The Missouri Conventon: Part 2

File Under: Extended Series

When we last left me, I had just arrived at my destination: Evangel University. But I didn't say that. I just said "I arrived", and then "CLIFFHANGER!". So that's the resolution to that, and now here's the rest of Monday for 'ya! (note: these are abridged notes from my notebook/journal, that I took, for a special blog series.)

7:50 pm CT - We had a great dinner, then "enjoyed" the most idiotic mixer ever, which involved segregating the crowd into the 4 different high school grades, then we had to swap our lanyards (ID card on a necklace) in different directions, to different people. We were supposed to look at the lanyards, and get to know these people that way. (it had the basic info: name, hometown, home church) EXCEPT... You didn't really know who you were getting the lanyard from, AND... We couldn't hear the guy on the loudspeaker. So the seniors group was pretty much just handing the lanyards around, in no particular direction. Well, they'll know better next time, won't they?

7:59 pm - Session 1 begins. There are 40 churches represented here. We started off with a prayer, then welcomed Steve Larson and Jane Grotenhuis to the piano and organ, respectivly. They talked about the schedule of events, announced that for those interested that there would be a RYS choir, then reminded us about our small groups, yadayada, talent show, check maps, ecetera. Due to scheduling conflicts, the first two workshops are now back-to-back, instead of spread out more during the day.

A group from North Carolina traveled for 21 hours, so they won a prize. Jack Ellens, a committee member, talked about on-campus security. Then we talked about sports. And the latest weather, news, traffic, and more. THIS is Live Action News LIVE! Oh, um, wait... He just talked about sports.

We sang hymns and contemporary feel-good, why-aren't-you-crying-it's-emotional!-type songs. Drama queens. Rev. Grotenhuis got up to speak, and there were tech problems with audio. HILLARIOUS! (I was tired, m'kay?)

He spoke on how culture is constantly changing, and that it is hard for many old people today to relate to what the younger people are going through. You need to keep up with the times. You need to know what is going on in the word. Understand the times, and know what to do, as it were. He then proceeded to play the following audio clips. All lasted for about 30 seconds:
- Joy to the World, by Three Dog Night (the audience started clapping with that one!)
- Born to be Wild by Uh... Steppenwolf?
- Staying Alive by the Bee Gee's
- Hollaback Girl by Gwen Stefani
- Some song, don't know the title or the artist, about a woman looking back fondly on the life in the 80's.

The old people were supposed to relate to the oldies, and the young to the new songs. But I hated the new songs, and loved the oldies. Great, by the definition above, I'm an old person. (but really... the 70's were not that long ago. I think old is much too strong a term.) Culture changes, but the Bible doesn't.

1 Timothy 4:12-16 (official text of RYS Convention 2005). Paul spoke to Timothy, and encouraged him not to let people look down on him just 'cause he was young. Many youth profess faith in church, but it is absent in their daily life, and the olden folk can see this. Even in 1274! (....he put up a quote about youth from 1274.) We are to love god, serve him, enjoy and glorify Him forever. We are to pray for wisdom.

Rev. Grotenhuis then spoke about Lady Jane Grey. Not Jean Grey, of the X-Men. JANE Grey was, of course, hated by Mary, Queen of Scots. JANE Grey was jailed at 16, and Feckehham tried to get her to turn to the Roman Catholic church, and denounce the reformed faith. She didn't. She was smart! She is a hero to reformers, but not a hero to today's culture.

We then had a montage of youth talking about why they thought older people looked down on them. Some suggested the age difference, lack of experiance, lack of maturity, yadayada. I figure it's usually the snotty, bratty know-it-all types that get the most grief.

Even when we are older, we must keep interacting with the youth! We must help them. Help them to learn from our mistakes, guide them along. In closing, he said that we should pray for self-discipline and self-control in our lives. We ARE youth, after all.

Afterwards, we went to the upper level of the student center, and got a snack (cookies) and drink. They gave us these coupons for a "Free Snack & Free Drink". They had huge, bold letters for the different days, and each one had a different color. They would tell us "tonight, use the YELLOW coupon", like we couldn't read the HUGE BOLD LETTERS on the paper ourselves.

We then had our SON-Set group meeting. The SON-Set group is your churches youth group gathering together, and technically having a devotional and bible study. But Bethany URC doesn't really do that... (ssh!) We all kinda agreed these meetings were kinda silly, and we were all tired, so we retired to our rooms. It was VERY hot, and VERY muggy, and the air didn't work in the room I shared, but we were sooooo tired from the bus ride, that we fell asleep right away.

Next time: Being a warrior family, watching Braveheart, and brief overviews of 3 workshops. Plus, sports, dating, and thunderstorms. Tuesday was an eventful day, and the only place you'll hear about it online is The Delta Institute!