UNASHAMED!

January 5, 2010

We’re back from GYC! What an amazing experience! It really flew by…

I don’t even know where to begin talking about it. There was so much that happened within those four days… staying up very late, meeting new friends, seeing old friends, lots of great music, great sermons, going door to door inviting people to a health expo and Bible studies, sitting in the very front row with a bunch of friends, even a trip across the street to a restaurant to tease some other friends…

Wednesday afternoon we arrived at GYC, found our hotel, and settled in. We went to the registration table, and I decided to tag along, in case I saw anyone I knew. Of course, I did within the first 5 minutes… Carl and Christine Brugger. Then while we were waiting in line, I found Jenae on the other side of the room. We talked for a few minutes, and then I saw her brother standing by the opposite wall. I started to walk over to say hi to him, and Sean snuck up behind me and totally startled me! Of course, we all had a pretty good laugh over that! :) Soon Alan and Aubrey arrived, and Chanteé was also there (which was a surprise), and thus was set the tone for the rest of GYC… :)

Justin McNeilus spoke at the first evening meeting. It was very inspirational. He used the example of the life of William Wilberforce, who spent almost his entire life in the cause of eliminating slavery from England.

I could give summaries of the meetings, but that might be rather boring to read, especially for someone who wasn’t there. So… I’ll just describe about the meeting schedule… and you’ll get an idea…

In the morning at 7:00 was a devotional meeting. It usually lasted until 8:20, even though it was supposed to end at 8:00. As soon as it ended we had to rush to breakfast, and then eat as fast as we could and go to the room to get our Bibles and brush our teeth and be back to the convention hall at 9:30. At this time we had to pick from about 15 different seminars, all of which were very good, making it a difficult choice. The seminars lasted until 10:30, then we had a break until 10:45, which was the next seminar session. Those also lasted an hour, then we had another 15 minute break. After this came a meeting at 12:00 in the main auditorium, which usually lasted until 1:15 or so. Once again, we rushed to the cafeteria, amid crowds of thousands of people, and tried to inhale our food while Justin Kim reminded us to eat quickly and then leave so he wouldn’t have to keep making announcements… At 2:30 we had more seminars, and those went on until 4:45. At 5:00 was another meeting in the auditorium, which went till 6, and at 6:30 was the last major meeting of the evening, which usually lasted until 8:30 because David Asscherick would go over the time limit. Then we would all run to our pre-assigned small groups, and discuss how we could apply the message. The first night, we couldn’t find our group, so I ended up being the leader… which was fine, except I hadn’t prepared, so somehow I got a sheet with the recommended questions, and God sustained me, and it went great (although the next night we made sure to go to the right place.)… Those usually lasted until 9 or 9:30. After that we all would go to the exhibit hall, where a lot of ministries had booths with promotional materials, or videos, or CDs, or stuff to sell, and things of that nature. I walked around, and either talked to friends who were also there, or talked to the people behind the booths, both of which were fun. My friends and I tried doing both at the same time, but somehow we were either talking amongst ourselves, or walking… not both. So that didn’t work too well. After walking around for a while, we would go to our rooms and try to get some sleep before the next morning came. Before GYC, someone told me that GYC is “late to bed, early to rise” and I found that to be completely true… :) I was also told that it was “crazy busy” and such was quite accurate… but it was worth it anyway… :)

It was amazing how many people were there. At any moment, there might be 500 people in the hall, and on Sabbath, there were over 5,000 people there. GYC is quite expensive, and most people traveled quite a ways in order to get there, but they come anyway.

On Friday afternoon, we all loaded up on buses, and went out to invite the community to a health expo that GYC was holding on Sunday morning. We had a total of 38 buses, all completely full. Bus 24 went across the Ohio river, and therefore we were actually in Indiana at that point (that was the one I went on). My new-found friend Nick and I went together, and learned a lot about each other while knocking on people’s doors. Join us as we come to someone’s door…

Knock, knock, knock… “Hello…”

“Hello, I’m Zachary, and this is my friend Nick. We’re with the Generation of Youth for Christ, and we’re having a convention in Louisville this week, and I’d like to take just one minute to tell you about two great free opportunities.

“First, we have a health expo (handing them the flyer) on Sunday morning at 11:00. It’s completely free, and there will be free blood pressure and glucose screening, free doctor’s consultations, free food samples, and much more. It’s downtown at the convention center.

“Secondly, we’re offering a free Bible study course (hand them the card to sign up) which deals with Bible prophecies and questions like what happens to people when they die, why is there evil in the world if God is good, and things like that. You can go ahead and fill out this card and then give it to us, and your Bible studies will arrive in a couple of weeks.”

No one actually filled out the card and gave it to us, but some of them said they would fill it out and mail it in. We didn’t always get that far – sometimes the person would say “No, I’m not interested” and close the door. Nick and I knocked on a total of 42 doors, talked to 19 people, and left cards and flyers at the doors where no one answered. Later we found out that some of our friends who had gone to other parts of the neighborhood had knocked on over 70 doors, and even gotten some cards filled out for the Bible studies. We were told that a guy – girl pair was more effective, but as things turned out we had 2 pairs with just guys, and 2 with just girls, (among the people I knew on that bus), and I think it would have been more effective if we had redistributed… but we can try it next year. And next year, I’m bringing my gloves for sure! Nick and I ended up sharing… we alternated streets after a while, and whoever carried the flyers got his gloves, because the person who talked could put their hands in their pockets. We were out for 2 and a half hours… in 23 degree weather. I’m just thankful it wasn’t too windy. We were the last ones to be dropped off, and some of the earlier ones to be picked up. Poor Aubrey and Chelsea were the first ones to be dropped off, and the last ones to be picked up. They didn’t have gloves at all. Chelsea got very cold, and wanted to go to sleep, but of course she didn’t dare… If you’re reading this, Chelsea, just understand that what I’m writing about you is what I was told… I don’t claim to be 100% accurate… :) because I heard it from others, not from you… :D

So there is much more I could write… but I don’t have time at the moment…

And that doesn’t even begin to tell all the interesting stories that happened at GYC…

But it’s a start… :D

I am so inspired…

Let’s be UNASHAMED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!