VIRTUAL NYC

from Messenger Winter 2020

RESURRECTING FAMILY TREES

By Jeff Roth, NYC Coordinator

For the past 14 years, I have had the privilege of helping coordinate the National Youth Conference (NYC). Looking back over those years, we have found ourselves with obstacles to overcome. For example, back in 2011, our theme for NYC was “In Control.” On Saturday night, a thunderstorm ripped through Carlinville, Illinois, and the Lord taught us that we certainly weren’t “in control.” The rain got on the ramps of the BMX stunt crew and the power went out, so everything that we had planned was off the table. But, the Lord still showed up. If you talk to any students who were at NYC 2011, they will likely tell you it was one of their favorite and most memorable NYC experiences.

This year’s NYC experience faced some obstacles too. Our theme was “2020”, and we were going to talk about seeing things clearly. Then COVID happened, and all of our plans were scrapped. Nobody saw that coming!

But, I believe the Lord is still showing up. We transitioned as much of the event as we could to a virtual experience, and we encouraged each youth group to put together their own Virtual NYC.

I am so incredibly thankful for Jason Jordan, Brandon Petty, Blake Thomas, and Whitney Tanksley. They each put together a wonderful message for students or leaders just because they love students and want to see God’s Kingdom grow. If you see them or have their contact information, would you shoot them a message to let them know how awesome they are?

Several groups watched the live streams when they premiered on October 3rd and more groups are using the teaching videos in the weeks that follow. On October 10th both Liberty Hill Church (The Hub) in Aid, Missouri, and Skyline Church (Fuel) in O’Fallon, Illinois, held their Virtual NYC events.

At Liberty Hill’s event, they planned it as an outreach to get students from the community involved. They adjusted the schedule to fit their group’s needs. Youth Pastor Shawn Cook said, “The students really enjoyed it, and even though we hosted it a week later, the way we structured it gave it that ‘live’ feel, rather than just watching a prerecorded video. The students really responded well.”

At Skyline’s event, they had their youth band lead them in worship, watched the message videos, played games and activities, and had a service project in the afternoon. During their service project, they were able to pack over 10,000 meals that will be sent to feed the hungry in Nicaragua!

I want to thank every youth leader who has continued to persevere through this pandemic. What you do matters as much now as it ever has! Stand firm and press on! If you haven’t checked out the special leader video by Blake Thomas, please go watch it today for some more encouragement. You can find it on the Virtual NYC page of our website.

I hope that your church will join us next year at NYC at Lake Williamson when our theme will be, “Who Knows?”

Who knows what next year will bring? You don’t. I don’t. But we can find rest knowing the Lord does. I can’t wait to see what the Lord has planned!