Many of these 31 churches do not have formal teen ministry established in their local church, nor do they have trained leaders dedicated to be in charge of the local church teen ministry. We held a mini leadership summit on last day (while the students were involved in arts and talents clinics – options from jewelry making, soccer, advanced piano, video editing, guitar, balloon animals, sign language, etc.) All of the leaders who attended youth conference with students attended the leadership summit, but additional leaders from those churches also came just for that day. There were 64 leaders at the summit, and 46 of these leaders signed up to be part of the mentoring groups that we will be starting in January. These mentoring groups will last 1 year, in which we will come alongside these leaders and help them form an official teen ministry in the church and make and implement a plan to win, build and send students effectively. We were planning on starting two mentoring groups (1 each in two different cities), but from the response we’ve had, we may need to start 4 groups (1 each in 4 different cities!)

All in all – youth conference and leader summit were a huge success. And we are excited about the ministry to come this next year in training leaders to work effectively with their students and communities. THANKS for partnering with us to make this possible! And THANKS to all the teams from the NWMN and beyond who came this summer and helped us "plant the seeds" for the conference and involvement of these churches by serving their communities in outreaches and service projects! YOU MADE A DIFFERENCE! THANKS Faith Family Church in Milton who helped us host the actual conference. Pastor Greg was a dynamic preacher and encouraged everyone there!

Jamie Bello

Missionary to Youth in the Dominican Republic