This year at Spring Conference the theme was Milk and Honey.  We talked about Exodus, the Promise land, and the obstacles that can keep us from reaching the “promise land” God has for us in our lives.  These obstacles include: grumbling, complaining, self-doubt, faith failure, and bad attitudes.  During the conference I had the opportunity to invest in the older JV Kids, by planning some activities and leading a time for them to discuss what they were learning during the conference.  I also had time to invest in each of my JV guys individually including one that left last year for college.

One of the activities we did during the week was going with all the family of JV to the Zoo.  During the zoo trip we had a hashtag competition.  I spent the time with my three guys and Blake Patty who came back from college.  It was a great time walking around with them and investing in their lives.  That evening I planned a laser tag outing with all of the older kids.  They all seemed to enjoy it and had a great time together.  It is really enjoyable to be with them as they are like a big family.  As I wrote before, we actually met a couple of times during the conference and spent time discussing what we were learning.  I really loved listening to each of these dear kids and their hearts.  God is working so much in each of their lives.

One of the best parts and hardest parts of the conference was the goodbyes.  We in Jv, don’t just let people go, we do good goodbyes.  One of the things we do is have the people leaving come to the front and we shower them with the gift of words.  We had a couple of families leave who have been with JV  many years and were some of the founders.  It was time for them to move to the next stage in their ministries. It was sad, but beautiful at the same time.  The other major group leaving was 5 JV kids leaving for college.  Ian Chase was one of them.  I had the opportunity to speak about him in front of everyone and pray for him.  It was a great honor and I am so proud of the man he is becoming. I am really going to miss the 5 that our leaving.