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Here is list of some of my favorite moments from GYC 2012.
The messages. As much as I enjoy all the social aspects of GYC, the drawing power for me comes from the solid biblical and spirit-filled messages. Here are two of many highlights.
-I liked when Wes Peppers talked about what would happen if you ask ten friends if they would like to study the Bible. Even if you make mistakes, you are likely to lead some people to Christ. If you don’t ask, then that won’t happen. I’ve done this in the past, and it works, but I haven’t done this recently. Time to change that!
-My favorite message as a whole was Adam Ramdin’s Sabbath message. I really like when people cover the highlights of the reformation and how it is completed in the Adventist movement. The picture of the face of Jesus has been restored. But then he pointed out the true need of our church: a heart transformation. Laodicea does not receive rebuke for doctrine, only for a heart condition. May our hearts be transformed in 2013!
Volunteering. I’ve been to GYC a number of times, so for me I receive a big blessing when I give back. I don’t get to hear many messages, but it’s worth it.
-To all my wonderful volunteers, THANK YOU!!!! I praise God and am forever grateful for the selfless service of everyone that helped me with the seminars.
-In the three years that I’ve served as a volunteer coordinator, I feel this year was the best year yet. This was in part to my fantastic volunteers, and in part to an accident. We take a head count of every seminar session, and we tape a head count sheet on the back of the sign outside each seminar so that my volunteers can write the numbers down as the conference progresses. But this year, we couldn’t find tape in time! So I asked my volunteers to text me the head counts. So much better!
Social/Networking. GYC is a big reunion, and this year they added a networking component (small groups by vocation), something I have wished to see for a while!
-Friends. This is hard to summarize, and it’s hard to call out specific people, but if I saw you there, I was really glad to see you. Some of you I haven’t seen in a while, others I haven’t seen since summer. Some of you I was able to catch up with on certain topics ;). However much or little time we were able to spend together, I am glad for it.
-I spent good time with my brother. And Ryan Booth. Good roommates to have.
-Music networking! Not everyone I hoped to be there was there, but we had about 15 people and had a fantastic discussion about the life of an Adventist musician in school and also in the church. This also led to two conversations afterwards that I am very happy to have had.
Other items. Anything that doesn’t fit in the above categories.
-Sunday afternoon I met up with a good friend (Elaine) I used to go to school with. Technically this wasn’t a part of GYC, but it was one of my favorite moments in Seattle.
-I was going to go to bed early on New Year’s Eve, but when I saw the chance to play music with Erwin, I quickly changed my mind. Good times.
-GYC/TeamRevolution 5k! All week I wasn’t going to run the 5k. I had good excuses. Then on Monday, for some strange reason, I wanted to run. By the time I decided to run it, registration was closed. But Joanne secured me breakfast, and Berenice encouraged me to make my own bib (I did, with #π), and so I ran the 5k on New Year’s day. I had a great time, and I was able to say goodbye to good friends.
If the Lord wills, I will be in Orlando on January 1, 2014!
My winter break was three weeks long. My school’s break has traditionally been about a month long, but this year they changed the academic calendar so that the semester started in the first week of January, effectively shortening the amount of break. Three weeks is a decent amount of time, but sadly break felt way to short.
After thinking back on why break felt so short, I’ve come up with two reasons. First reason: Travel. I did a fair amount of travel. I made two trips to Ann Arbor (to preach at my old church, attend a graduation, and to hang with friends) and one to Houston (to attend GYC). After cutting away the travel, I spent only a week and a half at home (with family and more friends). This leads to the second reason: Living far away. Since I live completely across the country away from home, I rarely get to visit. I wasn’t ready to leave when it was time to leave. I look forward to staying at home during the summer.
My trip reminded me how much I miss my family and my friends. I’ve made some good friends since I’ve moved to Arizona, but the group of friends I had when I was in Michigan was something special and I continue to miss the good times we had together. My friends there have been some of the best friends I’ve ever had.
I won’t go into detail about the pleasure I had speaking at my church, meeting the new students and missionaries, playing white elephant, celebrating graduations, listening to the band at UofM, and playing games, but needless to say, I enjoyed it all (excluding plans to meet with former classmates that fell through).
So, to share a piece of it, here is the link to the sermon I preached at the Campus HOPE church that weekend. Ever wondered how you could have more faith? That’s a good question, the disciples asked that, too. This is whole reason I created this post! Forgive me for getting sidetracked.
Lord, Increase Our Faith (credit to Adventist Students for Christ at the University of Michigan).
Chris' Blog 