Young teens ponder profound spiritual issues BY YVONNE J. MEDLEY
UMConnection Correspondent Amid basketball and soccer games and many other fast-paced activities, 125 youth slowed down to ponder some profound questions at the conferences Middle High Youth Retreat. Things you want can really mess up your religion and your faith, Donna Hoffman, from St. James UMC in West Friendship, told the youth in a workshop on materialism. The middle high students erupted with thoughts they were eager to share. Sponsored by the Baltimore-Washington Conference, the retreat offered a weekend of activities at West River Center in Churchton Feb. 8-10. Hoffman challenged the youth to pretend theyd received a million dollars and to compose a shopping list. While new houses and cars abounded, some remembered the church and one young girl expressed the desire for a purple butterfly habitat. The kids just amaze me with their insights, said Tom Price, director of conference youth ministries, who sampled several workshops throughout the weekend. Theyve got some really good answers to some pretty deep questions, he said. Manuel Baca Jr. and Bradley Massey, both 13, from Epworth UMC in Cockeysville, had raced each other to their workshop. Once there, they listened as facilitator Bill Jones talked about self-image and asked the youth how they balanced God-centered lives and worldly self-images. As the young people expressed themselves, some of the youth leaders gained new insights into their charges. It was real beneficial for me, said Joe Robinson of Salem UMC in Germantown. You get a different perspective when you hear whats on their minds. The youth participating at the retreat came from throughout the conference, from Westminster to Waldorf. By Sundays worship, which included communion, a mime skit and choir, the teens from different churches were no longer strangers. Gloria Moses, of Simpson-Hamline UMC in Washington, D.C., chaperoned her churchs group. She participated, she said, because of the opportunity to help young people become closer to Christ. Her son, Tony, was among the group. I thought that this would be a great place for them to get away from the city life and get with other kids who have the same outlook as they have, Moses said. It was the first time that Consuelo Walker, co-youth coordinator of the conference council on youth ministries, attended the retreat. She said she was already looking forward to the Rock 2002 Retreat in Ocean City, coming up in March. Everything that we try to have the kids learn here is what we want them to take back to their church so that they can go on and continue growing. They are the future of our church, Walker said. The theme of the weekend was Does your life always reflect Christ? In addition to the workshops, the retreat featured a concert by the praise and worship group Adonai from Catonsville UMC. | 
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