I spent December 19-23 at the Generation of Youth for Christ (GYC) convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I have attended each year since the first one, and as usual GYC was very good.
I arranged my own hotel through Priceline this year, and that saved me a little money (it was $60/night). The hotel I got was the Hyatt, right next to the convention center, and one of the main hotels other GYC attendees were using. My room was nice, with a king size bed, and a nice 15th-story view of downtown Minneapolis. For some reason the thermostat was a little flaky, and the wireless internet ($10 extra per night) was very poor — worse than dial-up. But I had a comfortable place to rest, and everything else worked well. Nothing I couldn’t live with.
All of the main meetings (plenary sessions) were very good. I especially enjoyed the testimony by Steve Kasperbauer, the 1888 panel discussion (since my bro was in it … and because the content was good 
), and all the presentations by David Shin. Steve’s testimony was absolutely incredible. If you didn’t hear it, get it. I believe it will be available from the GYC website eventually.
The seminars were good, although not really the highlight for me. I enjoyed one of Mark Finley’s seminars (”The Shaking and the Sifting”), but it was so packed that I could not get in more than once. I attended two seminars by Nathan Renner (about friendship evangelism); I enjoyed hearing his testimony, and the other content was good, but a little too heavy on the theory of why, and a little too light on the subject of how, for my tastes. The surprise for me was two seminars by Bruce Ashton on the topic of music. I was expecting the usual “how to tell good music from bad” approach, but it wasn’t really that at all. If an attendee could look past the fact that Bruce read everything from notes, there were some really awesome concepts to glean. I would even dare say revolutionary concepts for the worship services at many medium to large churches. The main gem was a clear explanation of the purpose and nature of worship, and the consequential implications for what passes as worship at many churches. In a nutshell: Most churches fashion their worship services to please the congregation, or visitors, or “seekers”; but real worship, and all decisions about style and format and content, should be about pleasing God alone. In this light, much of the music labeled as “worship” music has nothing to do with worship at all, even if it is acceptable in a larger framework.
This year’s outreach was challenging on at least three fronts: Many people weren’t home (it was just before Christmas). Those that were home were often not interested (Minnesota is a hard area to witness in, as numerous GYC attendees noted). And it was freezing cold. If not for a block of apartments that we were able to enter, I wonder if I’d be nursing my second case of frostbite on my toes. Still, it was a good experience, especially in light of all that was accomplished by the group in total. My partner and I had a really nice talk with a woman who seemed genuinely interested, and I was able to pray with her. I hope that she will sign up for the studies.
3ABN’s booth was in a prime location this year, and although I was not there officially representing 3ABN, I pitched in at the booth a few times. Greg and Jill did a great job of manning the booth. We made observations that hopefully will help us be better prepared for these kinds of events in the future. The booth seemed to be quite popular, and it was great to hear all the positive feedback from attendees both young and old.
3ABN’s booth, with Greg and Jill, and our president, Jim Gilley:
GYC is always a great place to catch up with friends, and make new ones. Although I am probably one of the worst people for remembering names and facts about people, I gain some satisfaction from seeing familiar faces (even if for the life of me I can’t remember who they are or where I recognize them from). At last year’s GYC I learned that if I really, really try to remember, such as by utilizing various memory association tricks, I can actually remember new names pretty well. In fact, I still remember the names of the two persons from that conference that I tried this technique with. Ironically, I’ve never seen them again.
I saw so many friends at this year’s conference, I can’t really name them all. But it was a blessing to talk with them and learn what’s new in their lives.
Eugene and Heidi:
One of the beautiful churches in the area (note the low clouds/mist — the top third or so of the skyscraper in the background is completely hidden):
Recent Comments