Reflections on Unite

Amanda Moffat, Director of Youth Ministries, Newport Covenant Church

We were a small but mighty group who didn’t know what to expect at Unite West since this was the first big denominational event we had all gone to. The word I kept hearing prayed over our two youth before heading to the event was “healing”. To my surprise, on that first night God started in on that prayer of healing and I was able to see spiritual, emotional, and mental healing from the past couple of years in our students. Over the week, I saw God bring down barriers for our students who needed to be reminded that they were 100% truly loved by God no matter what. Unite West was able to provide a space for our youth to see that God loves them, that their leaders love them, and that they are not alone in their faith and journey with God.

Karen Olson, Associate Co-Pastor for Youth, McMinnville Covenant Church

Unite West gave us a chance to live out the theme of unity in Jesus. We had the joy of partnering with three Covenant churches from the Willamette Valley – McMinnville Covenant (McMinnville), Trinity Covenant (Salem), and The Well Covenant (Corvallis). It was a privilege to practice our shared faith together with 14 students and 4 leaders from across these communities. When we arrived at Unite, that impact was multiplied as we worshipped and had fun with students from across the entire West Coast. It was powerful to see students respond to God’s invitation to come home, grow in relationship with Jesus, and become Kingdom workers. As we return home, we are grateful for our deepened relationships with God, with one another, and with our Covenant family.

Christy Wilson, Youth Director, Lettered Streets Covenant Church

To best demonstrate the experience my youth had at Unite West, I will give you two snapshots:

Night 1: Our group showed up a bit late for the day, missing all the welcome wagon hype and festivities. We barely managed to get our rooms and a meal before joining the first session. Upon entering the gym, the sheer volume of sound, light, people, energy, and excitement hit my students in a single wave and turned them all into a pack of deer-in-the-headlights. I passed out earplugs, while my students looked at me as if I had betrayed them. That evening we processed how drastically different ‘rock church’ (as they called it) was from our normal folksy Sunday worship services.

Night 5: When the keyboardist hit the first chord for worship, my students sprinted for the gym floor, vying for the best places in the mosh pit!

Tim Anderson, Associate Pastor of Worship and Youth, Creekside Covenant Church

Unite West could be summed up as an, ‘answered prayer.’ The first night I remember the worship team going acapella singing, “Who the Son sets free/ oh us free indeed/ I’m a child of God, yes I am!” The whole gym was singing and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Whether we had been explicitly praying for this kind of moment or not, our prayers were collectively answered as we could finally lift our voices together in the presence of the Spirit of God. The week flowed on that way – ultimate frisbee with other churches, basketball, soccer, and the water park. Kids hanging with kids from other churches, youth pastors, and leaders reunited after months or even years apart. God’s Word was powerfully proclaimed by our speakers and it felt like a blessing to have such a diverse yet unified team speaking God’s truth over our students. What a gift. We even had a student come home and get baptized after experiencing such a powerful time at Unite West.