Members gather to praise during a recent service at the United Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ’s annual National Youth Conference at Apostolic Pentecostal Church in Greenfield on Friday, March 18, 2022.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
GREENFIELD — They gathered on Friday night, moving to the upbeat music and dressed in their Sunday best.
Youths and their families from various churches convened Friday at Apostolic Pentecostal Church in Greenfield for the annual United Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ National Youth Conference. Groups came from as far away as churches in Lafayette and in Hymera in Sullivan County; one couple came from Pennsylvania.
“It was very impactful,” said Joseph Riggs, pastor of Apostolic Pentecostal Church. “It wasn’t just the young people — everyone that was there was impacted by it.”
Though the association has a church as far away as California, the youth conference draws people mostly from Indiana and neighboring states. The conference began more than 30 years ago; it hasn’t always taken place at the Greenfield church, but in recent years it often has because it’s a central location in a larger facility than some churches have available.
The conference kicks off on a Friday night with a service. The next day features breakout sessions and another service.
Lia Matthews, the guest evangelist speaking Friday, challenged the youth seated front and center before her to cultivate their spiritual maturity today and not wait till the future to be people of influence. She said at a pivotal moment in her own spiritual journey when she was 13, fellow youths were the people “praying me through.”
“You can’t afford to wait till tomorrow,” she said. “I know that we hear it so much, that ‘the Lord is coming, the Lord is coming’ … but if you’re not careful you hear it so much that it becomes just a cliche to you, young people.
“But you’ve got to have heaven as your focus. You’ve got to have God as your focus, that ‘I will not compromise, I will not let go and I will not let down, but I will cling to the cross.’”
