This past weekend, Resurrection had the opportunity to host a conference of Chin Burmese youth in our facility. The theme of their conference was “Your Kingdom Come”, and it certainly felt like the Kingdom as the youth and Resurrection volunteers worshiped, prayed, danced, and sang together. Youth Pastor Will Chester reflects on the experience below:
Several weeks ago, Dan and I were approached by Mark Poulterer and Damon Schroeder about hosting this conference for two local Chin Burmese congregations. Mark and Damon’s connection to the Chin community was through one of Mark’s students at West Chicago, who also plays soccer with some of our RezYouth and has come to a few RezYouth events. In the past, they’ve used Glen Ellyn Bible’s space, but they were hoping for possibly 300-400 attendees and needed something larger.
Though the conference didn’t achieve those numbers, they still had an amazing time of worship, prayer, and teaching from Thursday through Saturday night. Their speaker is well-known in their community and flew in from his home in Frankfurt, Germany! Several of our RezYouth joined on Friday evening and were struck by how they were able to connect with the Lord in song, even though the only words they could only pick up on a few words like Jesus and Hosanna.
A contingency of being able to host the conference was that we needed staff or volunteers present the entire time—quite a feat on Thanksgiving weekend! But the Lord provided, and one volunteer said that this was just the kind of opportunity she was praying for since she was not with family over the holiday.
When I spoke to Mark’s student who had a leadership role in the event, he was deeply moved. He, and most of the other attendees, are only two or three years removed from their homes in Burma or Malaysia where they lived with temporary refugee status. “I just never imagined that we’d be able to host this event in such a big church that is as nice as this one. Thank you so much. Thank you.”
Dan and I wanted to share because this wonderful testimony of God’s kindness in giving us this building and the opportunity to share that blessing with our brothers and sisters—especially those like the Chin Burmese who have suffered for the gospel.
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/244890879" width="100%" height="360" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="https://vimeo.com/244890879">Burmese Youth Conference</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/churchrez">Church of the Resurrection</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
