The event is becoming one of the most popular of the 23 RELOAD events held around the country, says Alison Burkhardt, assistant director of the Center for Youth Ministry Studies.
This was the fourth year that the university has hosted the conference. Attendance far surpassed the 300 people for which organizers had hoped, Burkhardt says. Participants—some of who had left their own teen years long behind—came from as far away as Minneapolis and St. Louis.
The conference has continued to grow because of strong partnerships between North Park and youth organizations throughout the city, as well as the quality of speakers and workshop leaders, Burkhardt says.
Harvey Carey, pastor of Citadel of Faith Covenant Church in Detroit, was the opening speaker. Workshops addressed issues that ranged from helping youth workers develop their own spiritual life to reaching out to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) community. The band Foster, made up largely of Covenanters, led worship.
