BYIC CONVENTION PICS

Spencer and I were blessed to attend the 2008 National BYIC Convention last week. BYIC stands for Brethren Youth In Christ and allows all the youth from the Brethren churches across the US to get together once a year for great speakers, great workshops, great fellowship and awesome worship. This year's convention was in Ridgecrest, North Carolina. The theme was REVEAL where we focused on what God is wanting to reveal to each of us at this time in our lives. It was an awesome week all the way around. Here are Spencer and myself in our REVEAL t-shirts waiting for worship to begin.

The picture below is of the band Flatfoot 56 that put on a concert Monday night. The band consists of three brothers from Chicago and a bagpipe player that looks Irish and wears a kilt. I'm not a big fan of hard rock music, but these guys were terrific and really quite funny. And even though you can't understand most of what they are singing, their lyrics are truly amazing (we got a look at them by reading the little booklet in their CD). I also want to add that the guy who played the bagpipe (and the mandolin as well) was incredible. He was jumping all over the stage and didn't seem to miss a note.

Wednesday night and Thursday morning our speakers were The Skit Guys. These two friends are absolutely hilarious and great witnesses for Jesus. Below they were doing a skit as two newscasters that had to act out the news they were reporting on because they didn't have video clips. They'd say, "We don't have a video clip, but if we did this is what it would look like." The news piece they were reporting on below was of a bank robbery. Sooooo funny!

Our worship band again this year was Attaboy. These four guys are amazing musicians and WOW can they lead worship! They have a great sense of humor and are so fun to hang out with. Below is a picture of the band along with Spencer and Rikki (one of our youth) after the Attaboy concert Thursday night.

This picture is during their concert...

And last, but most definitely not least is a picture of Spencer and me with Leslie Nease from Survivor China.

Leslie was our speaker Monday night and Spencer and I took the opportunity to talk with her. She is very friendly and passionate to share her experience in China and relate it to the many things God revealed to her before, during and after Survivor. Of course, we let her know we are in the process of adopting from China and she mentioned that after she was voted off the show she got to tour the country. Each day she ran into a family that was adopting a child and said she cried every time. I wish I'd had more time to talk with her!!

As usual, we are already excited for next year's convention!!! Rick should be able to go with us ... and Malia, too!!!