RYM Conference

Last week we took 33 High School Students from our church to an RYM (Reformed Youth Ministries) conference in Panama City, Florida (right across the street from the beach). Close to 1500 high school kids from around the country came out to the event. It was Paul's second week on the job, so we were jumping right in and I can't think of a better way to do it.

We all met at the church at 4:30am Monday morning to begin the adventure. Paul drove one of the three big vans and I slept in the front seat next to him. We arrived early afternoon and moved into our rooms. I was in a room with 10 high school girls and one college girl named Kristen who was also a chaperon. At first, I have to say, I was pretty overwhelmed. I had never met any of these girls before and I had never been to a RYM conference before. I also knew they were looking to me to be their youth leader. That's pretty intimidating when you feel like a fish out of water.

Paul was in a room with some of the guys across campus. I didn’t get to see him much besides lunch and dinner which didn’t lend itself to much conversation since the kids loved doing loud chants and cheers. It was really hard because he was my only 'safe' person. But being put in this experience was so good for me. It woke me up to how much I really do depend on my husband when things get hard or uncomfortable instead of asking the Lord for help. So I spent a lot of time talking to God. I learned that my hope and comfort and stability and strength and joy and energy has to come from God.

One night, some of the girl chaperons (who are young themselves, one just graduated high school herself) were feeling overwhelmed. So I talked with them, listened to them, and encouraged them until 2am. I had only 4 hours of sleep the night before and I knew I was going to have to get up in 4 hours again. I started to think about how tired I was going to be the next morning while one girl was crying and pouring her heart out. But then I remembered that I was here to minister and serve. I needed to build relationships with these girls and an opportunity had presented itself (God’s timing is not ours). Before I went to bed that night I prayed that God would honor my staying up late to hang out with these girls by giving me lots of energy for the next day. And he answered! The next morning I woke up before my alarm and was feeling great. I never felt tired and had so much fun hanging out with all the kids.

Every day we had two classes in the morning, games in the afternoon, and singing and a speaker in the evening. The theme of the week was The Incarnation. The speaker was excellent and his talks and the morning classes lent themselves to great small group and individual conversations. Paul also led a discussion with our youth group every night after the speaker. These were some of my favorite times because Paul encouraged them to talk and share where they were at spiritually and how they were making sense of what they were learning or what they were struggling with. It was neat to see how open and honest the kids were and how their honesty encouraged others in the group. We were experiencing real fellowship and it was so cool.

This week also encouraged me that I can do this youth ministry stuff and that God has gifted me in this area. It wasn’t hard for me to reach out and connect to the girls. It was very natural. The girls seemed to trust me and enjoy being around me. And I really enjoyed them. I had some great conversations that would just happen, in the room, walking to dinner, or on the beach. By the end of the week Paul and I felt like we had formed real relationships with the kids and can’t wait to continue to hang out with them in the future.