Fire-Up Conference is the Sr. High Discipleship Weekend we host in Troy, IL every winter. Today, we’re getting ready for the 19th weekend at Troy United Methodist Church. There’s an army of people involved in helping to make the weekend happen! Lots of talented people have invested their time and giftedness to help create a major opportunity for students to grow in faith and come face to face with Jesus.
If someone asked me why we do Fire-Up, here’s how I would answer:
1) Influence. I had great experiences as a student growing up in church and in youth ministry. I loved the trips, I loved the weekends and I loved the camps. I also enjoyed meeting with the group each week on Sundays and Wednesdays, but it seemed to me that it was during the special events that I was able to really hear clearly from the Lord. Most of my years as an adult have been geared toward figuring out ways to share the message of Christ and create experiences like this for today’s students. I want to use whatever influence I have to help shape the faith of the next generation.
2) Incite. Most of the time when we think of the word incite it’s negative, like “incite a riot”. But, Fire-Up is designed to incite faith in students. To stir up and aid in the process of beginning. To use a basketball analogy, we want to assist in the process.
3) Invite. I want Fire-Up to be a place where students get a sense of the call to serve in the church. I want students to hear the call to ministry, to faithful living, to following Jesus with commitment. The only prayer request Jesus gave was to “pray for more workers in the Harvest field”. I think it would be awesome, at some point in the future, for several churches to be planted, for several pastors to be faithfully successful, and for many families to be strong with leaders who attended Fire-Up and heard the call.
4) In Joy. Excuse the forced alliteration, but when details get hairy, I remind myself and our team that we don’t have to do Fire-Up. We get to. It’s a joy. We get to meet as youth workers to prepare for the weekend, we get to meet as a church host team to prepare and plan and we get to serve students and churches during the weekend. We have this opportunity to serve in the kingdom and we do so in joy.
My prayer is always for fruit that will last. Fire-Up won’t go on forever, but as long as it is serving it’s purpose, we’ll keep going for it!
– Tim Price
Check out pictures from this year (as they come up)
Read: Do Your Students Really Need Another Conference?
[btn text=”Subscribe” tcolor=#FFF link=”http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001k6dau0Gb9W_yB7sHwdc-sBaDw-8dvNbyKkEQd-HeMixJyqcbHnLQRuS0M6JlBBmZkGKG0NkT3Y47bKfGVSOW0LIX2yl3ttvnB_rHDDlTQlawN4Vn2rEW3bXM5yvxUQTkFvuzxgnaGM3wtjh97A_gyvCRzm0rG4Sispt9rfORiNFneC5XgwmQlg%3D%3D”]