This year’s Youth Evangelism Conference (YEC) at Samford University in Birmingham July 16–17 promises to be more than a two-day event — if students let it.
After the speakers go silent and the music stops, the impact of YEC can go on if students take up its new 21-day challenge.
“There was a sense of leading from God that we needed to do more to help from this point — not to do a great two-day event but to help take the two-day event home and to take the two-day event to the next level of its impact,” said Kyle Wiltshire, an associate in the office of collegiate and student ministries at the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM).
To do that, the SBOM contacted Wayfarer ministries in Spartanburg, S.C.; worked with it to come up with this year’s theme, “Breakable;” and signed it up to write the daily challenges, which vary from hosting a movie night with lost friends to prayer walking the church with someone else taking the challenge.
But why 21 days?
“There are some studies that show that if you do something for 21 days, it will create a habit,” Wiltshire said.
The habit SBOM organizers hope students will create is one of “building relationships to share the gospel,” said Keith Loomis, an associate in the collegiate and student ministries office.
Loomis noted that students can do the challenge collectively as a youth group or individually.
Youth leaders will walk away from the conference with “homework,” too, as there are four sermon guides to go along with the challenge.
“If we have students and adults go back into their community and take this challenge and be intentional, then they’ll make it into a routine … and have a long-term impact,” Loomis said. “The event will be wonderful, but as they leave the event, we’re going to have a great opportunity for the message to last.”
The event itself will be divided into three parts: God breaking into our lives (salvation), God breaking through to change our lives (discipleship) and us breaking out to make Him known (evangelism).
YEC will feature Wayfarer speakers Chris Brooks, Chad Norris and Dave Rhodes.
“They’ve been preparing three specific messages that work in concert,” Wiltshire said. “They went to college together, went to seminary together and are close friends. [They] are working together toward this ‘Breakable’ theme in order to bring forth a more unified presentation that has a beginning, middle and end.” David Walker, who has worked with Wayfarer in the past, will lead worship, with special guest T Force Ministries.
For more information, call 1-800-264-1225, Ext. 275, or visit www.thestudenthub.org.
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