Josh LeRoy was our speaker on Thursday night and Friday morning and brought us some good words of encouragement.
John Wood closed out the event on Friday evening with a challenging take on what the Kingdom of Heaven means for us today and how that should affect our everyday lives.
We had the privilege of having Pastor Dave Bever and the New City Band as our worship leaders for the weekend. They were incredibly unique and each exampled hearts of those who are actively pursuing God with all that they have! I had a few interactions with them outside of rally-time and heard stories about God doing incredible things in their lives.
Of course the reconnecting, resourcing, and relationship-building with other youth leaders from across the Northeast was a highlight of the weekend, too. Numerous conversations, pee-your-pants laughter, and great meals were shared throughout the weekend making it awesome.
It was great to connect with some of my district-guys, too. It’s tough being in relationship with guys in your district when the closest other youth pastor is 2+ hours away! Our trip down to Baltimore and my Saturday touring-of-DC with two of my district buds was worth the effort for sure!
With the conference over on Saturday morning, Dave Finlay and Richard Cox and myself drove the 45-minutes from Baltimore to Washington and spent the morning and afternoon touring some of the sites. We enjoyed ourselves and had planned on worshiping that night at National Community Church where Mark Batterson pastors.
We were able to get seats at their 5PM service (others had to sit on the floor!) and get to enjoy hearing Batterson live in that service! We even had the privilege of meeting Pastor Mark and Ebenezer’s new campus-pastor.
It was tough being away from my wife and daughter for the weekend, but the time was well-spent and I walked away with renewed energy and vision for the ministry God is continuing to empower me to lead!
I posted pictures of the weekend on Facebook:
FUEL, Day 1
FUEL, Day 2
Touring Washington, DC
