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“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” (John 8:31-32)

The 2016 CBF Summer conference was held between Aug 8-10 at Shipshewana, Indiana with 61 attendants. We had nine messages, Bible & 8th graders’ life testimony sharing, world mission presentations, campfire, Olympic games, swimming along with lots of food. For two nights and 3 days the conference with 9 messages meant maximum Bible study with fun and games for our children.

First, “Hold to the Truth” was the main theme of the conference.  We, Christians are living in warp and corrupted generation. To our growing children it is very confusing. In order to help them to hold clear identity, as children of God and maintain God’s character in their daily life, we chose John 8:31-32 as key verses for this conference with nine other messages: The Opening message, “Hold firmly to the word of life” on Philippians 2:14-16 by Orlando Ocassio. The first main message, “You must be born again” from John 3:1-10, 16 by Jack Magardician. The Evening message, “The fields are ripe for harvest” based on John 4:39-42 given by Sarah T. Ahn. The first morning message, “Run from sin” from Gen 39:1-20 by  Shanitra Cooper. The second Main message, “Whoever hears my word & believes” from Jn 5:24-30 by  Tim McEathron. The second Evening message, “Go and make disciples” on Mt 28:18-20 delivered by Joseph Horvath. The second Morning message, “Facing the giant” was on I Sa 17:1-50 by David Kim. The third main message, “One thing I know” from Jn 9:1-34 by  Dennis Miller. The closing message, “Continue in what you have learned,” 2 Ti 3:14-17 was presented by Sarah Yu.

Before going to the conference, all children 3rd grade and above attended prayer meetings for 4 days. During the prayer meeting we studied the conference main passages all together lead by the conference main messengers. The children wrote testimonies on each of those passages and shared in groups. We chose several testimonies who could share at the conference right after the main message. In this way we helped to have maximum Bible study. 

Second, world mission presentations. UBF sent over 1800 missionaries to over 80 countries in the world. So our children must know about world mission. For this purpose we have been implementing this in our conference programs. We formed 4 groups and they were assigned a nation where our missionaries are serving. Basically each of the groups researched their assigned nation for information for presentation by using the UBF website or contacting the missionaries by email. Then they gave their presentations with a short skit on the work of God by performing the native dance and singing the native song. The respective groups gave world mission presentations on: Australia, Mexico, Uganda and Bulgaria respectively. Among them the Uganda group received the most points for their presentation. 

Third, leadership training. Our 8th graders are the CBF leaders. From a biblical point of view, leadership is to serve others based on Jesus’ example. Soon they will be promoted to High school Bible Fellowship (HBF). So we geared the SBC to train them through group leadership to know how to serve and shepherd younger group members. Not only so, but they also wrote the skit that they presented. In order to be leaders they also shared their life testimonies revealing what God has done in their lives. Some of them became messengers in CBF Bible school under the supervision of teachers June. May God raise many Godly leaders from among CBF children to serve God’s work in their generation.

Fourth, regional gathering. This year we had 8 members from outside of Chicago; 6 from Toledo, 1 from Michigan, and 1 from Milwaukee. They made friends very quickly since they didn’t have many friends of their same age group. In this way we cooperated with each other by growing together for the next generation ministry. 

Fifth, fun and games. CBF children enjoyed three long free times throughout the conference. They enjoyed swimming, paddling canoe, boating, jumping block and others in the lake. On the other hand, there were also many play makers in our dorm which caught children’s eyes. Also we had groups competing in Olympic games outside. Also we had a camp fire which children never forget every conference. Usually we had a campfire  roasting hotdogs and marshmallows. Particularly this time after listening to the message on John 5:24-30, we had a repentant topic burning ceremony at the camp fire. Everybody wrote their repentant topics on a piece of paper and then threw them in the camp fire after prayer as our repentance.   

Sixth. it was God’s blessing and answering to all our prayers. Until two weeks before conference, we were not clear about the 9 messengers. It was in the middle of the hot summer, when people go on vacation, and during their work schedules. So contacted the CBF leaders to have a prayer meeting for 10 days mainly for Bible messengers and the conference. Surprisingly, after three days of prayers we had another dilemma to choose only 9 messengers among 12 candidates. What a sweet answer by God to all of our prayers! The whole church of God in Chicago including early morning prayer servants’ prayers enabled us to carry on the CBF conference wonderfully. May God help all our children to hold the truth firmly to the end so that they may live as children of God with confidence and victory in Jesus Christ.    

Isaac Choi