Over 200 of 足交视频鈥檚 youth attended a spiritual rekindling hosted by Faith Family Church on Saturday. Serving to relight faith and purpose in teens going into 2025 and the second half of the school year, the Faith Family teen conference was a two day retreat for any who wished to reopen their hearts and minds to the Word of God.
鈥淭he people and the kids we reach don鈥檛 always come from the best homes, or the best housing, or don鈥檛 have a lot of support but [they] can find that here,鈥 Cory Cann, one of Faith Family鈥檚 youth pastors, said. Cann grew up in the 足交视频 area and has been attending Faith Family since he was 2 years old. 鈥淛esus says that he鈥檚 come for the broken-hearted or those who are poor in spirit, and I believe that a lot of the students who feel they have nothing for them come here and get to find a new home and a new life and they get to thrive here.鈥
Cann took over the youth pastor role at the student ministry for Faith Family Church four years ago and his drive to be a reliable and understanding adult on these kids鈥 lives stems from his own upbringing with Faith Family church.
鈥淚 have to make it really relatable,鈥 Cann said on how he strives to reach the kids who come to him. 鈥淣ot because they are bad kids or they can鈥檛 listen, but because they just go through different things. We try to become their friend first before a teacher and we try to just get in their world and say we grew up in similar worlds, let me help you out.鈥
Outreach events like the teen conference is just one of many ways Faith Family pushes to connect with their community鈥檚 youth. At the beginning of every summer, Faith Family hosts a week-long retreat to give kids and teens the opportunity to experience different activities and make connections with new friends and peers.
鈥淭he cool thing about retreats like this or rekindles like this is it breaks down those walls these kids have put up over the years,鈥 Cann said. 鈥淲e want to ignite a burning passion for these kids to have Godly relationships and Godly foundations. The whole point is to think of it like a fire and how it takes a lot of work and consistency to keep that fire going.鈥
The first step to tending that fire is to have a solid foundation at home, and Cann tries to get the kids鈥 parents involved with these retreats after the COVID pandemic forced a lot of people to stop going.
鈥淲e鈥檙e rebuilding this culture of investing in the kids鈥 life and that starts at home,鈥 Cann said. 鈥淚 think there is no better spiritual leader than your parents. If we can create this culture where we have a parent who鈥檚 leading by example, and yeah they may not have everything right, but they are trying to invest in their kids, it would create a lot more healthy families.鈥
A pesky pandemic isn鈥檛 the only challenge met by Faith Family, and youth pastors like Cann, to continue to strive for more spiritual health in their community, but the changing times is a factor as well.
鈥淲hat it is, I think sadly, is the divorce rate is high, and the world is changing. Generations are just different now than it was before and more than ever, I believe, kids don鈥檛 realize how much they need God,鈥 Cann said. 鈥淭hey think that I鈥檓 a good person, I don鈥檛 do this, and I don鈥檛 do that, but the sad reality is a lot of kids raise themselves now and they think they have it all figured out. The truth is we all need God.鈥
Spiritual retreats such as the Faith Family teen conference does more than give the youth something to do during school breaks or keep them from doing more harmful activities, it also serves to provide an example and be a reminder of how and why spiritual health is just as important as physical and mental health.
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