Emily Lain, Conference Youth President, joins Bishop Ward as they recap Annual Conference Session for Youth (ACS), where they celebrated their 70th anniversary last week.
Bishop Ward:
Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ. Emily Lain is with me, President of our Conference Youth, and we celebrate seventy years of the Annual Conference Session for Youth. Tell us about last week.Emily Lain:
Yeah, we had such a great time last week. You know ACS is a great way for all of us youth to get together and talk about the important issues going on in our Conference and the world. Our seventy-year anniversary was really exciting to celebrate.Bishop Ward:
A lot of work was done to unearth the history of ACS, and there’re people around who were there for that first ACS seventy years ago. You all talked about the history of ACS together?Emily Lain:
Yeah, we met one night with lots of people from past ACSs, past presidents, and past officers, and it was really cool just to see the history of youth ministry in our Conference and where it was and where it is today.Bishop Ward:
I went to ACS myself. I was the youth from the North Gates charge in 1968. This year ACS was held at Camp Rockfish.Emily Lain:
That’s right, a little different, switching it up this year. We did a lot of things outside, meeting in lots of different places. A lot of our resolutions were about climate change, LGBTQ matters, and racial reconciliation.Bishop Ward:
One of the things that I noted in the history of ACS was that a resolution was passed almost seventy years ago at ACS calling for the end of racial segregation. So our Conference has been engaged in racial justice for a long time. Emily, we thank you for your wonderful leadership. We know that ACS and other conference youth events strengthen and enliven youth ministry in local churches all across our Annual Conference.May it be so this day where you are now and always.