Youth leaders are hungry for resources and information, says Seventh-day Adventist youth leader James Black, after what he calls "an all too successful" youth leadership convention.
Youth leaders are hungry for resources and information, says Seventh-day Adventist youth leader James Black, after what he calls “an all too successful” youth leadership convention.
Black, youth director for the Adventist Church in North America, reported that nearly 2,000 youth leaders came to the event, held February 21 to 24 in Atlanta, Georgia. Many who wanted to register on site had to be turned away. “We learned that we can never do this in a hotel ballroom again,” said Black. “We’re going to have to go to a convention center.”
Under the theme, “Leaders of Honor Now and Beyond,” the convention aimed to provide resources and inspiration for leaders from each Adventist youth organization in North America. For the first time, youth, Pathfinders, Adventurers, and camp ministry leaders met together as one group. Some Adventist Church regions in North America canceled their normal leadership training this year to attend the convention. Participants came from the United States, Bermuda, Canada, the Bahamas, England, Netherlands Antillies, and Ukraine.
“Presenters handed out a lot of materials and people were scrambling for more,” said Black. “We brought nothing back.”
Six general sessions, 60 workshops and 80 presenters focused on many training issues, including how to build a youth ministry from scratch, orientating a new youth leader, and Pathfinder/Adventurer leadership training.
The City of Atlanta gave a proclamation declaring February 23 as “Seventh-day Adventist Leaders of Honor Youth Ministries Day.”
“This is the church’s way of assisting Adventist youth leaders in North America,” said Black. “Folks are looking for direction. We minister to young people not just for now, but for the beyond as well,” he said.
The North American Youth Leaders convention will be held every two years, with the next two planned for Denver in 2004 and Portland in 2006.
Starting in April, the youth department in North America will post a follow-up to the convention on their Web site, including videos and handouts from workshops, at www.adventistyouthministries.org.
