Ever been to GYC?

[Tom Wetmore]

Elementary, my dear Watson...

[olger]

Redwood. I don't play games. I tell people who I am up front, and I have never posted under another name. Can you say the same, before God?

back to GYC. Next year it will be in San Jose, CA. If the trend continues, the crowd will be the largest ever. The weather should be pleasant as well, even nicer than Minneapolis (ha).

Y'all come.

oG

[iramos]

My name is Israel Ramos and I was the GYC's founder and its second president. And I still serve on its Board of Directors. I came to this site (started at page 4) while doing some research on GYC. And I was curious of the comments and continued reading. I thought I should respond to several comments made in an effort to provide some clarity on some items.

1. GYC was started, conceptualized, and launched by young people for young people. We raised our own funds through our registration, set up our own non-profit, and selected our own speakers without the direct influence of any church leader.

2. I was a student at Andrews University at the time. Later, I became the program director of CAMPUS (a division of MI Conference Public Campus Ministries Department), based in Ann Arbor. And a few years ago, I entered the pastorate in MI's UP.

3. Samuel Pipim's role in GYC initially started as a speaker. He's among the young people's most sought after speaker for his loyalty to addressing issues from the Bible. Jay Gallimore was not aware of GYC until it was on its way to Michigan the following year. Both of them were asked to serve on the Board of Directors after the Ann Arbor conference and remain in this positions (without apology -- they are among the church's best and brightest leaders).

4. Michigan's role in GYC. We are a non-profit in Michigan. We want to work with the church. There would then be an obvious attempt at working with the local conference. The bonus, we are ideologically on the same page. Michigan's Public Campus Ministry is a sponsor of GYC along with ASI.

5. Regarding GYC presenting a unique ideology that is conservative. YES (if that's what it's called). We prefer the term "biblical" -- sounds a little more classy.

6. Regarding the couple who was turned off. Sorry, not our intent at all. I know Randy Skeete, the speaker who addressed GYC the opening night, and he's a splendid Christian and friend. If they met him personally before the meeting, they would have appreciated the presentation a little more. Perhaps the leadership should not have assumed that everyone present would know him and appreciate his background. He's married (over 40 years old, but looks young for his age) himself. His point: the times in which we live should cause us to even question whether marriage should be a priority at this point in earth's history. But no excuses needed, on either end. Some people even with explanation will not appreciate a certain speaker or their message. Not necessarily a bad thing. But my sincere apologies for that.

If you've read this far, thanks for your patience. And I've never met Redwood, but I'm sure he's a nice person too!

[nuff sed]

As quoted by Israel Ramos: "Perhaps the leadership should not have assumed that everyone present would know him and appreciate his background."

Not only do I not know who Randy Skeete is...I don't even know what GYC stands for!................

[BobRyan]

General Youth Congress --

I went to one with my family two years ago - Our two daughters were home schooled through high school and then both got software engineering degrees from a well known engineering university. We wanted them to meet other SDA young adults so we all went to GYC.

WOW!! Best kept secret in Aventism!! Best speakers! Best sessions! Best events!!

Fantastic!

in Christ,

Bob

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

Gladussee said:

Quote:

As quoted by Israel Ramos: "Perhaps the leadership should not have assumed that everyone present would know him and appreciate his background."

Not only do I not know who Randy Skeete is...I don't even know what GYC stands for!................

me neither...

here's what I found: General Youth Conference

[rush4hire]

I like that web site. http://www.gycweb.org/resources/resources.php

It looks like you can get the video and audio archives there. I've listened to quite a few of those. My favorite speakers are David Asscherick and Peter Gregory. Doug Bachelor speaks at those some times, too.

[Woody]

Quote:

Michigan's role in GYC. We are a non-profit in Michigan. We want to work with the church. There would then be an obvious attempt at working with the local conference. The bonus, we are ideologically on the same page.

Herein lies the problem ....

Need I say more?

[olger]

Thanks Israel, for the background. Looking forward to seeing you in December,

gcw

[Peace]

Thank you, Israel, for your input.

I, myself, have been to every GYC except for the first one and have always been blessed. If you want to see young people on fire for God this is the place to go. Your heart will soar realizing that these dedicated young people are taking the torch to proclaim the 3rd angel's message in this generation.

May God continue to bless GYC.

Peace

[darlene]

Randy Skeete is a wonderful, wonderful speaker! He was our 1st ever Men's Ministries Retreat speaker at Camp Hope four years ago. The men were so inspired by his presentations! Randy quotes chapters from the Bible from memory. One of our pastor's recommended him to us. Some of our churches have had him make presentations in their churches following the retreat and two weeks from now he will be back as our Men's Ministries Retreat speaker at Camp Hope (in the British Columbia Conference, October 31-November 2, 2008.

If you haven't heard him speak, you ought to!