Summer Traveling: Christ In Youth –Move Summer Conference @North Carolina and Tennessee

Chiang helping me pack for the trip

What an amazing trip!! We headed out Sunday morning, June 15, at 6 am. It was fun being in the van with all the high school students (11 of them- 6 girls: Taylor, Amanda, Laurel, Maranda, Adriane, and Kat, and 5 boys: Martin, Nick, Jesse, Chris, and Dillon). I was the female sponsor and Josh and Bryan were the male sponsors. Sunday we drove up to North Carolina. We camped at Deep Creek Tube Center and campground. We had a race, boys vs girls to put up the tents. The girls came in a close 2nd but they had never put up a tent before. Our site was beautiful, right on the river. The next day we went white water tubing. I walked a few of the waterfalls. They were just a little too big for my comfort. Most of the river was pretty gentle with little tiny waterfalls. After tubing, we got on the road again and started towards Tennessee.

hanging out in the bus

No AC on the long bus ride

Smiles for the camera

The camp site and tubing

We stayed on campus at Milligan College, where the CIY Move conference was being held. The girls stayed in dorms and the boys say in the dorm apartments. Dorm living is not one of my favorite things, I have decided, especially sharing it with hundreds of high school girls who don’t sleep much and are very loud most of the time. My girls were great, though. The conference itself was so wonderful, uplifting, inspiring, and very encouraging. The presenters did a great job at having deep and relevant speakers and messages. They also had great videos. There were ones with a guy read verses straight from the Bible, they were my favorite. The kids loved the series with the “Toy Box Gang.” They weren’t my favorite but good at keeping the students attention.



The Chapel where sessions were held.

I thought it was a great idea that CIY added to there conference things to help the students stay on track once they get back to life. There was a 25-30 min quiet time of Bible reading/ devotion time everyday. Also the student had to make a life map contract of the next year on a goal they would work towards. They had to write down things they needed to accomplish each month after the conference to reach the larger year goal. The students, sponsors, and youth pastor then hold them accountable for their goals.

Devotion time

Water Fight

Volley Ball Team

Dodge Ball

Scary Gorilla

Scary Josh!

What a great trip!

We feel very blessed to have been apart CIY with our youth group. We got a lot out of the conference and were challenged as well. The time spent with all the great students of the youth group was amazing. They are such an awesome group of kids. They are very inspiring, to know them and their lives and to see where they can go with their faith.