CHIC

On Saturday, (at the ungodly hour of 3:30am) I will be taking 19 high school students to our denominational (www.covchurch.org) youth conference (CHIC), held once every three years. CHIC, which stands for "Covenant High in Christ", is located once again this year at the less-than-lovely, concrete jungle known as the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. The entire city is bright orange. I kid you not.

I attended CHIC as a student back in 1984 at the University of Wyoming at Larramie. My older sister attended CHIC in 1976 at Estes Park, Colorado. My younger sister attended CHIC in 1988 at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. That's just my family, and yet it shows a sampling of how CHIC has been there for students over the generations. The early attenders (50 years ago) numbered only around 200 or so, and showed up for meetings in ties or skirts. My older sister's group numbered in the hundreds, wearing bell bottoms. I had a couple thousand and wore shorts and t-shirts (which I still do). My younger sister had over 3,000, and plenty of MTV haircuts were seen. This year, there will be over 6,000 kids, and tattoos and piercings will be plentiful.

CHIC has been a constant in the Covenant, as we have attempted to minister to high school students who are in a constantly changing culture. And the constant within CHIC itself, has been a strong sense of calling kids to accept Christ as Lord, and Savior, of their lives. It would have been easy for CHIC to turn into simply a platform for whatever the "social issue of the day" was, and yet CHIC has remained faithful to that core call to commitment. Although there is (and rightly so) opportunites within CHIC to discuss, learn about and initiate action for areas of social justice, that has never become the predominant theme. Knowing, loving and following Christ remains at the center. I'm proud to be a part of such a wonderful, life-changing event.

19 students head out on Saturday am. They are all great kids, excited and passionate about their faith. When they return the next Friday evening, I fully expect all 19 to be even more so. In fact, I expect them to return with faith on fire. How blessed I am to have the opportunity to call them brothers and sisters in Christ.