While many people venture out of the city to spend time with their families or simply to catch a break from their everyday lives during Christmas vacation, I traveled to the Southern Baptist State Youth Convention in Santa Clara with my youth group from El Encino Baptist Church, Dec. 28-29.

The convention, Ignition, openly invites youth groups to join together in worship and fellowship in hopes of bringing people closer to Christ and closer together. The conference lasted two days and one night, with four main worship sessions, two community group meetings and two different seminars of your choice.

Worship was lead by Carlos Whittaker along with two special concerts by PressPlay and Sidewalk Prophets. On the first day, the main speaker was Sammy Lopez, lead pastor at Mighty Fortress Christian Fellowship in San Antonio, and on the second day it was Jeff Wallace, youth pastor at Peace Baptist Church in Decatur, GA.

Youth pastor Gilbert Salcedo from El Encino Baptist has attended several of these state youth conferences and encourages teens to go in hopes of them making new friendships and creating a stronger relationship with God.

“I take my youth to Ignition because I want them to create bonds with one another and to give them an oppertunity to get away from home and have two days that they can focus on their relationship with God,” Salcedo said. “I think the most important part of Ignition is the speakers because they speak in a way that relates to the teens. The messages that they give are very challenging.”

Sammy Lopez spoke about the reality of Jesus Christ’s second comming, although the date and time is unknown, we must live with a fire burning inside of us to spread the gospel in everything that we do. He urged us to let the Lord change us both inside and out, and to hold on to the word of God because it is a light in all darkness.

Jeff Wallace urged us to first define our faith in God, and then defend it. We need to know without a doubt where we stand with God and once we define it we must defend it. He encouraged us to start small if we are only just beginning to investigate our faith, and that we should ask for help if we find ourselves struggling with our faith in Christ. But if we become sold out on our faith we need to remember that the Lord is faithful.

FC freshmen Alex Torres has gone to Ignition three times and enjoys the fellowship of his friends. He also appreciates the opportunity to renew his relationship with God.

“I thought Ignition was good this year, I liked the speakers who spoke there,” Torres said. “I thought it was good that we had that community session where all of the city’s churches can get together. I like going back because I think its a good way to check your faith and get to know the people at your church better.”

Youth groups from the same city/area were placed in small groups together in hopes of becoming familiar with one another. We shared what our cities were in need of and how we, as christains, could meet those needs and set ourselves aside from everyone else. In addition we prayed over our cities, churches and each other for guidance and the courage to do what is right in the eyes of God.

FC eighth grader Natalia Torres went to the convention with Trinity Southern Babtist Church with high hopes and the desire to know more.

“Ignition was great,” Natalia said. “We learned so much from the speakers and pastors there. Worship was one of my favorite times because you can see God working in the students just by praising him. I really like how they put us in small groups just to get to know other believers and talk about some things that our city is in need of.”

Following the community small groups everyone was required to attend a “firestarter” class, or a seminar of your choice. With nine differnt seminars to choose from, each is very specific on a certain topic. The topic ranged from determining what God’s will is for you to the ropes of basic Christianity and so many more. I personally attended the seminars on determining what God’s will for my life is, and learning how to make hardcore choices for a hardcore world.

In the first seminar, youth pastor Michael Denton of Park Victoria Baptist Church, stressed the idea of truly knowing God’s voice when he is calling you. He encouraged us to start paying attention and begin to obey what God is calling us to do in the little area of our life. This way we slowly begin to recoginize His voice and when we become called to do larger-scale things, we have no trouble obeying the Lord or hearing his voice.

As for the second seminar Associate Pastor Wayne Isgrigg of First Babtist Church of Fair Oaks urged us not to underestimate wisdom. He reminded us that when we ask ourselves if there is anything wrong with what we want to do, our assuption becomes, “If it’s not wrong then it must be right.” Instead we need to ask ourselves what is the wise thing to do? He referred to life as a game of chess, but instead of checking twice before you make a move check three times, it might just make the difference.

Amongst almost 2,000 teens, bonds were created and relationships with God restored. Many received the opportunity to worship without embarrassment or fear of what people will think of them, and that was a beautiful thing.