RICHARDSON, TEXAS — There weren’t practically sufficient customer playing cards for the entire company on the Waterview Church of Christ on a current Sunday.
“I hope you don’t thoughts,” minister Reed Swindle advised his congregation. “I invited 400 to 500 of my closest mates to affix us.”
The metro Dallas church, which normally has about 400 souls in attendance, greater than doubled in dimension due to the Problem Youth Convention, an annual gathering that drew younger believers and fogeys from 34 Church buildings of Christ from Texas all the way in which to Wisconsin.
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CYC, because it’s referred to as, sprang to life a quarter-century in the past within the Nice Smoky Mountains. That occasion, held at a conference heart in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., has grown to greater than 12,000 youths, chaperones and ministers.
Associated: Practically 12,000 ‘superior’ individuals collect for CYC in Tennessee
The smaller North Texas CYC started in 2014 with individuals gathering in resorts and convention facilities. This 12 months for the primary time, organizers moved the occasion inside a church constructing.
In Waterview’s auditorium, constructed to amplify and enrich the singing of a cappella hymns, John Podein stood on a diamond-shaped stage as he led worship for the mixed congregation. Podein, outreach and engagement minister for the Calhoun Church of Christ in Georgia, and different CYC organizers carried out the service. The mixed congregation joined their voices for youth-oriented songs, together with “Hearken to our Hearts,” and rousing requirements like “Revive Us Once more.”
Lonnie Jones preaches through the CYC Dallas convention within the Waterview Church of Christ’s auditorium. The power, constructed within the early Sixties, was designed by Aubrey Hallum, a Fort Price architect who developed a set of development pointers particularly for Church buildings of Christ.
“It’s excellent! The thrill is great!” Waterview member Linda Nordstrom stated after the service. She and her husband have been a part of the congregation for greater than three a long time. In that point, a lot of the flock has grown grey, she stated, so the infusion of youthful exuberance uplifted her spirit.
As for the guests, “that is positively not Pigeon Forge,” stated Cheyenne Lee, 15, who’s been to the Tennessee occasion. However whereas this gathering didn’t have 1000’s upon 1000’s of singers, “I feel the acoustics are higher in right here,” added 17-year-old Brady Honeycutt.
The kids have been a part of a 25-member group who spent greater than six hours in a van to succeed in Waterview from Neosho, Mo., the place they worship with the Hillcrest Church of Christ. It was the primary CYC for Logan Blake, 16, who described the expertise as “fairly good” and stated, “I acquired to satisfy lots of new individuals.”
After worship, members of the Hillcrest Church of Christ youth group collect for the journey again dwelling to Missouri.
It’s not simply the worship service that makes CYC memorable, stated Caleb Boggs, Hillcrest’s youth minister for the previous six years. Time collectively — within the lodge and on the lengthy bus rides — unites younger believers in a approach few different experiences can.
For extra than simply youths
Between CYC’s huge assemblies, which featured minister comedy duo Ben Hayes and Travis Creasy (Ben and Travis) and keynotes on the theme of “Look Up! Pondering Like Jesus,” the 550 individuals broke into teams for Bible research.
Travis Creasy, minister for the Riverside Church of Christ in Fayetteville, Tenn., speaks to youths throughout a Bible class on the Dallas CYC.
As the kids mentioned numerous facets of Christian residing, Hayes and Lonnie Jones carried out a category for youth leaders. The ministers, who are also licensed skilled counselors, fielded questions concerning the affect of social media, which has created an “anxious era” of overstressed and anxiety-laden teenagers, Jones stated.
It’s OK for fogeys to restrict their kids’s publicity to chaotic influences, stated Jones, intergenerational minister for the Meridianville Church of Christ in Alabama.
For teenagers with peanut allergy symptoms, the argument “however all the opposite children are consuming peanuts” is invalid. In the identical approach, Jones stated, “some children are allergic to social media.”
Adults pack a classroom on the Waterview Church of Christ throughout CYC Dallas for a category centered on main youth teams.
There was standing room solely within the parenting class, regardless of the classroom’s dimension.
Carol Lyn Rhymes might know why.
“Our group brings as many adults as we do children,” stated Rhymes, a member of the Carriage Oaks Church of Christ in Bossier Metropolis, La. The church, which has about 80 in attendance, introduced a bunch of 21, solely a handful of whom are nonetheless in highschool.
Rhymes first introduced her household to the Dallas occasion in 2015, the place they heard Lonnie Jones preach on “David’s Mighty Males.” The sermon made a giant impression on her 10-year-old son, Cole. Now 20, he preaches for a small church close to Louisiana Tech, the place he’s finding out electrical engineering. One in every of his first sermons was “David’s Mighty Males,” a dialogue of the highs and lows within the lifetime of King David that present how God can use somebody even after an awesome failure.
Cole, Carol Lyn and Ty Rhymes meet after Bible courses through the Dallas CYC.
Cole’s older brother, Ty Rhymes, delivered a keynote, “Look Up and be a Servant,” on the Dallas CYC. The convention launched him to Christians from the Shoals area of Alabama, which led him to congregations together with the Stony Level Church of Christ in Florence, Ala., which not too long ago named him youth minister. He additionally teaches at close by Mars Hill Bible College.
“CYC has opened doorways for my household,” Ty Rhymes stated.
‘It sticks with them’
Lonnie Jones has been part of CYC since its East Tennessee beginnings in 2000. Now 61, he’s encountered Christians in “all walks of life, medical doctors, attorneys” who bear in mind his sermons, he stated. He’s thrilled to see mother and father who grew up going to CYC now coming again with their children.
Lonnie Jones preaches on “Look Up and Be Holy” throughout Sunday worship on the CYC Dallas.
For preacher’s child Dale Sheehy, CYC reminds him of the conferences he attended as a younger man, together with Youth In Motion in Jonesboro, Ark. Now he’s youth minister for the Lake Shore Drive Church of Christ in Waco, Texas, which introduced 15 youths to the Dallas occasion.
Dale Sheehy
Sheehy beforehand took teenagers to an analogous occasion, Winterfest, however switched to CYC in 2015. The convention is a type of “mountaintop expertise,” he stated, however he’s additionally seen proof up to now decade that it performs a job within the college students’ religious formation.
“On and off you’ll hear them quote one thing they heard right here, simply out of the blue,” Sheehy stated. “It’s not simply concerning the enjoyable they’ve. It’s the little nuggets they take away. It sticks with them.”
And this 12 months’s occasion, which culminated within the intergenerational Sunday worship service, is one thing members of the Waterview church received’t quickly neglect, stated Jerry Barker, one of many congregation’s elders.
“The singing has been superb. The courses have been nice,” Barker advised the mixed congregation. “The Lord’s church actually has been strengthened this weekend.”
Dale Jenkins reads Scripture throughout Sunday worship on the CYC Dallas. At proper is CYC govt director Larry Davenport.
Reed Swindle speaks on “Look Up and Assume Like Jesus” through the Dallas CYC.
Youths hear as Lonnie Jones preaches about sexual purity throughout Sunday morning worship on the CYC Dallas.
