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NYC ’02 · Calgary, Alta. · January 3-6, 2002
Breathe deeply


Photos by Jon Unger Brandt, unless otherwise credited

Over 1100 young people, three bands, two comedy acts, one drama team, one speaker and a whole lot of planning equals an exciting, worshipful and fun-filled weekend in Calgary.

The Event: National Youth Conference 2002. NYC ’02 is organized by the Board of Christian Education Ministries of the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches every three years.

Arrival and registration

Formerly known as “Banff”, the event brings together MB high school students from across Canada (over 1100 of them this year, including some from the United States) for a weekend of worship, learning, skiing and fun.

The Setting: Calgary, Alberta. Traditionally held in the Banff Fine Arts Centre, the conference moved this year to the urban setting of the Telus Conference Centre in Calgary. This move, from the small tourist town of Banff to one of the commercial centres of Canada, affected NYC significantly. There was a dramatic shift in logistical requirements from the NYC organizers to churches and youth groups themselves. Gone were the dorms and cafeterias of the Banff Fine Arts Centre, and in their place were the hotels and fast food restaurants of downtown Calgary. Instead of taking over a campus, the conference attendees barely made a dent in the life of the urban centre. Also there were far fewer occasions for groups to interact with other groups, as meals and activities were far more individualized. However, the opportunities for varied activities were far greater as well. There was also a more socially aware element to this year’s conference, with young people being exposed to the strengths and weaknesses of urban life. The Theme: Oxygen, (or O₂). This was based on Acts 17:28, “In Him we live and move and have our being.” The idea was that just as we need oxygen to live and breathe, we need Christ to truly live spiritually.

The Speaker: Dave Currie. Currie is the national director of Athletes in Action, a division of Campus Crusade. He has taught at Briercrest Bible College and pastored at Northview Community Church in Abbotsford, B.C. He has been working with youth for over 25 years.

The Sessions: Worship, prayer and learning. Throughout the weekend, there were four main sessions that everyone was expected to, and generally did, attend. These were the main focus of the weekend, where the idea of Oxygen was fully explored. The sessions were a combination of fun, drama, worship and study, taking place Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday morning. All the sessions started off with high energy, more like a pop concert than a conference. Huge screens showed videos from popular Christian artists, smoke and lights filled the hall, and everyone was ready for a good time.

After the emcee hyped up the crowd even more with contests and prizes thrown out into the seats, Jon Buller and the worship team came on.

Jon Buller, worship leader

With the amount of energy that was in the room, one might have been concerned about Buller’s ability to focus the group, but he, Jody Bargen and the members of Freeman were well prepared to move the young people to worship. Although there were a few glitches the first night, time and again throughout the weekend Buller and the worship team moved the audience from self-focus to God-focus with remarkable ease. This gift of worship added a great deal of depth to the weekend and set the stage for Dave Currie every night. Before Currie came on, there was also a testimony from a conference attendee each night. Hearing stories from other young people gave a sense of reality to the speaker’s words.

Currie moved the group through four different ideas surrounding Oxygen and our need for Jesus. Session one, entitled “Life Without Oxygen”, introduced Acts 17:28 to the attendees and worked towards the understanding that most of us are not breathing in as much oxygen (or Jesus) as we could. Currie challenged the young people to pray this prayer: “God, if You are real, prove Yourself to me this weekend. You have my attention.”

The second session, on Friday night, was on “The Gift of Oxygen”. There was little doubt about this evening’s agenda. Currie was there to get people to commit their lives to Christ. Here is where the conference seemed to go a little off track.

Dave Currie and friend Photo by Myron Sawatzky

Despite being billed as a seeker-friendly event, the majority attending appeared to be churched, Christian young people. With the high energy and emotion of the evening, however, there seemed to be some confusion about what it meant to respond to the heavily pitched altar call.

Saturday night’s session moved away from the conversion experience and towards witnessing, with “The Transfer of Oxygen”. Currie emphasized the idea that if you have Jesus inside, then you need to tell people about that. We are called to “witness to the ‘fresh air’ of the spirit-filled life”. Currie also challenged the young people to “create a commotion for Christ”, and find ways to publicize and perhaps radicalize one’s faith.

In the closing session on Sunday, Currie moved towards spiritual growth, with “Living on Oxygen”. By emphasizing the need to make breathing automatic, he encouraged the young people to read the Bible daily and use it as a filter for their lives. This was a good reminder of practical action that is still possible after the high of the weekend fades.

The Worship: Jon Buller and Freeman. For many people at this conference, the worship music was the highlight. Here was an opportunity to be loud and enthusiastic and to “dance before the Lord”. Buller and the rest of team showed a great deal of poise and talent as they were able to direct the young people in worship. Too often this type of event becomes about showmanship and the music; this weekend, the focus was definitely on experiencing God through song. Beyond the nightly worship, the group also led a worship concert on Saturday night. Occurring after the evening session, this event was very well attended and allowed many people to become much freer in their praise of God.

The Drama: DRIME. Every session also had presentations by DRIME (Disciples Ready In Mobile Evangelism). This group out of Trinity Western University explored the need for Christ through music-based

Resource display Photo by Myron Sawatzky

drama.

The Workshops: “Babes, Busts, and Skin”. Although not the only workshop of the weekend, this males-only discussion of sexuality and pornography led by Brad Huebert, opened up considerable discussion. Other workshop topics included a females-only discussion on sex; homosexuality; prayer; drama; and Christian philosophy. These workshops went on during the morning and early afternoon of Friday and Saturday and were also well attended.

The Events: Skillet. An industrial rock band that has been a strong force in the Christian music scene for the past number of years, Skillet played to a full house on Friday night. This was also advertised beyond the conference, so about 500 non-conference people also attended. Other events included a comedy evening with Leland Klassen and the sketch comedy group, Panic Squad.

Outside of the evening events and workshops, approximately 200 young people also had the opportunity to experience a different side of city life. Participating in what is known as an “urban plunge”,

Skiing Photo by Myron Sawatzky

these high school students were given the chance to minister and be ministered to throughout downtown Calgary. They worked in soup kitchens, served at an inner-city mission, participated in a prayer walk, and did “random acts of kindness”. The testimonies of this time really spoke to its impact. As Canadian MB Conference youth director/NYC ’02 director Sherryl Koop put it, “they saw the face of God in the poor.”

There was also an opportunity both Friday and Saturday to travel to Banff for a day of skiing and snowboarding. A reason for attending for a good number of people, this generated a great deal of enthusiasm both days, and the weather also cooperated.

The Result: A great event. With over 1100 people from primarily MB churches across Canada attending, the conference organizer, Sherryl Koop, saw it as a resounding success. Everyone seemed to appreciate the greater options for activities, the flexibility for lodging and the centrality of the convention centre.

Koop saw a huge benefit in holding the conference in the heart of urban Canada, next to the skyscrapers and only blocks away from soup kitchens. People also seemed to value the choice of budgets for the weekend. Groups could stay in downtown hotels or be billeted out to local churches.

Part of the success also came in the form of Albertan and particularly Calgarian participation. This year saw the greatest numbers from Alberta, with a huge volunteer commitment from the Sunwest Church in Calgary. The professionalism and awareness of these volunteers made the entire weekend run smoothly. Koop also had a strong staff of volunteers, primarily youth leaders and pastors, from across Canada that had spent many hours prior to the conference preparing the way.

Skiing Photo by Myron Sawatzky

So the conference has changed, not just in location but also in feel from previous “Banff”s, but the impact on young people was still there, and perhaps has grown. Not only were they affected by the workshops and evening sessions, but also by the city around them.

 – Jon Unger Brandt

Photo by Myron Sawatzky

The Prayer Coordinator’s Story

Brad Huebert, youth pastor of Winkler (Man.) MB Church was invited by Sherryl Koop to coordinate a prayer effort for NYC ’02. Following is part of his account of the endeavour, and the results God gave. I was responsible for putting together a team of people who would be willing and gifted to pray with youth who made decisions or “came forward” during the conference. I didn’t quite know how to handle that one. With 1200 people in attendance, how many would I need? Would ten be enough? Twenty? Fifty? How could I possibly predict how God would move? Sometime in October I stopped on the highway on the way home from Winnipeg. I noticed a billboard in front of me with a powerful message. It was a plain white billboard with a simple red cross (the medical variety) Brad Huebert with the numbers 12,3,6,9 at the 4 points and a caption, “Red Cross: Anytime, Anywhere.” The message had deep spiritual meaning to me, so I took a quick picture of it. Shortly after that, an intercessor I had recruited called me to share a dream she had about the conference. She saw masses of youth in a triage centre in wartime, with youth being treated for minor and major trauma. In the background there was a large red cross visible to all. Curious, I e-mailed her the digital picture of the billboard, and she got goose bumps as she told me that this was exactly what she had seen in her dream! The first few nights of the conference, God blessed us with a few dozen commitments, including about 13–14 new commitments to Christ! It was a wonderful time but nothing yet had been unmanageable like the red cross triage dream. On Saturday, as Dave Currie made his invitation for youth to come forward again, I watched a few youth begin to trickle to the front. One of my youth leaders said that they started coming even before the invitation was over. I glanced back at my small team gathered to the side, to make sure they were ready. Then I saw it! One of my team was wearing a shirt – a simple red shirt with a single, white medical cross in the middle of it! When that hit me, I realized we were in for a big night. I gathered them close and said, “OK, there are not going to be enough of us. Just grab someone, pray in their ear for 30 seconds, trust God, and move on!” By the time I turned around there were already over a hundred youth at the front and hordes more were coming. It was mayhem. It was like wartime. Like triage! We just started praying with people, hugging them, guiding them, and watching God work through us and their leaders. I watched an entire youth group come forward with their youth pastor, and took them to the prayer room. God dealt with them and revived their group in supernatural ways. It was beautiful. We completely lost track of all God did. One of the couples who came to help with prayer throughout the weekend e-mailed me: “We have been in many places doing prayer ministry. Saturday night was one of the most incredible places, where the Lord came in and moved so completely without people being involved. It was truly a miracle.” And that T-shirt? It was a message from God saying, “It’s triage time! And by the way, it’s not Red Cross, it’s My Cross.” (Hence the inverted colors.) Isn’t God awesome? A “chance” stop at a billboard, a digital camera, a dream, a shirt, an in-tune speaker, and a fulfilled word from the Lord.

 
 

Standing on the Rock

Leah Peters At the National Youth Conference, we had four sessions. I cried the most in the second session because I was feeling so much guilt. The speaker, Dave Currie, talked about asking Jesus into our lives. Even though I had done that, I felt incredibly empty. In the third session, I was expecting the speaker to talk about the people who had already asked Jesus into their lives, but still weren’t ready to surrender to Him. That never happened. Instead, the speaker jumped right to surrendering our lives to Jesus. Since I was still lost from the day before, I didn’t know how to surrender myself to Him. If the speaker had made this connection, I would have cried even harder than the night before, but now I felt nothing. Now you must understand that I love Jesus with all of my heart. But how am I supposed to surrender myself to Him when I still have this huge void? I need to take this surrender thing step by step, otherwise I will never reach Jesus the way I know He wants to be reached. I am happy for the people that went forward to surrender their lives, and I am jealous of their courage. Even though I have not surrendered to God, and even though I felt Jesus so far out of reach, I still feel the presence of God so strong that He wills me to keep running toward Jesus. There is a song that tells me that Jesus loves me because of what He did at Calvary: Je m’appui sur la roche Mon sauveur, je le sais A monté au ciel Comme il a sauve mon ame J’sais que Jesu et mort, Mais a moi, il vit encore Et moi, je m’appui sur la roche I will stand on the Rock He’s my Saviour I know Arose from the grave That’s how He saved my soul I know Jesus He died But He lives inside of me And I will stand on the Rock. Leah Peters attends River East MB Church in Winnipeg.

 

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Last modified March 26, 2002.

© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
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