First Ever Young People's Address, Thursday April 24, 2008

Today the General Conference had the opportunity to witness an event that was a little bit more historic than all the other historic events occurring here in Fort Worth.  Today six young people were given the opportunity to deliver the first ever Young People’s Address.  We were told at a press conference a short time later that the original idea was to have just one young person deliver this address, but the committee was so impressed by the individual voices of these six that they were chosen to present it as a group.

The group members were: Becca Farnum: a 20 year-old from Michigan, Rev. Anne Rigo: a 29 year-old newly wed who’s last name is now Arnolds and lives in Colorado,

Andrew Craig: a 16 year-old from Colorado, Jason Rathod: a 24 year-old student at Duke law school, Kira Volkova: a 24 year-old candidate for ordination from Kirov Russia, and the Pacific Northwest’s own Matt Lockett: a 20 year-old studying at Western Washington University.

The presentation was one of the most elaborate of the conference so far.  It was done in a distinctively different manner from the others that had been presented.  It started with the six young people playing some African hand drums, and all to a different beat, that when blended created a single piece of music.  The address also featured the six speaking from a variety of different locations around the auditorium, some singing, and Kira speaking in her native Russian.

Their message was a message of unity, and that the young people are not just the future members and leaders of the church, but that they are leaders in the churches right now.  They shared their personal stories of their struggles to integrate their faith into their lives – or even to be a United Methodist at all.  They shared their insights into ministry with various groups of people such as the poor, the young, the oppressed, and so many others.

For those of you who have not already viewed this historic and powerful message delivered by the young leaders in our church, please visit this link and scroll down to April 24th, 2008