Are You Ready for NYWC 2017?!

We are just ONE short week away from welcoming so many friends to Memphis to attend Youth Specialties’ National Youth Workers Convention 2017! SOS has been attending and exhibiting at this convention for many years and it is always an amazing time of connecting with new churches, hugging the necks of youth leader friends from all over the country, and learning and worshiping together. How incredible is it that our beloved home, Memphis, Tennessee, gets to host the 2017 conference! In addition, SOS is an alternative housing option for folks who need an inexpensive place to stay during the conference. If you need a place to stay or know someone who does, point them HERE for more info on staying at SOS! SOS loves supporting this conference because it provides encouragement, refreshment, and joy to youth leaders that we love! What a tall order it is to relationally connect and engage our teenage friends day after day, month after month, year after year. We are so indebted to youth ministers and adult volunteers who have poured into our lives and who pour into the lives of students who partner with SOS. I know I probably wouldn’t be in Memphis, working at SOS without the investment of my high school youth leaders who met me where I was (lost, lonely, and hiding behind a facade) and challenged me to live authentically in Jesus even when it’s not the popular choice. Leaders like those are constantly pouring out. NYWC is a place where they can be poured into and loved on, where they don’t have to create the schedule or plan the skits and games. It’s a time when they can rest and reconnect with their team but most importantly with the One who has given them purpose in their calling to love and serve JH and HS students! Youth leaders, we salute you and we are praying for you to look to Jesus to refuel. He is the living water, a well that never runs dry!

NYWC ‘17 has an incredible line up of speakers, worship leaders and workshops that can deeply enrich youth ministry staff who continually pour out their lives into students for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This year the likes of Bob Goff, Ann Voskamp, Crowder, Propaganda, and For King and Country will be sharing their gifts with attendees and exhibitors (like us)! Even our very own Big Dog will be leading a seminar called “A Race for Action” on Friday, November 17th from 4-5:30 in Ballroom D!

If you are traveling to Memphis for NYWC and need restaurant/down time recommendations, our SOS crew would LOVE to chat your ear off about all our favorite eats, coffee shops, and hot spots in Memphis! Stop by our booth in the exhibit hall or email kelly@sosmemphis.org for our recs!

Memphis, Summer Campemily