FLAGSTAFF, ARIZ. — A small resort ballroom.
A couple of hundred teenagers.
In sheer dimension, Winterfest Approach Out West — a brand new occasion launched this previous weekend — didn’t resemble the large youth rallies that draw hundreds in Texas and Tennessee every year.
Attendees pray at Winterfest Approach Out West in Flagstaff, Ariz.
“In Fort Value and in Gatlinburg, I imply the stage is wider than this room,” stated Winterfest founder and director Dudley Chancey, sitting on the modest podium on the Doubletree Hilton Resort on this Arizona mountain group, about 150 miles north of Phoenix.
Associated: They grew up going to Winterfest — and now they convey their children
However for many church youth teams within the Western states, the gap makes attending one of many common Winterfest conferences impractical.
Take Flagstaff, for instance: It’s 950 miles from Fort Value and 1,750 miles from Gatlinburg.
So a few yr in the past, a gaggle of Arizona youth ministers approached Chancey with an thought: Why not begin a brand new Winterfest outdoors the Bible Belt?
“We talked about it. We prayed about it. We Zoomed a number of instances,” Chancey stated. “I flew out right here.”
A couple of yr in the past, a gaggle of Arizona youth ministers approached Dudley Chancey with an thought: Why not begin a brand new Winterfest outdoors the Bible Belt?
The highway to Flagstaff
At first, the concept was to carry Winterfest to Phoenix, the nation’s tenth largest metropolitan space.
However with all of the snowbirds flocking to the Valley of the Solar, winter costs have been too steep.
Then somebody — Chancey can’t bear in mind who — urged Flagstaff, a 7,000-foot elevation metropolis of 76,000.
Joel Soumar
It’s surrounded by extinct volcanoes and the world’s largest ponderosa pine forest. It’s simply 80 miles south of the Grand Canyon.
Most significantly for Winterfest functions, it’s located conveniently on the juncture of Interstate 17 and Interstate 40 — and its charges for such a gathering have been extra cheap.
Joel Soumar, youth minister for the Mesa Church of Christ, simply east of Phoenix, had a private cause for wanting his teenagers to expertise Winterfest.
Over a quarter-century in the past, a younger Soumar thought of himself an atheist. However then mates in his Florida hometown invited him to go to the Vero Seashore Church of Christ.
Within the late Nineties, he joined the Vero Seashore youth group on a 750-mile journey to Winterfest in Gatlinburg, a well-liked vacationer vacation spot within the Smoky Mountains.
A Winterfest sermon by Don McLaughlin, minister for the North Atlanta Church of Christ in Georgia, crystallized Soumar’s want for Jesus.
“I used to be an unchurched teen, and that modified every part,” he stated.
An aerial view of Flagstaff, Ariz., the mountain group that hosted the primary Winterfest Approach Out West.
‘Liked it rather a lot’
What the primary Winterfest Approach Out West lacked in dimension, it made up for in pleasure degree, stated each attendees and organizers.
In a format just like the bigger venues, individuals laughed at Christian comedians Hoss Ridgeway and Bob Smiley, sang a cappella hymns and reward songs led by Stephen Maxwell and heard youth-oriented sermons by David Fraze and Mitch Wilburn.
Christian universities — together with Harding, Lubbock Christian and Oklahoma Christian — despatched recruiters with free swag.
Mackenzie Craig and Maddie Brown, each 16 and members of the Shock Church of Christ, northwest of Phoenix, appreciated this system.
“I’ve been type of on the lookout for a cool youth occasion to fulfill different Christians and simply develop my religion and develop nearer to Jesus,” Craig stated.
Minister Mitch Wilburn speaks at Winterfest Approach Out West in Flagstaff, Ariz.
Brown echoed her pal: “It’s thrilling, simply to be surrounded by individuals who observe Christ and to speak to them and see how they enhance their stroll with Christ. I cherished it rather a lot.”
Sarah Mathe, 50, a member of the Mesa church, got here along with her daughters: Wynonna, 21, and Selina, 16.
Associated: A youth rally for generations
Mathe welcomed the chance to chortle and reward God on the identical time.
“God needs us to embrace life and be glad,” the mom emphasised.
Hoss Ridgeway, a preacher and Christian comic from Franklin, Ind., entertains the gang at Winterfest Approach Out West in Franklin, Ind.
Thea Delia, heart, and Natalee MacDonald from the Canyon Church of Christ in Anthem, Ariz., interview speaker David Fraze about Winterfest Approach Out West. Fellow teen Aemilia Inexperienced serves because the videographer.
‘Spirit continues to be right here’
The inaugural convention drew about 250 teenagers and grownup sponsors from Church buildings of Christ in Arizona, California, New Mexico and even Oklahoma.
“It’s somewhat smaller,” stated Doug Gunselman, a deacon for the Weatherford Church of Christ in southwestern Oklahoma. “However the Spirit continues to be right here, and it’s nonetheless the identical.”
The Oklahoma church usually attends Winterfest in Texas, however this yr a few of its teenagers had a battle with an all-state choir occasion.
So a gaggle of 15 from Weatherford skipped the traditional 250-mile drive to Fort Value and as a substitute made an 800-mile journey to Flagstaff.
“We stopped in Winslow, Ariz., to stand on the nook, after all,” Gunselman stated of the 13-hour journey. “I feel it’s cool, too, as a result of we’ve been to the large occasions, and it’s good to have the ability to encourage this new one.”
Arizona youth minister Decovan Adams and his spouse, Briana, introduced six teenagers from the Kayenta Church of Christ, a Navajo congregation about 150 miles northeast of Flagstaff.
Youth minister Decovan Adams, far proper, and his spouse, Briana, far left, pose with teenagers from the Kayenta Church of Christ in Arizona.
“We’ve been doing the enjoyable stuff: the film nights, the get-togethers, the sport nights,” Adams stated of his motivation. “That’s nice, however now let’s get one thing extra non secular. Let’s get some nice teachings and nice classes and nice sermons.”
For teenagers from the reservation, even touring to Flagstaff — the place they stayed in a resort and ate at a Chick-fil-A — was an journey, the minister stated.
“I imply, they’re very distant,” Adams stated of the place his teenagers stay. “A few of them come from houses with no energy, no electrical energy. So all of that is superior for them.”
Stephen Maxwell leads singing at Winterfest Approach Out West in Flagstaff, Ariz.
Winterfest’s humble roots
Just like the Arizona occasion, the unique Winterfest began small: 128 teenagers and grownup sponsors from 4 Tennessee congregations gathered at Fall Creek Falls State Park in 1987 to listen to the late “Massive Don” Williams, a pioneering youth minister in Church buildings of Christ.
The following yr the occasion relocated to Gatlinburg and grew to about 400 folks, recalled Chancey, then the youth minister for the Collegeside Church of Christ in Cookeville.
At one level, the Gatlinburg crowds routinely exceeded 12,000. Organizers count on about 6,500 — the capability for a single session on the Tennessee conference heart — on the thirty ninth annual Winterfest subsequent month.
In 2012, some Winterfest individuals wave “mild swords” in the course of the leisure earlier than reward and worship started in Gatlinburg, Tenn.
Chancey launched the second Winterfest venue in Texas in 1999. That occurred after he relocated to Oklahoma Metropolis — 200 miles from the Dallas-Fort Value space — to function a Bible professor specializing in youth ministry at Oklahoma Christian College.
“Some guys in Texas requested me, identical to these guys in Arizona requested me,” Chancey stated. “They stated, ‘Hey, come do one thing.’”
About 2,500 teenagers and sponsors attended the newest Winterfest in Fort Value, held the weekend earlier than the Flagstaff gathering.
What has stored Chancey, who now directs Oklahoma Christian’s Intergenerational Religion Middle, working with Winterfest for practically 4 many years?He has a easy reply.“I need children to know Christ,” stated Chancey, who already is considering methods to make Winterfest Approach Out West larger and higher subsequent yr.
Dudley Chancey makes bulletins at Winterfest Approach Out West, an inaugural Christian youth occasion in Flagstaff, Ariz.
A unifying expertise
For the Mission Viejo Church of Christ in Southern California, driving teenagers 1,400 miles to Fort Value or 2,200 miles to Gatlinburg shouldn’t be possible.
However a 470-mile trek to Flagstaff? That gave the impression of an amazing thought.
Aubree Carpenter and Ayden Bingham from Mission Viejo, Calif., traveled to Winterfest Approach Out West in Flagstaff, Ariz.
Eighteen Mission Viejo youths and adults made the journey to Winterfest. The all-day journey on Friday was adopted by one other one on Sunday with loads of reward time and journey in between.
“I at all times like doing this type of stuff,” stated Mission Viejo member Ayden Bingham, 15, who invited her pal Aubree Carpenter, 14, to hitch her on the journey.
Whereas attending Winterfest, the Mission Viejo group ate a hibachi meal at a Japanese restaurant and squealed with delight because the flames obtained shut.
In addition they loved snow tubing at Flagstaff Snow Park. Among the California natives noticed snow for the primary time.
“Our complete objective is, we need to give the youngsters this frequent expertise,” Mission Viejo youth minister Michael Wexler stated.
“We hope that they’ll go house and discuss in regards to the issues that we discovered in the course of the convention,” Wexler added. “But additionally, in a few years, they’ll come again, and so they’ll say: ‘Hey, do you bear in mind after we did that Japanese meal? Hey, do you bear in mind after we went snow tubing?’”
Youths and grownup sponsors from the Mission Viejo Church of Christ get pleasure from a hibachi dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Flagstaff, Ariz.
The youth group from the College Group Church in Las Cruces, N.M., had a barely shorter drive to Flagstaff — about 430 miles.
However Haley Denney, 16, and Emily Sincere, 17 — each of whom attend that congregation, which has roots within the Restoration Motion — additionally pointed to the unifying nature of such a journey.
“It simply brings everyone nearer collectively each single time,” Denney stated. “We’re fairly actually on high of one another within the van.”
Haley Denney and Emily Sincere rode 430 miles in a church van to attend Winterfest Approach Out West.
BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. He traveled to Arizona to report this story. Attain him at [email protected].
