On August 14, 2004, hundreds of people gathered at Calvary Lutheran Church in Golden Valley, Minnesota to celebrate Youth Encounter’s life-changing ministry.  Larry Dean Johnson, President of Youth Encounter, shared that during the 2003-2004 ministry year, Youth Encounter proclaimed Christ in 260,000 transformational encounters in the U.S.A., Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and South America.
 
The day kicked off with the first Homecoming concert.  We heard two songs from several Captive Free teams, and Watermark-Denmark and Kindred shared stories and songs from their overseas ministry in Denmark, and Bolivia and Peru, respectively. 
 
Following a wonderful picnic lunch in Calvary Park, we heard mini-concerts from each of the eight Captive Free bands and Covenant, the summer Vacation Bible School Team.  The afternoon ended on a high note, with shouts of “Encore!” aimed at Captive Free South Central.  They responded by playing “Beautiful,” the Grammy-winning Christina Aguilera song with a positive message about inner-beauty.
 
Concurrently with the national band concerts, both International teams and Captive Free teams gathered with family, friends, and even host home families from as far away at Long Island, New York to share significant, life-changing stories of their ministry year.  I spent time with Watermark-Denmark.  John Foster compared and contrasted the Danish state church with churches sponsored by Denmark’s Inner-mission (Indre Missions).  He reports that while the state church has lost attendance and power, it still contains some faithful servants.  Tracy Apps shared that at first she was overwhelmed, and “felt helpless in a new culture” but was “comforted by God’s love.”  Lorraine Peterson, grandmother of Nate Peterson, suggested that other grandparents “encourage their grandchildren to volunteer in good Christian organizations like Youth Encounter.”
 
Karen Torbit, whose son Patrick has served on both Captive Free (North Central 02-03) and Watermark-Germany this year, remarked after hosting several teams during the year, the team members “really became our children.” 
 
The second Homecoming concert included the remaining Captive Free bands, along with international teams Cross Fire, Watermark-Germany, and New Dawn.  The concert closed with a punk/reggae version of our 2003-2004 theme verse “New Creation” by John Kearns.  Along with many hugs and a few tears, it was a fitting end to another year of life-changing ministry.