2010 National Youth Conference of the Church of the Brethren
Fort Collins, Colo. — July 22, 2010
For NYCers not out hiking or on service projects, early afternoon workshops were offered to meet all sorts of interests. On Wednesday, 31 workshops for youth and 5 for adult advisors were scheduled, for example.
Hands-on creative arts were very popular. A wooden spoon making class filled up quickly on Monday afternoon, and by Wednesday afternoon was so popular that a couple of girls who had heard the room filled quickly skipped lunch to get in line at 11 a.m. for the workshop that started at 1:30. Well before the official starting time, the room was full and everyone was busy filing and rasping their blocks of wood.
Another workshop titled “Creative Expression” was designed to give a meditative break from the busy-ness of NYC. While soft music played in the background, participants worked on art projects with tempera paints, pastels, clay, and construction paper. This workshop was so popular on Monday that it was moved to a large ballroom on Wednesday. Many youth took advantage of the opportunity.
Down the hall, A. Mack (Brethren founder Alexander Mack played by Larry Glick) told a packed room more about Brethren history. At the end of the session, the whole group stood, counted to three (in German), and jumped.
Talk-back sessions were scheduled with a couple of the worship preachers on Wednesday afternoon. Dennis Webb, pastor of Naperville (Ill.) Church of the Brethren and the Wednesday morning preacher for NYC, answered questions but also brought along his guitar and led his group in singing.
Other workshops were officially billed as musical too. While Webb’s group was serenading the people inside the building, a workshop meeting on the outside balcony sang camp songs heard by people on the patio below.
Meanwhile, interest groups met to learn more about many other topics, from peace and justice to storytelling to exploring a call to ministry.
–Frances Townsend is pastor of Onekama (Mich.) Church of the Brethren
———————————
The News Team for the 2010 National Youth Conference (NYC) includes photographers Glenn Riegel and Keith Hollenberg, writers Frank Ramirez and Frances Townsend, “NYC Tribune” guru Eddie Edmonds, Facebooker and Twitterer Wendy McFadden, website staff Amy Heckert, and news director and editor Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford. Contact cobnews@brethren.org .
Go to www.brethren.org/Newsline to subscribe to the Church of the Brethren Newsline free e-mail news service and receive church news every other week.