4 Resurrection Heart Warmers
By Annette Bender
Admit it. As church workers, it’s easy to shut ourselves off from the worship experiences we try to offer others. The messages, music and prayers become just part of the job, part of the routine we shuffle through each day.
But when 12,000 youth and leaders come together for the annual spiritual event that Holston Conference calls “Resurrection,” don’t be surprised to find yourself strangely warmed by what goes on in Gatlinburg Convention Center. Examples:
1. In the first weekend of Resurrection alone, young people reached into their jeans pockets to give an offering of $10,000 for Youth Service Fund. The offering is already several thousand dollars higher than last year’s offering, conference leaders said.
2. Also in the first weekend, more than 400 youth and adults came forward to indicate they felt a call to full-time ministry.
3. Praise music from the Steve Fee band inspired teen-agers to dance, sing, raise their hands to the heavens, express joy in worship.
4. When speaker Adrian Despres invited participants to move to the sides of the auditorium and commit their lives to Jesus, hundreds of emotional youth accepted the invitation. In the tender moments that followed, youth leaders gathered with their young people – held hands, held heads against their shoulders – and lifted prayers.
Were you there? Are you going? Then you’ll have your own heartwarming experience. Share it with someone else.
This year’s Resurrection theme is “One God.” The first weekend happened Jan. 16-18; the second weekend happens Jan. 23-25. For a Resurrection photo gallery, CLICK HERE. For complete coverage of both weekends, see the Feb. 13 issue of “The Call.”
top
|
|
|
|
