“There are two doors: rejection of Jesus or reverence of Jesus,” Keith Minier (Grace Fellowship, Ohio, lead pastor) said at the opening session for Momentum 2019.
Keith Minier is passionate about the local church and the youth who belong to it. Since he started at Grace Fellowship ten years earlier, it grew from 70 to over 3,200 people.
This year’s Momentum theme is “The Reason.” What is the reason behind believing and then sharing the gospel? Before he came to that question, Miner focused on the first part of the theme verse, 1 Peter 3:15: “in your hearts, set apart Christ as Lord.” In Minier’s words, before you can give a public defense of your faith you must connect with it personally.
“You have to start with reverence,” he said. He called this the engine. Students at a conference like Momentum need the “engine” before they understand the “reason” behind being a Christian.
“There is no such this as a casual Christian,” he emphasized for the students. In this modern world, people can project the image they want, but God can only change the honest version of a person. In the end, he said, there is only one question: will you revere Christ?
Momentum Youth Conference, the annual CE National event, is held at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Ind. from July 16 to July 20. It includes daily sessions, morning and evening, fun activities, and seminars for both students and staff.
Live stream the next Momentum session at buildmomentum.org.