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Students take journey to top of Roan balds
By Chelsea Farnam
Johnson City Press
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ROAN MOUNTAIN — For the 77 high school students who hiked on Roan Mountain Wednesday as part of Milligan College’s Youth in Ministry conference this week, the mountaintop experience is great, but the joy is in the journey.
“The purpose of the conference is to help students explore God’s call for their life,” said Youth in Ministry Director Phyllis Fox. “But God’s call is a continuing process.”
As a physical illustration of that process, Youth in Ministry traditionally plans a day hike to the balds on Roan Mountain to spend time in worship and prayer.
Since many students drive or fly in from lengthy distances for the ministry conference, the Roan Mountain vistas are often a new experience. This year’s batc h of students hailed from 13 different states ranging from throughout the Midwest and Southeast.
“My favorite part of today was going up on the mountain,” said 17-year-old Cody Watts of Louisville, Ky. “It’s pretty awesome to see everything God has made out there and how he made it just for us.”
After their morning activities and lunch at the college, the students and leaders piled into eight vans to caravan to Carver’s Gap at the North Carolina border.
The worship band hired for the week played a few songs while the students sang along and gazed over the ridge line.
“I actually enjoyed going up the mountain and when we were doing worship,” said 16-year-old Alicin Mack. “I mean silence has never felt so beautiful before. I could feel the Holy Spirit in my heart.”
Fox explained that part of the reason Youth in Ministry brings students to the mountaintop is scriptural. “God did a lot of work on mountaintops,” said Fox. “With Moses, with Elijah, then in the New Testament Jesus took his disciples on the mountaintop, he prayed on the mountaintop. … And of course part of going on Roan Mountain is to see the majesty of God.”
Youth in Ministry is in its eighth year and is continually growing. This year’s enrollment is up 16 students from last year’s 61. The program is funded by the Lilly Endowment Inc.
“Research discovered that less than 5 percent of seminarians were under the age of 35,” said Fox of the program’s founding in 2003. “So we created a program for high school students to encourage them to look at vocational ministry.”
The program began this week with registration on Monday, and students leave the college today. Throughout the week, students attended classes taught by professors from Milligan College, Emmanuel School of Religion and by ministers from area churches. The classes range from specific vocations such as missions or preaching to classes like “understanding God’s unique design.”
Through daily practice of spiritual disciplines and prayer, Fox said she hopes the students come to learn the simple truth that “the best way to hear and discern God’s call for your life is to listen.”