National Youth Conference Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colo. July 22-27, 2006
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Craig Kielburger, founder of (Kids Can) Free the Children, spoke for evening worship. Photo by Chris Detrick

'WORD’
"But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, I am only a youth’.” -- Jeremiah 1:7a

QUOTES OF THE DAY
"The question shouldn’t be, what do you need? The question should be what do you have to share?” – Craig Kielburger, founder of (Kids Can) Free the Children, and the Sunday evening speaker

“God almighty, maybe what I need is to give myself away. Small things, great love, that’s how the mountains move.” – Ken Medema, in a song he created after hearing Craig Kielburger speak in evening worship

“I’d like to see the one they threw back.” – Ted and Lee, Mennonite comedy duo who led the Sunday morning worship celebration, commenting on the giant fish pillow they received from an NYCer on a foray onto the arena floor in search of food to feed the five thousand

QUESTION OF THE DAY: ‘What do you need?’

Andy Indiana “Friends”	Julia Indiana “Brain”	Amanda Virginia “Know myself and know God.”	Jay Pennsylvania “More of God’s love in my life”

--Reported by a youth interview team from McPherson (Kan.) Church of the Brethren: Joel Wagner, reporter, and Jordan Rothrock, photographer

Ted and Lee wowed the crowd with their biblically based comedy in morning worship. Here they admire the giant fish pillow they received when they went onto the arena floor looking for food to feed the 5,000. Photo by Chris Detrick

Small group meetings follow each morning worship. Photo by Sarah Kovacs

The NYC coordinators: Emily Tyler, Beth Rhodes, and Cindy Laprade. Photo by Chris Detrick

Tim Harvey, pastor of Central Church of the Brethren in Roanoke, Va., led morning devotions. Photo by Chris Detrick

Evening preacher Craig Kielburger encouraged NYCers not to wait to start doing God's work in the world. Photo by Chris Detrick

The NYC band. Photo by Chris Detrick

The evening offering collected Gift of the Heart School Kits to be distributed to children who have survived disasters. Photo by Chris Detrick

Shawn Kirchner, one of the music coordinators, also played keyboard and sang with the band for worship. Photo by Chris Detrick

HUMOR BRINGS LIFE TO THE GOSPEL STORIES
The Mennonite comedy duo Ted and Lee were received with laughter, applause, and moments of deep silence as they acted out several of the gospel stories from the life of Christ, for the Sunday morning worship celebration.

Ted (Ted Swartz) and Lee (Lee Eshleman) played the disciples Peter and Andrew and their experiences with Jesus in the stories of the feeding of the five thousand, Nicodemus visiting Jesus by night, the woman caught in adultery, the Last Supper, and Jesus telling them to throw their nets to the other side of the boat.

The skits related to the question of the day, “What do you need?” A youth drama team introduced the duo by asking, “What do you think you need to live your life with Jesus? Is it fame? ... community?... solitude?... Is it love?”

With humorous portrayals of the gospel stories, knock knock jokes, and forays into the congregation as disciples looking for food to feed the 5,000, Ted and Lee led worshipers through the experience of listening to Jesus, following him, and wondering about the meaning of his words and actions. (In their forays onto the floor of Moby Arena, they received a packet of crackers, some dark chocolate, and one NYCer’s giant fish pillow, to much applause.)

When “Peter” and “Andrew” extended their feet to be washed by Jesus--their body language expressing the anguish and uncertainty of their last moments with Christ--the arena settled into a deep appreciative silence.

The drama closed with the story of Jesus meeting the disciples on the lakeshore, to tell them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. Not yet realizing that the person on the shore was Jesus, “Peter” asked, “Why don’t we do what he says? I don’t think he’s going to shut up until we do!”

In response to Ted and Lee, the youth drama team closed the service. “Let’s go save the world!” said one. “What do we need to take with us?” asked the other. “I don’t know, but I guess we just have to be like Peter and Andrew, and figure it out as we go!”

YOUTH ARE CONSECRATED FOR EMPOWERMENT
Craig Kielburger, founder of (Kids Can) Free the Children, traveled for four straight days from Mongolia to speak for evening worship.

Since the age of 12, Kielburger has traveled around the world as an advocate for children’s rights. He told his personal story of being called to begin caring about other children. Searching for the comics in the newspaper one day, he noticed the picture of a Pakistani boy his age.

The newspaper story said the boy had escaped from child slavery at age 10 and since then had been traveling around the world speaking out about the experience. The Pakistani boy had been taken to work at a carpet factory when he was 4, after his family had defaulted on a small loan that they had guaranteed with the life of their son, having no other valuables to guarantee the loan. When the boy returned home to Pakistan at age 12, he was shot to death outside his family’s home.

The story prompted Kielburger to invite a group of his friends to do something for other children. That group of 12 year olds has grown into Free the Children, and Kielburger has become an internationally recognized voice for children.

Quoting Jeremiah 1:7, “But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, I am only a youth,’” Kielburger encouraged NYCers not to wait to get to work for God. “While we wait or hope for this voice or this miracle, we step over the homeless in the streets...or we close our eyes or our hearts to the people in our classrooms who obviously need a friend,” he said.

“We don’t have to wait!” he said, as he told more stories of children on the streets, in slavery, used for child labor, and in many other situations of suffering and distress. “Every day we receive our calling,” he said. “It’s a question if we choose to act. It’s simply a question of if we choose to open our hearts.”

Addressing the NYC question of the day, Kielburger said, “The question shouldn’t be, what do you need? The question should be, what do you have to share?”

An offering of Gift of the Heart School Kits gave an opportunity for NYC to respond to Kielburger’s challenge. The conference raised a mound of school supplies on the floor in front of the stage, two to three feet high. The kits will be distributed to children who have survived disasters, through Church World Service (CWS). After NYC, the kits will be delivered to the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md., where they will be processed and packed for distribution. A cash offering of $6,347.22 was received to help CWS pay for shipping the kits.

A large line of people bringing kits forward snaked around the floor of the arena. More than a quarter hour later, while the NYC band sang, the line was still as long--as many NYCers were continuing to line up as those who went back to their seats after dropping off their kits. The worship leaders called for a pause to hold a prayer of consecration for empowerment. NYCers placed hands on the shoulder of someone nearby as the prayer was said.

The service closed with a chorus that seemed to express the spirit of the moment: “O Jesus, let love be multiplied.”

NYC NUGGETS
The daily NYC schedule kicked in today: in the morning devotions, and worship, followed by small groups; in the afternoon workshops, recreation opportunities, and choir practice; in the evening an advisors meeting, and worship, followed by late-evening activities such as concerts, games, and prayer time before bed. Curfew is set for midnight each night.

Today’s main recreation event was the REGNUH 5K walk/run to help “turn hunger around” through the Global Food Crisis Fund of the Church of the Brethren General Board. (See the features page for a full report and photos.)

The Brethren Witness/Washington Office is putting up temporary walls for brief periods of time during NYC, as symbols of the walls that divide people around the world. The witness is titled “Exploring the Walls that Divide Us.” Today’s wall represented the proposed immigration wall on the southern border of the US. Tomorrow’s wall will represent the walls around the refugee camps in Sudan. Tuesday’s wall will call attention to the separation barrier being built between Israel and Palestine. Wednesday’s wall will symbolize the walls of gated communities that are built to protect enclaves of the wealthier citizenry from those who have less in the way of material possessions or social status. Each day, handouts and visuals will highlight the justice issues involved. For more information contact the staff of the Brethren Witness/Washington Office, a ministry of the Church of the Brethren General Board.