7/30/2003 News media contact: Linda Green · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn
This story is accompanied by photographs, sidebars - UMNS stories #382-#385 - and an additional related report, UMNS #386.
By Linda Green*
Youth
from Lenexa and Council Grove, Kan., sing during the opening worship at
Youth 2003 on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. A
UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. Photo number 03-242. Accompanies UMNS #381.
No Long Caption Available for this Story
Stephen
Handy, assistant pastor of Clark Memorial United Methodist Church in
Nashville, Tenn., opens Youth 2003 in Knoxville, Tenn., with a challenge
for young people to reach higher in their relationship with God. A UMNS
photo by Mike DuBose. Photo number 03-243. Accompanies UMNS #381.
No Long Caption Available for this Story
Beth
Geib (center) spots Dee Maurice (left) and Alex Wallace while they
demonstrate the "Wild Woozy" trust-building exercise during Youth 2003
in Knoxville, Tenn. The three are from the New Fontiers High Adventure
Camp in Dowelltown, Tenn. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. Photo number
03-246. Accompanies UMNS #381.
No Long Caption Available for this Story
Kirk
Franklin shares his faith with United Methodist youth from around the
world during Youth'03 at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. A
UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. Photo number 03-244. Accompanies UMNS #381.
No Long Caption Available for this Story
A
prayer chain made from hundreds of individual ribbons, each with a
written prayer, is one of many activities designed to challenge United
Methodist youth to grow in their spirituality during Youth '03 in
Knoxville, Tenn. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. Photo number 03-245.
Accompanies UMNS #381.
No Long Caption Available for this Story
United
Methodist youth dance to the music of Kirk Franklin during Youth '03 on
the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. A UMNS photo by
Mike DuBose. Photo number 03-241. Accompanies UMNS #381.
No Long Caption Available for this Story
Kirk
Franklin shares his faith with United Methodist youth from around the
world during Youth'03 at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. A
UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. Photo number 03-244. Accompanies UMNS #381.
No Long Caption Available for this Story
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - They came by bus, plane,
car and van. They were 9,000 strong. They came to learn about God and
reach beyond what they already knew.
United Methodist youth from
across the globe took over the campus of the University of Tennessee to
participate in Youth '03, the international gathering for young people
and youth leaders to grow in faith and learn how to live out their faith
daily.
"I see 9,000 angels today," said Bishop Mike Watson of
the South Georgia Annual (regional) Conference. "You are children of God
and are called to be God's chosen. There is something for you to do. I
see in you the glory of God. Are you willing to reach higher to be
disciples of God, to let someone see Jesus through you?"
Inspired
by the theme "Reach," the youth spent July 23-27 learning how to do
that. Through Bible study led by bishops and teens, participants
received the key to focusing on Jesus and going higher. "The Scripture
is teaching us that it is not the altitude but the attitude that makes a
difference and determines how far you'll go," said Bishop Violet Fisher
of the North Central New York and Western New York conferences.
Held
every four years, the international gathering of United Methodist youth
is sponsored by the churchwide Board of Discipleship and provides youth
with opportunities to experience God's love and return to their
communities ready to do ministry.
Each day of the conference
emphasized reaching higher, deeper and further in faith. The young
people learned how to go beyond themselves and their immediate
communities to help others.
Their communities are far flung.
Young people came from the United States, Mexico, Germany, Poland,
Kenya, Congo, India, Lithuania, Mozambique, Nigeria and Russia to attend
the event. Several people who were expected from countries such as
Liberia could not obtain visas for the trip.
Jay Williams,
co-chairperson of the denomination's Shared Mission Focus on Young
People's initiative, "triple-dog dared" the youth to leave Youth '03
changed.
"What if 10,000 youth were to go back to their local
congregation excited and renewed, movers and shakers to change their
local communities?" he asked.
Addressing the gathering, he
spoke of his work as an advocate to free slaves in many parts of the
world and of his most recent efforts to emancipate slaves in the Sudan.
"What
if 10,000 youth said slavery must not continue? What if they demanded
to be respected and loved, not only tomorrow but today?" He challenged
the church to accept all ages, creeds, races and sexual orientations. He
spoke of his dream of a church that "does not change with the times but
changes the times."
The Rev. Stephen Handy, associate pastor at
Clark Memorial United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tenn., offered
three types of "reach" - physical, emotional and spiritual - for the
youth to consider in their faith lives.
Physical appearances are a
concern for teens, but Handy encouraged the youth not to worry about
their "physical reach" because "you cannot improve on what God has
created."
Using the biblical story of the woman who bled for
12 years, Handy noted that despite disappointment, frustration and
disillusion, the woman found within herself a physical reach that
enabled her to touch Jesus' garment and be healed. "Regardless of where
you think you are with your looks, God wants to give you favor. God said
it is good ... very good."
Focusing on emotional reach, he
urged the youth to realize that individually each had the power of the
Holy Spirit to overcome their "emotional trippin.'" Too much emotion
exists in the world today, he said, and because things are not the way
some think they should be, there are more suicides, homicides and gang
activity, parent-teenager arguments and fights, stealing, lying and
cheating and depression.
"No, you may not like what mama says,
what daddy says. But, guess what? Until you own the house, pay the note,
buy the car, pay the bills, you don't have anything to say."
Emphasizing
the need for spiritual reach, Handy urged the youth to reach for the
hem of Jesus' garment, get on their knees and pray. "Regardless of what
you are going through, Jesus will be with you."
The four-day
gathering included workshops on topics such as the basics of United
Methodism and teen issues, as well as recreation and opportunities to do
service projects in the community.
Contemporary Christian
artists Kirk Franklin and Natalie Grant were two of many featured acts
that provided music and witness to Youth '03.
The significance
of the event for Roko Nimata'asau, 15, of Centennial United Methodist
Church in Sacramento, Calif., came "in learning about the grace of God
in our lives and how it impacted other people's lives."
Fourteen-year-old
Leah Hrachovy, of St. Luke United Methodist Church in Houston, said she
attended the conference to "try to get closer in my relationship to
God, to get closer to friends I have and to meet new people."
Wilsar
Johnson, 15, of Asbury United Methodist Church in Camden, N.J., also
came to meet new people and to "learn more about my religion and get
close to God." Reflecting on the conference theme, she said: "For me it
meant that you can reach to do anything in the world. You can believe in
your opinions and be open about them." # # # *Green is United Methodist News Service's Nashville, Tenn., news director.
Related Story
Korean News
