Nearly 600 attendees gathered Sabbath morning for the second annual West Michigan Youth Rally held in Grand Rapids Michigan. The Youth Rally began with a pre-conference session with Pastor Keith Gray, Youth Director for the Southwest Region Conference on Friday evening. Sabbath morning registrants began to arrive and were given free T-shirts to commemorate the event. The morning began with music led out by a group of high school students from Grand Rapids Adventist Academy . Then Alden Ho presented a message on end time events and the closeness of Christ’s coming.

Jeremy Hall, Chaplin, Great Lakes Adventist Academy presented message in song before Pastor Gray’s message. The Holy Spirit’s presence was evident as the mid-morning message made its way into the hearts of the listeners. Over 120 young people came forward in response to a call for a new or renewed commitment to Christ. Each person responding to the appeal was attended to by local pastors, elders and youth dept sponsors.

Event planners watched the sky throughout the morning and praised the Lord for holding back the rain till after the lunch break. The afternoon was spent rotating through plenary sessions presented by Pastor Jason North, Molly Gray, Alden Ho, and Pastor Willie Iwankiw. The evening began with a concert presented by Victory’s Voices of Nashville TN, Jeremy Hall and God’s Five Voices. A final general session ended with a call to each young person to dedicate their lives to Christ. Afterwards those brave enough to jump on the court, donned their new T-Shirts and ended the day playing volleyball, basketball and other games.

The date for next years West Michigan Youth Rally has already been set April 24-25, 2009. The theme for the 2009 rally has not yet been chosen. We are asking participants to log onto our website and submit their suggestion for the 2009 theme. Submit your ideas at www.westmichiganyouthrally.com . Some exciting changes are being planned for the 2009 West Michigan Youth Rally. Watch our website for updates on Speakers and other Youth Rally info.