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2,100 youth come together at WOW
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Written: 2/4/2009
The largest gathering of United Methodists in Missouri isn’t Annual Conference Session in June, the meeting in which all active clergy are required to attend and every church sends voting lay members. It’s in January, and the average age is about 15.
WOW has been called Winter Outreach Weekend, but it is also the most aptly named event in Methodism. “There’s 2,100 kids meeting in Springfield this weekend? Wow!”
WOW started in 2001 in Columbia, with 300 in attendance. It outgrew the Columbia venue a couple years ago and move to the Expo Center in Springfield, the same place as Annual Conference Session. In addition to being bigger than the Annual Conference, it’s also disproportionately louder, with concert quality sound to match the big name bands.
WOW is one of the few places where you can be among thousands of teenagers who can actually answer the question, “Where do you go to church?” Sure, levels of Biblical literacy do vary. Many of those attending are never-miss-a-Sunday church going youth, but some are less churched youth who were invited by friends. “I wonder why he’s painting a fish?” one youth said as he watched the performance painter during worship. “It’s the symbol of Jesus Christ,” his friend told him.
WOW started like a rock concert, with little light and lots of smoke (from smoke machines, not cigarettes). There were high energy Christian songs by Will Goodwin, and in the generational practice of doing two things at once, Goodwin shared the stage with Todd Damotte of Pictable (http://pictable.org/), who painted w
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After that introduction WOW turned to Marquis Laughlin, a professional actor (www.actsoftheword.com). With a voice reminiscent of James Earl Jones, he told a slightly abbreviated version of the story of Abraham and Isaac from Genesis 17-22. The story was straight from the Bible. His gestures were expressive, but not exaggerated. He added no explanations, modern references or jokes. The humor and drama came only from the scripture; and the teller held the audience spellbound. When he paused for dramatic effect, the room of more than 2,000 teenagers was silent.
Comedian Bob Stromberg (www.bobstromberg.com) followed Laughlin, and entertained with an impressive hand-shadow skit. Stromberg closed his routine by asking everyone present to sponsor a child through Compassion International. He told how 30,000 children die daily from preventable disease, and sponsoring a child at $1 a day can make a difference.
“I love making people laugh, but nothing gives me more joy than encouraging others to sponsor a child,” he said.
He told how a girl that he has sponsored for a few years lives at a dump in Rio De Jenero, a place where most people from the US would think they couldn’t last a night. She’s able to go to a Compassion center five days a week to get three meals, health care, hygiene and education.
“I’ve met 19-year-old graduates of the program who told me they wouldn’t be alive today without the program,” he said.
Following Stromberg was Jason Gant, director of student ministries at Church of the Resurrection (www.cor.org). Gant preached how becoming a father had given him a deeper understanding of the fatherly-love available from God. He cautioned the youth about bringing sin into their life, and brought it around to the 10 commandments, showing a video of youth struggling to name two or three of the 10.
“People think of the 10 Commandments as this horrible list of don’ts, but they are actually a love letter from God,” Gant said. He then shared a way to count the 10 Commandments on your fingers that helps people remember what they are. He also shared the five r’s for resisting sin (see box on page 6A). Part of these involves counting on a trusted friend.
“Be that friend that someone can count on,” Gant said.
Gant concluded his first message, and WOW was less than two hours into its two-day schedule.
Matt Reeves, a sophomore who attends First UMC in Joplin, was at WOW for his third time, and he was impressed with what he saw in the first couple hours.
“The lights and sound are better this year, and they have a great line-up of performers, especially Stellar Kart,” he said.
Franklin Brownfield, who was there with his former church from Independence, said he enjoys the music and comedians, but that’s not the highlight.
“I think the best part for me is meeting new people, and spending time with my friends,” he said.
In 2010 WOW will be January 23-24. Group 1 Crew is confirmed as the concert band.