Fall Conference with A Serbian Leader
Oct 19, 2018 | 3 min read | Amy Nickerson, Adam Rajčan
A few weeks ago, Josiah Venture had our annual fall conference, where around 400 youth leaders from across Central and Eastern Europe came to Czech for a week of training and fellowship. One of these leaders is Gale, a film editor and youth worker at his local church in Serbia. Here’s what a day at conference looked like for him.
Gale’s Conference Experience
The first thing on the schedule each morning after breakfast was meeting in the tent to worship and hear announcements before breaking up into three different groups for morning sessions. The theme for the week was Good News: Hope-Filled Answers for the iGeneration. In the morning sessions, Gale, his wife Kristina, and others from around Europe explore issues young people today are facing in regards to religion, morality, and gender.
During break, Gale grabs a snack and discusses how the talks apply to youth ministry in his context with other leaders.
At meals, he enjoys getting to know Christians from other countries and spending time with the group of Serbians who are attending conference.
The afternoon is spent having free time and going to short master classes, designed to go deeper into more specific areas applicable to the leaders and young people they disciple. JV missionaries taught on a wide variety of topics, such as how to listen more effectively, what questions we should always be asking, pornography, suffering, and living incarnationally.
At the evening program, our Good News Fair gave Gale plenty of ministry ideas. While conference-goers went to 30 different stations, he heard from missionaries like Kristy who talked about how she and her team in Ukraine invited 5,000 teens to six camps this summer in just five days, and Dan from Poland who thinks of creative ways to send messages to the people he cares about that will bless them into the future.
After the Fair, the conference worship team (made up of people serving in five different European countries) led Gale and the rest of us in praising God for who he is and the good news he’s given us.
Overall, Gale’s week at conference, among friends and fellow Christians across his region, was an experience he’ll hold onto with lessons he’s already applying to his life back at home.
Please pray for Gale, his wife Kristina, and the other leaders who attended conference this year, that God would continue to show them how the gospel is truly good news for them personally and give them both wisdom and grace as they share this good news with young people in their countries. If you want to hear more about our conference, click here for our recorded talks from the main sessions with speakers, Rob Trenckmann, Mike Reeves, and Dave Patty, as well as morning sessions, master classes, and more photos.
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