The Central District Youth Conference (CDYC) was held at Inspiration Hills Camp near Inwood, Iowa, Nov. 18-21, 2021. Students and adults representing 10 churches and four states attended the event.
The conference included sessions, service projects and late-night activities. A team from Dordt University in Sioux Center, Iowa, led worship.
Dustin Galyon, owner of Galyon LLC: Keynotes and Seminars, and head coach of the men’s golf program at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, served as speaker for five sessions.
“Dustin is an energetic and passionate guy who used God’s Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit to challenge us in our relationship with Jesus,” says Anthony Lind, associate pastor and youth pastor at Bethesda Church in Huron, South Dakota, and member of the Central District youth committee.
Galyon’s message topics included taking steps of obedience in following Jesus, identity, accountability leading to healing and hope, and the story of David and Goliath, noting the community David needed to defeat other “giants” in his life.
Students participated in three service projects in Sioux Falls, S.D., Friday afternoon, with most helping with Thanksgiving preparations at the Union Gospel Mission.
Late-night activities included a game of zombie apocalypse and a dodgeball/capture the flag smashup.
“We are humbled and blessed that God continues to use CDYC to bring people to faith and challenge others to take steps of obedience,” Lind says. “With the leading of the Holy Spirit and the power of God’s Word combined with willing leaders and other adults, CDYC is often a spiritual marker in the lives of many teens.”
Janae Rempel Shafer is the Christian Leader associate editor. She joined the CL staff in September 2017 with six years of experience as a professional journalist. Shafer is an award-winning writer, having received three 2016 Kansas Press Association Awards of Excellence and an Evangelical Press Association Higher Goals award in 2022. Shafer graduated from Tabor College in 2010 with a bachelor of arts in Communications/Journalism and Biblical/Religious Studies. She and her husband, Austin, attend Ridgepoint Church in Wichita, Kansas.
