“Your love never fails, itnever gives up, it never runs out on me.” These were the words of the first song we heard as we entered the Baltimore arena for the 2012 Acquire the Fire conference. There was something about those words from the moment I heard them that I knew the 7 young ladies with me needed to hear them over and over again until it anchored in their souls. Within ten minutes of taking our spots and singing, one of our young ladies was at my side with tears in her eyes saying, “Thank you. Thank you for everything. Thank you for bringing me here. This is what I need.” I knew it was going to be a good weekend.
The theme of the weekend was “Normal is Not Enough.” Our time together was filled with speakers, comedians, bands, worship music, skits, and shared meals (including Chipotle!). The speakers and skits addressed the realities of common teenage obstacles such as fitting in, striving to be popular, difficult relationships, partying, sex, and drugs by giving the hopeful alternatives God offers of love, healing, forgiveness and reconciliation.
After the weekend one young lady posted on her Facebook page, “The Last Two Days, Those Changed My Life. It Opened My Eyes. God Has a Future For Me. #Plan Be. & I Can’t Wait To See What He Has In Store For Me! – Amen 🙂 Another student posted, “This weekend was the best. I didn’t want to come home. It was just amazing.” Two other favorite feedback quotes included, “This weekend changes everything.” and “Now I understand what John 3:16 means.”
We would like to give a pecial thanks to our leaders, Meg Karchner, Este Sherwin, and Adriana Gomez, for giving their time and helping make this weekend happen. Thank you to our donors who helped make this weekend financially possible for our girls.
