My blog this week is short and simple. I hope that you will take a moment to pray for the adults and young people gathering at the West Central Regional Youth Event at Park University, just outside of Kansas City, MO.
These faithful folks come from Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota and, of course, Iowa. I’m personally excited that we have 40 participants at this event from ten of our Iowa Conference churches:
- Community Congregational UCC, Clinton, IA
- United Congregational Methodist Church, Lewis, IA
- Urbandale UCC, Urbandale, IA
- St. Paul UCC, Madrid, IA
- Newton UCC, Newton, IA
- UCC Congregational, Grinnell, IA
- St. John UCC, Melbourne, IA
- First Congregational UCC, Eldora, IA
- Schleswig UCC, Schleswig, IA
- Mayflower UCC, Sioux City, IA
This week our theme is “Agape: God’s love for us all.” We are going to try to live God’s love in a rather simple and profound way: listen to each other and to God. If we do that, I’m sure lots of wonderful and unexpected things will surface. I can’t wait to tell you about what happens next week. For now, hold us in prayer as we explore the wonderful and deep ways that God is loving us through his event, and far beyond.
I lift you up in prayer as you return to your daily places–may the longevity (five days and nights) and intensity of your experience (the equivalent of a whole year of weekly youth ministry meetings) inject vitality and energy into your regular routines rather than be left on a mountaintop!