My great joy was always working
with the various district Christian Education Committees. I was never very good
at leading (or being part) very formal committees meetings. I loved the free
flow and give and take of creative meetings planning and preparing for the
future. The DCEC was like that: always fun, always creative, and always
thinking of the future.
With the national LIFE conferences
coming every four years we were looking for a ministry to bring the district
youth together in between the LIFE years. LIFE was a unique bonding experience
and we wanted to build on that. District Youth Congress (DYC) was the
result. We already had camps in
the summer, but they had a greater regional emphasis. Neither did we want it to
feel like camp. As a result we decided to put the conference eon between
Christmas and New Years because we wanted to start in a hotel and their lowest
occupancy was in that time period. We would get our best price then.
There was no central location for
the district. At the time we were drawing youth to events from Salem to Smokey
Point and Bremerton to Spokane. We considered somewhere around the Tri-cities,
but ultimately settled on Portland. The reason was the number of choices and
the price\ and available set up. I had checked out several cities. There was
nothing in the tri0cities that was workable. Seattle was too expensive. I
looked at Everett who courted me with a bottle of wine in my room. That did not
impress me. Their building was too small. We selected the Red Lion Lloyd Center
for the first DYC. Great location. Right next to the Lloyd Center and the MAX
train that could take one downtown for free.
We stayed in Portland for the
second one but moved to the Lloyd Center on Hayden Island on the Columbia
River. It had easy access from I-5 and gave us access to a river cruise for one
event. Author Frank Peretti was the speaker that year and I was having lunch
with him the day he learned his book had gone to number one on the New York
Times best seller list. He had been making skis on Vashon Island and excitedly
told me he could now quit is job and be a full time writer.
This was the first time we choose to spend the extra money for a full color brochure. Daryl Smithgall was my intern this year and he ran around taking "glamour" shots of the youth pastors as thought this were some fashion magazine. We had a terrific Mens quartet called "Commission" from Nyack College.
For number three we moved to the Red Lion across the highway from the previous one. It was a little larger and we needed more space. I loved the fun we had with the 40's theme. The brochure included photos of all the youth pastors in 40's style clothing with nick names included with their name. Most wore those clothes for the program. I was on the front listening to the radio.
For the fourth one under my
leadership was moved near May Valley to Camp Barakah. I was paranoid about
hosting any event that cost more than $100. $99.99 was my limit. Barakah was
large enough to hold us, and the cost fit my price range. The hotels were such
that we would have been paying $120 or more. That was not acceptable to me.
Somewhere along the way we chose
to do an Alfred Hitchcock ting and have me appear on the cover. It may not have
been made at the first DYC, but it happened for three of my DYC’s. The fourth and last DYC under my term was designed by a real artist. It was at this conference where we introduced "Maximum Impact"a district wide teen outreach program. To introduce the program we made a video that worked its way around the district. It had a clip of me in my office supposedly in the planning stages of this program. It was a total mess with junk food and pizzas boxes and papers everywhere. The youth from the Portland Church were used to tell the actual story.
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| DYC 84 |
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| DYC 86 |
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| DYC 88 |
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| DYC 91 designed by a real artist. |
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