Momentum 2012, the annual Grace Brethren youth conference, held July 17-21, 2012, at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Ky., was a call
for students to reach out to the UNSEEN in their commu- nities. Nearly 2,000 teens and adults from around the U.S. participated in the week, including groups from 25 church- es that had never before attended a Momentum event.
A variety of UNSEEN people groups were highlighted with each session and students were challenged to share Jesus with them in spite of racial, religious, social, or other differences. They were encouraged to have a spirit of boldness in sharing their faith, to embrace diversity, and to see aborted babies as an overlooked group. Speakers included Greg Stier, Francis Chan, Scott Williams, Sean McDowell, and Afshin Ziafat.
Grace Brethren pastors Keith Minier and Jeff Bogue chal- lenged the young people to change their world through the local church. “There is something you should invest your time, resources, and life into,” said Minier. “It’s the church.”
Students put the call to action to the test through the Acts 1:8 (community outreach) initiative that allowed them to bless some of the poorest counties in America through food distribution, tornado response, food packing, park programs, manual labor, and more. Students also packed hundreds of meals to be sent to Haiti and distributed locally in Kentucky.
Bogue wrapped up the conference on Saturday night by encouraging attendees to fill themselves with Jesus in order to claim freedom over sin.
“We read our Bibles not to get information about God, but to know the heart of God,” Bogue said. “It keeps us free of pollution.”
The night also included a John 13 communion experience with foot washing, the Bread and the Cup, and a celebration of the future marriage supper of the Lamb.
See photos from Momentum at
