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MILLIGAN COLLEGE, TN (July 17, 2014) — Now in its 12th year, the Youth in Ministry (YiM) Student Leadership Conference welcomes 86 high school students from 12 states to Milligan College for the weeklong conference, July 20-26.
The conference is devoted to equipping high school student leaders with the tools they need to become servant leaders for Christ’s kingdom work in their schools, community and around the world. YiM offers three tracks of workshops during the summer conference, preparing them for life, to lead and to serve. The students are housed in Milligan’s residence halls.
Since YiM is in its second decade, some of the original attendees are now working in ministry and send youth from their churches to the conference they attended as a teen. Other conference alumni return as guest speakers, counselors and leaders.
“Now that the conference is 12 years old, I love being able to see it come full circle,” said Phyllis Fox, director of church relations and YiM at Milligan. “It’s my blessing to see students who came in high school now working as kingdom workers all around the world.”
YiM students have gone on to become missionaries in places such as Kenya and India, and work as church and worship leaders, elementary school teachers and nurses. The program teaches students that every job involves ministry.
The conference also exposes the students to Milligan’s mission, and Fox notes that many of the teens decide to continue their journey at Milligan when they graduate from high school.
On average, 40 to 50 percent of students who attend a Youth in Ministry Student Leadership Conference also matriculate at Milligan, whose mission is to honor God by educating men and women to be servant-leaders.
“At Milligan, YiM students become leaders among their peers, serving on athletic teams, at the student-led vespers worship services, in the Student Government Association, in residence life, and as student ambassadors and peer mentors,” Fox said.
Heather Vaccaro, a Milligan admissions counselor who has worked with YiM students during the recruiting process, enjoys watching YiM students dive into campus life at Milligan.
“Youth in Ministry students are some of my favorite students to work with because they want to get involved,” Vaccaro said. “They are already part of a family here, and they are so excited to reconnect with each other.”
Incoming Milligan freshman Averie Blackmore of Johnson City, Tennessee, attended YiM last summer, and considers the experience to be a formative part her high school years. This year, she is the recipient of Milligan’s top academic scholarship, the Jeanes Scholarship.
Already serving as a worship leader in her high school youth group at First Christian Church in Johnson City, Blackmore grew and learned more about becoming a worship leader while at the conference.
“The worship leadership class at YiM helped prepare me spiritually,” Blackmore said.
Since the 2013 conference, Blackmore has helped train other high school students to be worship leaders in her youth group, and she helped design a new contemporary, young adult worship service at First Christian.
“YiM prepared me for the future, but it also prepared me for ministry now,” Blackmore said.
To learn more about Youth in Ministry, visit www.youthinministry.org. To find out more about Milligan, visit www.milligan.edu.