As we all wake up for another bright and shiny morning for Pilgrimage 2018, we can feel the excitement jump from each person. It’s electric as youth pile into the door ready for another session of giving ourselves to God. The service starts with Jay Locklear asking how much sleep everyone got, and boy do we feel for those who didn’t get any sleep at all. “The Lion and the Lamb” begins playing as youth jump to their feet to worship. We all clap along as the lyrics “Who can stop the Lord Almighty?” prompt the Saturday morning session. And that shifts us into a great and incredible session two.
We were able to hear from our youth officers who introduced themselves. They said “HEYYY” and told us a little bit about what they do. Each stepped forward and promoted the amazing things that the body of the youth in our conference are doing. They discussed the Youth Service Fund, Legislative Affairs, and much more. We were also introduced to the upcoming events that the conference has to offer.
Then we had a testimony given by Brandon Meca where he gave lyrics to a song saying “Shining in the darkness I will find you.” This introduced his story that was uplifting and helpful for those youth who aren’t always sure about God’s plan. He shares that his life seemed to be going well but, he was still depressed calling his depression “mind dysmorphia” and that he was able to find God’s path and understand that God is always there fighting for him and fighting for all of us. He explains that God has unending love for every one of us.
He said that 80% of graduates went into Ivy League schools and this wealth bred atheism. Brock asks a question to his youth group: “What is your favorite thing about your youth group?” The answer was “Well, the fact that we don’t talk about Jesus and we believe in whatever we want to believe.”
Brock and his family decide to start loving and caring for the kids in this group. However, the youth are still a bit standoffish. So he suggests an experiment to prove if Jesus is real! They put aside all the questions that caused their lives anxiety and said to Jesus “Please work in my life if you’re real.”
That night started a tradition where the youth asked every time. God quieted their anxiety, calmed their hearts, and changed their lives. So then, Brock gets the kids to go to a church camp. He was very excited but then during song one, the projector blows up, and the kids have no way to sing these songs because no one knows the lyrics.
Sam, the youth mentioned last night, asks Brock if he has prayed over the projector. And Sam leads the prayer as Brock becomes increasingly impatient. But, he borrows Sam’s faith and asks for the projector to be healed. Then suddenly POOF! The projector is healed and comes on with a bible verse as Sam and Brock prayed that the projector would take them through Thursday. The projector worked through Thursday night and then cut off after the last note strummed. Each youth fell to their knees seeing the Lord as good and how God had moved through their lives.
The main theme is that none of us who have doubts are alone. Many of us doubt, and many of us falter but historically, and today, many people who have fallen from the path have been made new through the working of Jesus Christ. God works through people to show us that Jesus is real, the Holy Spirit is real, and God is real.
*Article written by Emily McCartney