Igniting Hope in Cardiff

I have the privilege of leading an outreach as part of the Discipleship Training School (DTS) I am working on with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). The team I am leading is going to three different locations over an 8-week period in the UK.

Our first stop has been Cardiff to join in with an event called Ignite Hope 2012. This is a youth conference where young people come to hear teaching and challenge about who God is, what it means to have faith and then to go out and put it into practice all over Cardiff.

We had the pleasure of joining with another team of like size from Colorado in the states and the ignite team to run this event. We spent two days putting the site together, constructing marquees, putting up bouncy castles and the like, setting up staging and cafes etc. The event was then over four days, before we took it all down again.

The actual event was amazing, with over 150 young people wanting to invite Jesus to be their saviour and Lord for the first time. We had the privilege of being a part of the prayer team and getting to sit and talk with a number of these guys about what it means to become and Christian. We have also been able to pray with people for healing and seeing them become well. The outward focus activities was also an amazing chance to be able to talk with people all over Cardiff and not only share what we believe, but also help to clean up areas practically (from litter picking to cleaning graffiti and re-painting)

The presence of God has been very strong during this weekend, especially in the worship. I really enjoy seeing young people come alive and want to reach out to others and bless them, and to be apart of this weekend has really blessed me and challenged me in who I am and what I believe.