Christ In Youth Conference, Day Four

Didn't have a chance to update last night, because we got in late.

I did not see the rest of the students until our Encounter time, because I didn't feel well. But Encounter went well, and then we did our D-Group, which also was a good time. After D-Group, we all went to the gym to hear a speaker talk about his ministry called Heart Support, which helps people with addictions. The guy got up to speak - he wasn't a very dynamic speaker - but he looked exactly like Rob Bell, and it made me think that he was copying what Rob Bell looked like which I thought wasn't very original.

Yeah, he's Rob Bell's brother. Silly me. No wonder he looks like him.

For our free time after lunch, we went to downtown Durango to hang out. I bought a Durango shirt and hat and a shirt for my daughter, we went to lunch at Beau Jo's.

The night session was amazing. We got to see the video called "Baht", which is a story about a girl who was kidnapped by sex traffickers and who spent over a year in the sex slave industry in Thailand. It's an amazing sad story. I felt physically ill watching the video, because of the statistics and everything. The first $25,000 of the offering for Christ In Youth conferences this summer goes to a place called Rapha House, which is a place in Cambodia that houses girls who have been rescued from the sex trafficking industry and teaches them how a trade so that they don't return to a life of prostitution - forced or unforced. After worship, the youth minister from Mars Hill - his name is Steve Carter - talked about Stephen from the Bible and how we are called to be bold.

For our youth group time, we actually went over to a spot by the guys' dorm, because we had snuck ice cream out of the cafeteria to eat at night. We laid down on the basketball court and looked at the stars for awhile. Thankfully, the spiders and snakes were finished with their basketball game so we could use the court (sorry, inside joke - that one's for you Elisa). We talked about what we could do in order to help combat the trafficking problem in the world. I think our youth ministry is ready to make a difference, to go beyond ourselves to help people definitely less fortunate than we are.

Friday is our last day at CIY, and we don't want to set it on cruise control and just coast the last day for tomorrow. My prayer is that everyone stay focused and listen to how God wants them to MOVE.