Sardis Youth Summer Trips & Conferences

The Montreat Middle School conference has ended and our amazing time with 650 middle school students has ended.  I did not get a chance to blog since our group took on a big project. Inspired by the Humans of New York blog (check it out here:  https://www.humansofnewyork.com/ ) that was shared with us one morning in Keynote, our students wanted to create a Humans of Montreat video.  Here is their final creation:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VKXu7iaWzY-GqUK1uw1izkyB-DMJ2MzA/view?usp=sharing Unfortunately, when doing serious editing of this nature, it usually takes about an hour of editing for each minute of video, so it took us about 4 hours to string all this together.  Our youth are very excited about this video and a couple might come interview some of our Sardis members to do a Humans of Sardis version. This video was shown in worship to the entire conference on Sunday morning and our youth were beaming from ear to ear with it! It was an...

Our full day here was not to disappoint.  "For Such a Time as This" is the theme and they played with the idea of time on a regular basis.  We met our small groups for the first time, getting to know people from other parts of the southeast.  In my group, we have one student from Pennsylvania and a couple from different places in Mississippi, and plenty of spaces in between.  We have come from all over to be in this place at this time to see what God has in store for us. We experienced keynote and heard how our keynote leader faced an identity crisis in high school by switching from being a serious basketball player (practicing several hours each night at her house after regular practice) to being in plays and dramas.  She told us how this identity shift impacted her and her world because she only thought of herself as a basketball player but when she realized this was not what brought her joy anymore, she had to switch. During worship, we heard the story of...

We arrived at the Middle School Montreat Youth Conference!  The four hour bus ride turned into almost 5 1/2 hours due to construction.  When you have to put the church bus in park on the interstate, you know you are you going to be there awhile... Anyway, we made it without further problems and we are so glad to be here!  The youth are excited to see what God has in store for them during this conference, with the theme being, "For Such a Time as This" based on the story of Esther.  On Wednesday night, we participated in Energizers (wacky dance set to popular songs that everyone participates in and therefore puts us all on the same level), singing, meeting our keynote speaker and worship leader.  After the introduction to everyone, we participated in recreation event where we were able to participate in many different activities.  There was speed drawing, riddle solving, hula hooping, ga-ga ball, cornhole, and so much more!  Everyone enjoyed the event...