, with well over 3,000 attendees on the opening night, and reports of close to 6,000 attendees on Sabbath. It has come to be a powerful movement.
This year’s theme was “unASHAMED” (yeah, capitalized like that). A little irony for me was that in the last year or so, I took down my personal unashamed.net website. I’m laughing. Maybe I was just ahead of my time. (The good news is that all of the worthy articles from that site are now available on this one, or will be when they are finally edited.)
The Meetings
The main (plenary) meetings at GYC were very good.
David Asscherick’s presentations were all first rate, and hit on important themes. His talks were titled, “Unashamed of the Crucified Christ,” “Unashamed of the Creative Christ,” and “Unashamed of the Coming Christ.” These talks could be summarized, respectively, as: (1) recognizing the scandalous, foolish reputation of First Century Christianity helps prepare us for scorn in our day, and the death of Jesus for us must remain a vital theme; (2) Jesus’ creative power, understood through a literal, historical understanding of Genesis 1 and 2, is essential to our message and mission today, and there is no place for Christianity, much less Seventh-day Adventism, in a theory of Darwinian origins; and (3) we need an urgency in our evangelism that is not based on current events, but instead is grounded in the urgency of human need.
My great disappointment with conservative Adventism is its tendency to focus on doctrinal correctness and mission activity to the exclusion of Jesus-focused discipleship. If it can be successfully argued that Christian doctrine stands or falls with Genesis 1 and 2, it is even more obvious that Christian practice stands or falls with our connection to a living Christ. Sometimes we conservative Adventists come across as straight-laced religionists bent on evangelism and orthodoxy, but come up short in living as followers of a risen Lord. I include myself in this, because in reflection on my own life I often see more theory than substance. But of this I am certain: If Jesus is not a living reality for us today, all of these other things we do are vain and empty.
For these reasons, David’s presentations were a breath of fresh air, because I felt that he spoke not merely as a conservative Seventh-day Adventist, but as an ardent Christian. I think that is essential.
Many of the meetings, and not just David’s, are now available for download on GYC’s website. (They are also available in audio format on AudioVerse.) They will also air eventually on 3ABN, and be available from 3ABN on DVD.
The Seminars
I went to the first couple seminars, and then for various reasons — somewhat contrary to my wishes — missed the remaining ones. All the seminars looked good, although it was hard to find ones that particularly interested me. Many of the topics seemed all too familiar. I guess that is a symptom of going to GYC for so many years. Obviously GYC needs to cater to the new recruits, and not aim at the generation of no-longer-youth.
The first seminar I wanted to attend, Dr. Pipim’s, was totally full. Instead I went to one about reaching people in one’s community, and it was quite good. I got into Dr. Pipim’s seminar about new spirituality movements for the second seminar. It was a good message, although I can’t say I learned anything new, since the topic is a bit of a hobbyhorse for me. He did throw out some cool soundbites though: “Liberals are nice people with bad ideas. Conservatives are people with good ideas and difficult personalities.” He said we need the liberal’s niceness, combined with the conservative’s biblical fidelity, and I agree. “What we call a ‘liberal’ today, in the past we called ‘backslidden.’” (Both quotes slightly paraphrased due to my poor memory.) He went on to say that the term “liberal” is a gloss that makes spiritual problems sound like just a variation in an acceptable spectrum than runs from liberal to conservative. The same could probably be said for “conservative.” He also said he didn’t particularly care for the relativistic terms “liberal” and “conservative,” and I feel likewise. But they are terms in common use, so we have to deal with them. I should add that this seminar was about holiness versus the nebulous spirituality of new spiritual movements; the part about liberals and conservatives was just a short tangent.
The Testimonies
One thing you can always expect to hear at GYC is a lineup of great testimonies. There was an incredible, miracle-infused testimony by a woman named Deniza Hush, former Muslim and New Age practitioner. If you can listen to the recording of it, by all means do so. There were also other testimonies of young people doing evangelism, and more.
The Panels
There were two panel discussion at GYC, both on Sabbath.
If there was one low point at GYC for me, it was the morning panel, which featured a number of highly respected church leaders, including Mark Finley, Mike Ryan, Don Schneider, and several others (all GC vice presidents, I believe). The questions put to these leaders were very good — dealing with subjects such as the promotion of evolution and homosexuality at particular SDA educational institutions, inefficiencies in church organizational structure, and inequalities in how the church treats “too liberal” and “too conservative” ministries and organizations. The early answers were good. But their later answers were evasive and unsatisfactory. Although I disagreed with only a few minor things that they said, it was these leaders’ inability to directly answer these critical questions that left me disappointed. But there is no need to take my word for it; listen, and decide for yourself. Despite their weak answers, it seemed that the great body of attendees were strongly united on most or all of the topics presented.
(On the topic of the promotion of evolution and homosexuality within the church, the response of the leaders was that these conflicts shouldn’t happen, faithful members should make their voice heard to the respective boards, members should work through the system, and the intellectually honest thing would be for those with divergent views to remove themselves from their church positions. However, it’s obvious that members have attempted to follow this advice, without seeing the problems corrected. Eventually firmer steps have to be taken, because the false teachers in question have responsible, teaching, administrative positions. But the panelists were unable to give a definite answer about how this problem should be stopped. Likening the situation to Jesus’ patience with Judas was inappropriate; despite Judas’ internal struggles, we have no reason to believe that Judas was openly teaching contrary to Jesus. The reference to the situation with J.H. Kellogg was valid, but we are already past that stage; these problems have already come to fruition.)
The afternoon panel was much better. It was focused on more everyday subjects (how do you find a mate? what are some Christian guidelines for music? what does the Bible say about homosexuality? how can someone trust God who has been sexually abused as a child? and others), and the answers were biblical, practical, warm, and at times witty. It was just an enjoyable discussion to listen to.
The Exhibits
There was a fairly large showing of exhibitors this year; it seems to feel more and more like ASI all the time.
I was attending GYC on my own dime, so I was not officially working 3ABN’s booth. But I did help out a little, mainly because I wanted to observe how things were going. Our booth had many visitors, and the items we were giving away seemed well-liked. This was especially true for the Origins DVD that we made especially for this event, featuring a 3ABN Today Live program with David Asscherick and Sean Pitman on the subject of creation versus evolution. Another new item that moved well was our Rapid Bible Reference cards.
I was glad to see the EGW Estate present, and showing the new beta of the Ellen White software for Mac, since I’ve been involved in that project. Mac laptops seemed to be “the computer to have” at this year’s GYC; they were everywhere. So I was glad to see the Mac software receiving attention.
Pan de Vida had a great booth with a strong showing of beautifully designed, spiritually rich materials. They seem to have a knack for producing content that looks and tastes fresh.
My brother’s new book Deeper sold reasonably well. I was told he sold over 100 copies at the event. (I designed the cover for it, so am glad to know it’s moving.)
Friends
The abundance of friends attending GYC is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it is good to see everyone. On the other, there is little time to spend with any of them. People are always on the go, and when there is a moment to catch up, they tend to get mobbed.
Most of the time at GYC events I sit alone or with strangers. I wouldn’t say this is exactly my preference. I always look for friends to sit with, but somehow I can never find any (or else they are already sitting with others), and eventually I give up trying. At mealtimes I just follow the flag-wavers to whichever table, and sometimes I end up with people I know, but most of the time with ones I don’t.
So if you were at GYC, and we didn’t get much time together, please don’t take it personally. I’m glad I got to see some of you, to know you are still alive and working, and to catch up a bit.
Tags: GYC
You always summarize things so well, Michael! I love reading your posts!