Beyond48 - Teenstreet Ireland

Introduction
I'm trying not to use my typical language to describe how incredible Teenstreet (TS) Ireland was, but I think I'm failing. Quite simply, God's glory, might, goodness, mercy and love were powerfully on display during this weekend!

For those of you who don't know (shock-horror!), Beyond48 happened 17th - 19th February '07. It was a Christian Irish youth conference run by OM (Operation Mobilisation), and is an off-shoot of the famous Teenstreet Germany (a review of which is here).

An incredible 350 teens, youth leaders and volunteers packed out Kilkenny College for what was to be an exciting, God-filled weekend (for those of you not living in Ireland, 350 Christians at an event in the south is quite a big deal!).

The weekend can be divided into four parts: main sessions, breakout sessions, NET groups, free time.

Main Sessions
Firstly, the teaching. Wow. It was, as TS tradition has it, by Dan & Suzie Potter, the founders of the TS movement. They are incredibly gifted at keeping the attention of a bunch of rowdy teenagers, and do so through various means. For example, Dan is a talented magician/trickster who uses various wow-effect tricks relating to something they are trying to teach the teens. On stage, they take turns speaking, carrying the plot on from each other every 2 minutes or so, which really keeps you awake.

As the title of TS Ireland, Beyond48, suggests, the theme was all about getting "beyond" - beyond yourself and the limitations/falsehoods that the world and Satan try to convince you exist, beyond the conference (48 hours). We were taught three steps we need to take:

1. Stepping back into ourselves, to see the people we have become when Christ set us free;
2. Stepping upward to see everything from God's perspective, and
3. Stepping forward into God's plan, and surrendering your own to His.

I came as a coach, nonetheless, I found the teaching very challenging and encouraging. I felt it had a very good balance between biblical exegesis and explanations/demonstrations relevant/understandable for teenagers. Although once or twice Dan performed a trick which took very long and became slightly boring:(

There was also a strong emphasis on social justice, both nights they had several speakers and videos encouraging us to demonstrate God's love by standing for justice in this world. For example, Stop the Traffik, which is a movement for the freeing of the 27 million people in slavery today, you can read more about it here.

The music: It is such an amazing experience to worship God together with other saints! Especially doing so alongside teenagers from your own church. The band itself, Epiphany Project were supposedly all under 20 and were very talented and God-focused.

Breakout Sessions
There were two breakout sessions in total, where different workshops and seminars were offered, dealing with issues such as sexuality, radical Christian living in a school, and standing for social justice.
The one session I went to, sexuality, was very average, although the other two were apparently very challenging and relevant.

NET groups
NET group are the family units of TS, usually consisting of 7 teens and 1 or 2 coaches, either all guys or girls. NET group times was when things happened. It was such an amazing and humbling experience to see teenagers open up to the love of Jesus and His call on their lives! I know that all the teens in my group went home very encouraged and challenged to live more radically for the cause of Christ!
These times were really great just to pray for each other and to share what God had been teaching us over the weekend. This presents the clear opportunity of keeping in touch after the weekend for accountability and encouragement.

Conclusion
If you are reading this, and you have never been to any Teenstreet, I highly recommend it to you! If you're a teenager, tell your youth leader about it! If you're a youth leader, consider seriously bringing a group along to a Teenstreet event. I know they are lots of money, but they are well worth it. Many youth groups organise fund-raisers.

The next upcoming Teenstreet is TS Germany, 28th July - 4th August '07, information for which can be found here. (A review is here).

To God be the glory, forever and ever!! Amen.