About a decade ago, the Wisconsin Conference was known for its Youth Rally: a day for young people to come together from all across the state and worship, listen to good preaching, and get to know each other. Patterning itself after the very successful Youth Rally in the Indiana Conference, it had grown to the point of filling the gymnasium at Wisconsin Academy and brought a diversity of youth from various locations and backgrounds. Unfortunately, the event ceased around 2015, and the Wisconsin Conference no longer had a Youth Rally for many years.
In 2023, Dean Enrique Serna, Chaplain at Wisconsin Academy, and myself began talking about how we would like to see the Conference have a Youth Rally again. With the Academy and the Youth Department combined, we were able to pull off a small but great rally to kick things off at the beginning of 2024. Recently, we had our second event since the hiatus, and there were even more positives, a bigger response, and better branding and vision, which shone through.
Our 2025 Youth Rally took place last weekend, and there were about 100 total attendees, which includes the students at Wisconsin Academy. We did not use the gymnasium for meetings (although we did some activities in the gym), but we did completely fill the cafeteria, which means we will need to use a bigger space for next year, given that we sustain our current growth projection. Attendees came from all over the state, from places including Green Bay, Milwaukee, Madison, Lacrosse, Eau Claire, Wausau, and even Illinois. Unfortunately, though they were invited to the event and to be apart of part of the planning, Hispanic Youth planned their own event on this day. Lake Region Youth were also invited, but were unable to attend.
The planning committee included a variety of voices, including teens and adults, Academy faculty, PCM leaders, Summer Camp Staff, Pathfinders and Pathfinder directors. Out of that planning came a new name for the event, which is Pieces of Purpose (POP). This was also the theme for the messaging, and its aim was to help our young people see that God has a purpose for them, and to encourage them to pray over that purpose and even surrender that purpose to God. Based on this name and theme, Preston Carter (a student at Wisconsin Academy, and the praise team leader) was inspired to write a theme song for the event. The praise band (which was comprised of all students from Wisconsin Academy) did an excellent job performing this song, and the lyrics can be found at the end of this post.
A bit on the nose, but adding to the ambiance: various POP/Pieces of Purpose themes were incorporated into the event. Popcorn, Pop-rocks, and soda pop were found amongst refreshments. Pieces of legos and puzzles were also found on tables to play with while fellowshipping and listening to the message. A balloon pop relay was among the afternoon activities. There was intentionality in creating a cohesive event that would feel like it was planned with purpose (also adding to the theme).
Our speaker, this year, was Pastor Jon Remitera, who currently is serving as the pastor of EPIC Church and EPIC Suburbs, a young-adult-focused church plant network in the Chicago area. He did an excellent job connecting with young people, and even elicited several decisions for baptism at the conclusion of the final meeting. Pastor Jon spoke from experience when he shared, and encouraged young people that God is preparing them for something and if they will pray about it and follow Him, His plans will become more and more clear.
Ultimately, the weekend was spiritually uplifting, lots of fun, and encouraged friendships between youth from all over (not to mention, bringing some young people to the campus so they could tour Wisconsin Academy the next day for Academy Day). We're looking forward to this event continuing to grow into the flagship Youth Rally it once was in the Wisconsin Conference, and we ask for your prayers as we plan future iterations. Aside from prayers: please send your young people next year! We believe it is an event they will enjoy greatly.
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