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Editor’s Note: More than 1,200 young people from 130 churches
attended Youth 2011 Sacramento from July 27-31. This was the second
Youth 2011 this year and the first time for two events since the largest
worldwide gathering of United Methodist youth began in 1988. Youth 2011
is a project of Young People’s Ministries, a division of the General
Board of Discipleship. The first group — about 3,700 from 42 states and
274 churches — was on the campus of Purdue University in West Lafayette,
Ind., July 13-17.
By Stephane Panteleon*
1:00 P.M. EDT August 5, 2011
The youth group and their pastor from First United Methodist Church in
Watsonville, Calif., gather for their trip to Youth 2011 in Sacramento.
Front row, from left are: Maria Gonzalez, the Rev. Robin Mathews-Johnson
and Miguel Bedolla. Second row, from left are: Stephane Panteleon,
Guadalupe Contreras, Josefina Lopez, Elizabeth Lopez, Nancy Guillen,
Margarita Gonzalez and Hilda Rocha. A UMNS photo courtesy of the Rev.
Robin Mathews-Johnson.
View in Photo Gallery
I learned that you can worship God in different ways, not just by praying.
For Bible study and worship, I thought it was going to be a “regular”
service, but it was different! Bible study can be pretty slow, but our
Bible study was music by RezLife Youth Band. It was on the big stage,
with three large screens. We joined in singing the songs with the words
on the screen, and there were flashing lights and colors.
In between the songs, the band members and other speakers talked
about their faith — how they follow Jesus — and loving God. They sang
the Scripture and sometimes read it aloud, and we always read it from
the screen along with them.
One of the workshops we loved was “Sacred Space.” It was very
peaceful, with quiet music and very low lights and candles. They had big
tarps on the ground with art supplies: brushes, paper, canvasses and
oil pastels. We sat on the ground and painted for hours. It was so
special to come into this really relaxing space; it made us feel closer
to God in some way. We were inspired to paint for hours!
For me and most of the other girls, the small-group work in labs was a
challenge. It was hard to interact with people we didn’t know. Most of
them had different backgrounds from ours. They were not bilingual
(Spanish/English) like we are. We dealt with the challenge by pushing
ourselves to do something new — to interact and share our feelings and
thoughts.
And it worked!
Every day in labs, we got to know the people better, and the
activities they had us do helped us relax and learn about each other in
our small groups. On the last day, we had to stand up in our small
groups and massage each other’s upper backs and then scratch each
other’s backs, then pound each other’s backs. That was fun! Some of the
videos were funny, and others were pretty dumb, but we went every day.
After we were done with the labs, our group felt like a community, a
group that says:
Highlights
Nine youth from First United Methodist Church in Watsonville,
Calif., along with their pastor, the Rev. Robin Mathews-Johnson,
attended Youth 2011 in Sacramento from July 27-31. Watsonville is in a
farming area of northern California. Their church is a small
congregation, but they reach out in mission and service to many people
in their community. These are the first youth from Watsonville to attend
Youth 2011, and they offer some thoughts on the highlights of being
part of the largest gathering in the world of United Methodist youth.
Elizabeth Lopez, 14: The best part of Youth 2011 was that we got the
autographs and met the Fireflight band members. Their music was really
great!
Maria Gonzalez, 17: The best part of Youth 2011 was when Kristian Stanfill sang. We all agree with that!
Miguel Bedolla, 16: I like the illusionist the best and swimming and meeting everybody!
Margarita Gonzalez, 15: The best part of Youth 2011 was getting to know new people in our group.
Guadalupe Contreras, 15: The best part of Youth 2011 to me was
getting to talk to some of the people of my group, and going to the
concerts and going to the workshops, and the artwork, and getting to
swim in the pool in our hotel. Our room even had a balcony.
The group: Our favorite song is “Like a Lion,” sung by Kristian
Stanfill from his “Mountains Move” CD, which includes these lyrics:
“Let love explode and bring the dead to life
A love so bold to see a revolution somehow
Now I’m lost in your freedom
This world I’ll overcome
My God’s not dead, he’s surely alive
And he’s living on the inside, roaring like a lion
Let hope arise and make the darkness hide
My faith is cold, I need a resurrection somehow
Now I’m lost in your freedom
This world I’ll overcome.”
I put you first.
I love you anyway.
I got your back.
I play my part.
And we did it by being in the small groups together.
Our lives were changed
It was inspirational.
I felt that Youth 2011 changed their lives and my life, too. I think
it changed how I am as a Christian. It made me think more about how I
act and live on a daily basis, showing my love for God.
We learned about the different kinds of love. The agape love is
deeper and more giving than just saying you care. This kind of loving
means that my love of God will take me to new places with new people and
doing new things to help others. Agape is a commitment kind of love,
and we felt it in the group and saw it in the speakers, like Agape the
rapper, and Zach Hunter, who has dedicated himself to fighting slavery
worldwide.
Jared Hall, the illusionist, told us that every one of us has
talents, and we should use those talents for good. He was really funny,
and we were inspired by his tricks, especially getting out of the
straightjacket.
The music at Youth 2011 was touching to me because you could worship
God and just be singing. I liked all the bands, and I was surprised to
hear Fireflight because I had heard them on the radio before. It was
exciting after Fireflight’s concert on Saturday to have them sign their
CDs for us, and take a photo with us. They were all really nice to us
and friendly, and they shared their faith with us through their music
and by meeting with us afterward.
We learned the words to many of the songs that Kristian Stanfill and
his band sang as we listened to him every day. The words of the songs
and what he said brought us together in the large group.
Big trip in the church van
Our youth group of nine, with our pastor, went to Youth 2011 in a
church van from Watsonville. It took more than three hours to get there,
and we stayed at the Hyatt Hotel by the Sacramento Convention Center. I
thought it was a really cool experience because we don’t really go out
that much with our families. To travel out of town and stay together in a
hotel was fun! We were with another group of kids, including two youth
from McKinleyville and other youth from Sacramento First United
Methodist Church. There was a total of 26 youth with adults.
At first, it was hard to meet people we didn’t know. We were shy and
didn’t know what to say. We realized that by not talking to other
people, we were letting ourselves down and making the experience less
enjoyable. So we decided to open up and meet other people in our small
group. We learned that we could meet and enjoy meeting other youth from
other churches. We became friends as we ate together and had the shared
experience of being a part of Youth 2011.
On the last day, we said, “We should have gotten to know them
sooner!” We learned that strangers can become friends and that the
others kids were like us, too. What they talked about at the program
applies to our lives outside the event — at home, at school, in our
neighborhood, at the store and at church. And that’s good!
I am thankful for the experience to be part of Youth 2011, for all
the fun activities they had set up for us, the bands and all the music,
eating out, learning to swim in the pool, the trip up and back and
getting to know our own group better, too.
I’m thankful for the experience because it helped me understand what
it means to be a United Methodist, and it made me feel grateful that I
am a United Methodist. It also made me think about what I can do now and
in the future to help people in need in my community.
*Panteleon, 18, is a member of Watsonville First United Methodist
Church in northern California. She graduated from Watsonville High
School this past spring and will be attending college in the fall.
News media contact: Maggie Hillery, Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
For a closer look at Youth 2011:
Produced by the Office of Communications at The General Board of Discipleship (GBOD)
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