We took a group of 31 from our church to BELIEVE Junior High Conference this past weekend. If you are unfamiliar with this program, you must check it out at the Christ In Youth website. They do a great job creating experiences for junior high students. The adults even get something out of the weekend.
This year was no exception and was, in my opinion, one of the best overall weekends I have attended. The speaking was excellent, the message was clear, the music was rocking and the it all pointed back to the theme. It was called “The Word Tour” and it challenged students to appreciate, read and live God’s Word.
As I was summarizing the weekend in my mind, I came away with these three take-a-ways:
- Love God, Love People – on Friday night, we were reminded that the two most important things we can do is love God and love others. The challenge was pretty simple – which of those do we as individuals need to address? Is it our love for God or love for people?
- Hide God’s Word in your heart – we hide God’s Word not that no one can see it, but so that no one can take it from us. We need to spend time in His Word and hide it in our hearts so it is always with us.
- Inhale, Exhale – we can’t keep God’s Word to ourselves; we need to speak it and share it. We inhale when we study together, but then we need to exhale it by sharing it with others. Thought that was a great analogy.
It was a great weekend and I am grateful for the opportunity to share it together with our students and adults. Those types of experiences are great in the context of community as we come home, share memories and help each other do something with what we heard.
Thoughts from a Hoosier Fan in the Buckeye Land 
Tony, I attended the CoC Winterfest events a few years ago, and Jeff Walling did “Love God, Love Others”, I think it was Love one, Love Two, something like that. He really is great; the second time I realized he appears to be almost totally spontaneous, when in fact the events and presentations are very well orchestrated. Great picture!