Illuminate 2008...what a weekend!

Last weekend was our second annual Illuminate conference. This is a conference for teenagers, parents, and youth workers that we host at the Rochester Church. Here is a recap...

Friday during the day was filled with last minute preparations. Take 2 performed at assembly at Rochester College. David Fraze and Salient arrived. The final adjustments were made to the stage. We finished setting up rooms. And a whole lot more I probably wasn't even aware of.

As evening arrived, students and adults started showing up. By 7:00pm, students were entering the auditorium for the evenings activities. After months of preparation, it was time to go!

This year's theme was "LOST." Our focus was on helping those who felt lost find their way out and helping all of us minister to those who feel lost. Throughout the weekend, I was amazed at the people God brought together to carry out what we hoped to accomplish. As usual, God took our few loaves and fish and turned it into a feast!

The lights went down and the kickoff video played. Then Salient led us in some incredible worship and Ambassadors from Ohio Valley University performed a drama to set up the weekend. David Fraze and Take 2 weaved speaking and drama together to bring a powerful message. The evening ended with a great performance by Riley Armstrong.

Saturday was action-packed! In the morning, Chris Lindsey and his praise team led us in worship, David Fraze delivered another powerful lesson, and Ambassadors performed another drama. Following our morning session, adults and teenagers went to Ignite sessions. The teenagers were separated into three groups (teen boys, high school girls, and middle school girls) to address issues for their specific groups. This was a very moving morning where we addressed issues such as pornography, purity, cutting, eating disorders, body image, and more. All three sessions were led by great people. Patrick Mead and Gary Turner talked with the teen boys. Take 2 led a powerful session with the high school girls. Dana Spivy and a number of other young adult women spoke with the middle school girls.

We had a lunch break where students enjoyed a quick bite to eat, visiting college tables, and hanging out in the Underground Cafe. It was a good break before jumping into the afternoon activities.

Saturday afternoon included one more large session and three Ignite sessions. We had a variety of afternoon Ingite sessions for teenagers to select. Patrick Mead led a few sessions about "getting out of the woods." Pat Pugh and Jason Read asked "why do we go there?" Katy Dzwigalski lead a session about alcohol and drug issues. Josh Graves offered two different sessions, one on "finding your voice" with Shaun Hover and another on "finding hope" with Darren Chilton. Ambassadors led an interactive session called "acting out" where students acted out life situations. Sara Barton talked about "listening to the voice of Jesus. I can't being to tell you how good of a job all of these people did!

Dinner break sent everyone around the Rochester area for a bite to eat and a chance to decompress before the evening session.

We came back to the building and kicked off the evening with a short performance by Minor Measure, a band consisting of members from the 180 youth group. Then the colleges came up for drawings. The grand prize winner was a student who won an iPod shuffle. After that, Salient came up on stage and performed an exciting, energy filled concert. (I even got called up on stage to dance. That was interesting!)

After the concert we took a short break and it was time for the final session.

Chris led us in worship and Ambassadors performed another drama. Then David and Take 2 presented a powerful message that called us all to let God find us. It was an incredible evening as a number of students responded for prayers. There were over 20 students who had requests for prayers and encouragement. And there were three students who were baptized at the end of the evening! Two of them were from the 180 youth group!! :-)  (I also found out the next morning that a student who attended Illuminate was baptized Sunday morning at his home church.)

It was an incredible weekend where God was present in a very tangible way. Thank you to the dozens of volunteers who made it happen! Thank you to the hundreds who attended! Thank you above all to the God who never gives up on finding us, no matter how lost we may feel!!!

shine!
Jason