DCLA Youth Conference

By Caitlin Parodi

        This summer I had the opportunity to attend the DCLA Youth Conference.

        DCLA was founded by Youth For Christ in 1985. It was originally held in Washington DC; it expanded to Los Angeles in 1994. This year it was not held in LA, but rather in Sacramento; Cincinnati was also added to the list of locations. I attended the conference in Sacramento. There were groups of students from all over the world, including Hawaii, Hong Kong and Lebanon.

        A day at DCLA starts with LAB, a small group study designed for developing your testimony. Each LAB session covered something different, such as “Uncover My Story”, “Discover Their Story”, and “Unfold God’s Story”. From these, I learned how to explain why I needed Jesus; how to listen to others and find out their needs; and how to present the Gospel.

        The afternoon sessions were optional, called “DEEPer Sessions” because they dug even deeper into God’s Word. I attended two of them, Talking to God About Others, and Listen Louder. Both of these classes tied in well to what we learned about our testimonies.

        The evenings at DCLA were occupied with the Big Room teaching and worship time. At this point, approximately 3,000 students and youth leaders gathered in the biggest auditorium to learn from the Gospel of John.

        Usually the night started with worship, excellently led by the David Crowder Band. The entire audience would be jumping up and down with one song, then prayerful and still with another.

        The teaching was done in a variety of different ways, from special speakers to drama. The drama team was sometimes hilarious or sometimes very seriously and emotional. Hip Hop John was a favorite among many students as he rapped the Gospel.

         At the end of the day, after all these classes and the Big Room, many Christian bands and artists gave concerts. Relient K, Toby Mac, Rebecca St. James, and Number One Gun were some of the musicians who came to DCLA.

        DCLA was a great experience for me and I hope to do it again next time.

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