ElevateX-The Summit

DEPARTMENT NEWS

ElevateX was first started in October 2019 and was held in Banff. It was built for creatives and innovative young adults who felt like there was no place for them in the church.

The second ElevateX was called the REMIX, the idea was that God can take something old and mix with something new and create a remixed spiritual life.

This final ElevateX that took place April 14-16, was the pinnacle of its programming. The last one. The theme was, “The Summit.”

I have always had a fascination with mountains. That’s probably why the theme for this ElevateX was, “The Summit.”

Over the last several years, I have had this obsession with climbing Mount Everest. The sheer determination, discipline, and passion it takes to summit the mountain provides so many practical life lessons. One of my bucket list items is to climb Mount Everest before Jesus comes.

As I have been studying climbing Mount Everest, I realized several things about Summiting Mount Everest that apply to our spiritual lives.

1. Not everyone who begins the journey with you, ends the journey with you. Not everyone can come with you to your next level. The altitude in which God is bringing you to, some people will not be able to sustain their spiritual lives at that level.

2. Climbers only bring the bare essentials with them that will help sustain their lives along the journey. Less ends up becoming more. Climbers have only the right gear, everything from the boots, crampons, ropes, oxygen to down filled outer wear, is only there to do one thing, help them as they move up the mountain at various camps. God wants to rid of us things that are nonessential and help us to leave behind things that no longer serve our purpose and His purpose.

3. Climbers set out to climb Mount Everest during the months of May and September. There is a window of opportunity where the seasons provide more survivable temperatures for the climber. Perhaps there are season and times in which God has set for us to take opportunities. There are times when God is wanting us to try things, make attempts, take initiative.

4. There are four camps from Base Camp. The reason why climbers trek through four camps and then summit, is because as climbers travel up, there is less oxygen to survive. High altitude kicks in and causes the climber to suffer swelling of brain, extreme exhaustion, delirium, and hypothermia. But spending days at each camp level, it acclimatizes the climbers to the oxygen levels. God has at certain stages and levels in our spiritual journey to acclimatize us for the future conditions we will face.

5. Once climbers make it to Camp Four the last camp before the summit trek to the peak of Mount Everest, they rest and get acclimatized to the atmospheric conditions. The climbers must leave at 11 PM at night to start their ascent to the top. They must leave in the darkest of night because they enter to what is called the death zone, where it is almost impossible to sustain human life for long periods. They must leave in the night in order to make it by day light. It’s often in our darkest of nights of the soul, that God is transforming us for our next level. It is in the darkest of times that God is helping to sustain our spiritual lives.

6. Once on top of the mountain, climbers only have several minutes to enjoy their accomplishment. The longest that someone is advised to stay on top of Mount Everest is 12 hours, because staying longer than 12 could result in death (ten minutes on top of Everest is about average). From a spiritual perspective, you can’t spend all your life on the mountain top, eventually you have to come down and do life in the valley.

7. Coming back down the mountain is sometimes even harder than climbing up. Once you have made the ascent up the summit to the peak, you must make the trek down. It is easy to want to rest and enjoy your accomplishments. But you have to keep moving, or you run the risk of falling asleep and then dying of hypothermia. God wants us to keep moving, and not get comfortable along the journey.

ElevateX … “The Summit” was all about helping young people reach their summit. It was focused on Youth Leadership Training. Fusing some of the best and brightest youth ministry practitioners within the Adventist Church. There were eleven various speakers from across the North American Division. Seth Yelorda, Kyle Smith, Natasha Richards, Justin Yang, Michelle Mota, Guadalupe Montour, John Scott, Krzia Wisdom, Andrel Wisdom, Roberson Dorelus and Thaksheela Dorelus. Each speaker shared on relevant subjects that helped to build the young person’s leadership tool kit. Some of the topics includ- ed, How to deal With Difficult people, Developing Your Core, and Engaging Gen Z’s.

Our keynote speaker was Seth Yelorda from Riverside, California. Seth is known as a leadership guru within the Adventist Church in North America. He has worked with the local church as well as many large-scale business and institutions helping them to achieve leadership clarity.

Pastor Roberson and his wife Thaksheela Dorelus.

It was a powerful weekend where Chelsae B helped to usher in a spirit of worship through her acoustic guitar and singing.

Overall, many of the youth who attended ElevateX talked about how practical each speaker was. One of the presenters Justin Yang who is the Young Adult Director for Texas Conference said, “I am amazed at the level of attention that these young people displayed this weekend…I have never seen anything like this. These youth are dialed in and so engaged into each of the presentations. It’s amazing, they truly wanted to be here.”

Maybe one of these days, my dream of climbing Mount Everest will be fulfilled! But until that time, we must all keep striving and moving towards spiritual development and becoming more Christ like. Life is an uphill battle which often presents detours, twists and turns, but if we just keep holding on to God’s unchanging hand He will help to elevate us to that ultimate mountain top experience, heaven, with Him around that great banquet table.

—Submitted by Lyle Notice, Youth Ministries Director