“This has been like a week of football training camp,” said Dan Gregory as he took to the platform for the Thursday morning main session at the Momentum youth conference. He likened training camp to the mountain top experience that the week has been for many.

Dan is pastor of Community of Hope, a Grace Brethren church in Columbia City, Ind. He is also a football coach.

“At the end of the camp, there are three categories,” he noted. He called three “volunteers” to the front of the platform – Ed Lewis, Dave Rank, and Jeff Bogue – and outfitted them with helmets, pads, and football jerseys to illustrate his point. (See photo above right.)

“There are some who could care less,” he noted. “They came to camp, but they don’t want to give their time,” pointing to Jeff.

“The second group (of players) comes excited, but they are cautious and protective,” he said. “They don’t make mistakes. Their jerseys are clean because they don’t play in the game,” acknowledging Dave at center stage.

He characterized the third group as being “consumed.”

“They go to camp because they want to learn about football,” he pointed out, placing his hand on Ed’s shoulder.

“The theme for week has been Extreme Makeover,” he noted, using II Corinthians 5:14 as the basis for his talk. He said that the crux of having an extreme makeover is “when we are absolutely convinced that we have a heavenly daddy that loved us enough to die for us.”

He stressed that tonight the training camp will be over and the stage will come down. The trip down from the mountaintop that has been Momentum will begin.

“Jesus Christ today is looking for teenagers whose love for Him compels them,” he said. He encouraged the audience to lives their lives “upside down” for Christ.

The conference concludes tonight on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. At the 7 p.m. main session, the families who have been the recipients of the home repair and rebuilding projects will be honored. Jeff Bogue, pastor of the north campus of Grace Church, a Grace Brethren church in Akron, Ohio will present the challenge. The evening concludes with 9:45 p.m. worship service and communion.