By David Dawson
ddawson@tnbaptist.org
The West Tennessee YEC event was held March 25-26 at Germantown Baptist Church, Germantown.
FRANKLIN — This year’s Youth Evangelism Conference was the realization of a plan that was a long time in the making for Tennessee Baptist Mission Board youth specialist Jay Barbier.
For several years, Barbier has been working toward implementing a redesign of YEC that included switching the yearly event to regional sites on multiple dates instead of having one conference at a central location. The change was designed to enable more churches to be involved.
Barbier’s vision officially took shape this year, when YEC was held at three locations around the state in East, West and Middle Tennessee.
“It was such an incredible opportunity to bring YEC closer to each of our regions to help better serve our local churches,” said Barbier. “We had great experiences at each of our locations. God definitely had His hand on each of these events.”
The life-changing results of this year’s conference — which included a total of nearly 200 combined professions of faith at the three locations — were especially meaningful for Barbier, who is currently battling cancer.
Jay Barbier
Although his treatment prevented him from going to all three sites, he was able to attend the West Region YEC, and said he was overwhelmed by what he saw.
“It was such an emotional event for me,” said Barbier. “The only word I can use to describe it is ‘wow!’ That’s what I felt while I was worshiping with so many that attended.”
Each location had live music and guest speakers. First Baptist Church, Concord, Knoxville hosted the East Tennessee event on Feb. 25-26; New Vision Baptist Church, Murfreesboro, hosted the Middle Tennessee event on March 11-12; and Germantown Baptist Church, Germantown, hosted the West Tennessee event on March 25-26.
The numbers for this year’s YEC (see chart below the story) indicate that the regional-site format was a hit for both youth and youth workers.
YEC attendees engage in worship at New Vision Baptist Church, Murfreesboro, where the Middle Tennessee YEC event was held March 11-12.
Barbier noted that in the past — when the event was held in downtown Nashville — many churches around the state were unable to send their youth due to travel expenses and other costs.
This fact troubled Barbier since he first joined the staff of the TBMB in 2018 as the youth specialist.
“When I started at the TBMB, I felt the Lord put the vision in my heart to make YEC a regional event,” he said. “Ultimately, we just wanted to make it easier and better for churches to enjoy and attend YEC. We want students to hear the gospel and give them opportunities to respond to the good news of Jesus.”
Barbier said he was thrilled by the reports that he heard from each of the host sites.
“God moved big time in each of our locations,” he said. “The Lord was exalted and praised! People were very appreciative that we moved this to a regional event.”
The COVID-19 pandemic created some tough obstacles for YEC in the past two years, including a complete cancelation of the event in 2020. Last year, the conference was held online, and churches were encouraged to have small gatherings on the church campus to watch the event.
First Baptist Church, Concord, hosted a large crowd at the East Tennessee YEC. The annual conference was held at three regional sites this year.
Interestingly, though, those adjustments proved to be beneficial, as the pandemic paved the way for the conference to make the move to the regional sites.
“Absolutely, it helped with the transition,” said Barbier. “COVID provided us with the opportunity to take a step back and look at what we have been doing — and to examine some new ways of going about this.”
Barber said he believes the conference can be even bigger and better moving forward.
“I’m excited about the future of YEC,” said Barbier. “It has even greater potential at growing and finding more locations in the years ahead. It’s an exciting and encouraging time.” B&R
YOUTH EVANGELISM CONFERENCE: BY THE NUMBERS
East TN YEC:
• Total number of attendees: 257
• Churches registered for event: 22
• Professions of faith recorded: 17
• Calls to ministry: 6
• Youth missions offering: $406
Middle TN YEC:
• Total number of attendees: 1,194
• Churches registered for event: 84
• Professions of faith recorded: 124
• Calls to ministry: 6
• Youth missions offering: $2,526.31
West TN YEC:
• Total number of attendees: 1,020
• Churches registered for event: 77
• Professions of faith recorded: 38
• Calls to ministry: 25
• Youth missions offering: TBA (Still being totaled at press time)
