March 14th to 16th 2014; 200 youth leaders and representatives from around Mexico met at the Mexican Nazarene Seminary to be trained and to spend time with other youth leaders. Gary Hartke, David Gonzalez, Milton Gay, Lucas Lays, among other youth leaders shared God’s word and workshops with the group. Among dynamic, praise, fellowship, learning and other things, young people were ministered to and encouraged by the Holy Spirit of the Lord. They departed encouraged, with renewed energy and with new tools and knowledge to lead their youth groups. Praise God for all He has done and will do this year with the NYI in Mexico!

Fabiola Sanchez, NYI Coordinator of the Mexico North Field, shares the event details in the following summary. We invite you to read it and share it with others who need to be encouraged

By: Fabiola Sanchez, NYI Coordinator, Mexico North Field

NYI Mexico has been a strong for generations. A united and committed group. This is the reason why every day there is more need to be prepared to better serve God and continue leading this generation to a dynamic life in Christ.

Last weekend, March 14th to 16th, a group of 200 youth leaders and representatives from around the country met at the Mexican Nazarene Seminary to be trained and share with other youth leaders about the vision and the challenges we as young Christians have, leading the young people to Christ.

The event started on Friday with registration, opening speech by Josué Villatoro and opening service with the participation of Global NYI President, David Gonzalez.  We closed the night with recreational activities led by Jony Bernal.

On Saturday, we started with the participation of Lucas Leys, with the theme: “The Best Leader in History” and preaching the Word of God in a night service. The same day, we initiated the workshops with useful and practical topics for ministry, which were:

“BE, DO, GO!” By Gary Hartke

” Leader’s Faith “, by Elder Esther Costilla

“Youth Counseling” by Tabitha Gonzalez

“Firm Steps” by David González

“The blind spot of leadership” by Eduardo Jiménez

“Natural NYI Development” by Josué Villatoro

” Challenges of women in leadership” by Ana Celia Mtz

“Youth Ministry” by Andrés Fernández

“Occupation, profession and ministry,” by Gabriel Yip

“Generational Groups” by Albina Antonio

“Institutional Respect” by Yeri Nieto

In addition to these workshops, we heard the Word of God through Gary Hartke, NYI Global Director and Milton Gay, our NYI Coordinator for the Mesoamerica Region. They challenged us to overcome the challenges and ¡go for more!

The presentation of the book “flight plan” written by Milton, motivated us to better prepare our ministry and become more effective.

On Sunday, we made the official presentation of awards to 49 young people who completed the Youth Ministry Academy. They completed a course of 20 lessons taught in training centers of the Northeast, Gulf and Huasteca districts. Congratulations to Jony Bernal, Sugey Barrón and Vanessa Maldonado for following up on this project and help the further development of youth leaders.

This is not all, on Sunday during the closing worship service, we had the opportunity to recognize the efforts of a person who has dedicated his entire life to the service, which has firmly believed in and supported the youth ministry of the Mexican NYI.

With the delivery of the Timothy Award, we recognize the great work of Elder René Jiménez! CONGRATULATIONS!

On Sunday afternoon we closed the conference with something special, a time of worship and fellowship where we partook of the sacrament of Holy Communion. It was a wonderful time!

Thank God for all the people who made this event possible, to our Field NYI leaders, district presidents, the speakers, workshop leaders, the entire staff.

We give glory to God for all the experiences this weekend and ask that HE continue to guide the life of every leader, using them to love and serve those around them.

God bless the Mexican youth!