I just wanted to prepare you for the week your student is going to have. Some of you might have been to NYC as a teen, and some of you may have never gone, but no matter which category you fall under, I just wanted you to be filled in by someone who went as a student to NYC2011. I have enough excitement for your students, because they don't really know what to be excited about yet.
NYC will change your student(s). They are about to spend a week with thousands of students who are just like them.
So here are some things that might happen:
Some of your students will walk away having a better idea of what college they want to go to. Most of them will walk away much closer to the students they went with.
Some of you will have students that will come home with the entire course of their life changed. I am writing this post from Lewiston, Idaho because of NYC2011. I heard the LORD call me to vocational ministry during that week in Louisville, and here I am four years halfway done with college, and interning at a church in Idaho to better prepare myself for the ministry God called me too. I am so excited at the prospect of a student having a life changing experience like that this week.
Some of your students will simply say yes to the beautiful grace of God this week.
Be prepared to have your student unable to describe right away what they experienced this week. It may take days...or weeks...or even months for them to be able to understand exactly what God did in them.
I can't begin to explain how thankful I am for the experience I had at NYC. When people ask me about some of the most impactful events in my life, I point to NYC without hesitation, and I know that most of your students will too.
So this week I urge you to PRAY. Pray for the adults who are going to be guiding your students throw this experience. Especially pray for their youth pastor who is going to be exhausted, yet so excited to watch the change happen in your students. Pray for the speakers, that they have the right words, and that they are simply mouthpieces for God. But most importantly pray that your students lives are changed.
My prayer this week is that your students lives are changed just like mine, and so many others were four years ago. I pray that our students ears and hearts are open to the wonderful all consuming love and grace of an awesome God and say yes to the great things He has for them.
Sincerely,
A former NYCer
NYC 2011 Louisville, Kentucky
