wfn.org | New Youth Connection Leaders Say They're Ready to Serve

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

27-August-1997 
97336 
 
    New Youth Connection Leaders 
    Say They're Ready to Serve 
 
    by Julian Shipp 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--Delegates at Connection '97, the first national youth 
assembly of the Presbyterian Youth Connection (PYC), cut their legislative 
teeth in July with the election and commissioning of co- moderators Andrew 
Buckley of Eatontown, N.J., and Kelli C. Rudolph of Eden, Idaho. 
 
    "I really look forward to working for the Presbyterian Youth Connection 
over the next three years," Rudolph told the Presbyterian News Service. "I 
am so excited about the changes that the General Assembly is making for 
youth and I'm even more excited by how the youth of the PC(USA) are really 
grabbing onto the responsibilities that are before them." 
 
    "Beyond being elected, the whole event was an amazing experience," 
Buckley said. "I've never gotten anything like it before from any other 
conference or retreat I've ever been to." 
 
    Buckley and Rudolph, who moderated the legislative sessions of the 
conference, held July 23- 27 at Slippery Rock, Pa., will serve until the 
Connection 2000 assembly.  Buckley said he and Rudolph, who both served as 
Youth Advisory Delegates at the 209th General Assembly (1997), have 
committed to work toward strengthening youth participation and leadership 
throughout the denomination. 
 
    "There is a place for youth in our church," he said. "They can be 
active. They can be heard. And if they can show the adults that they know 
what's going on, they're going to get that voice. They're going to be 
heard. It's really a matter of the training that kids need to learn about 
the governing bodies, but also giving them a chance to use it." 
 
    The PYC event was markedly different from the Presbyterian Youth 
Triennium held every three years because Connection '97 was geared toward 
training youth leaders from each presbytery. Delegates had the opportunity 
to participate in four workshops: service and mission, spirituality, the 
Presbyterian Youth Connection and recreation. They received hands-on 
instruction on how to lead and carry out the different aspects of their 
personal faith as it pertains to their presbytery youth programs. 
 
    The second significant piece of the conference dealt with legislative 
issues. Each youth or young adult delegate was assigned to a committee, 
much as commissioners to the General Assembly are assigned. There were more 
than 20 committees and, just like at the Assembly, delegates could submit 
resolutions and overtures prior to the event and during the first two days 
of the conference. These committees gave youth the opportunity to test 
their legislative skills as well as seriously discuss the concerns they 
were assigned to address. 
 
    During the conference, Rudolph and Buckley were assisted by the Rev. 
Margy Wentz, stated clerk of the event and of the Synod of Southern 
California and Hawaii. Gina Yeager, associate for youth ministry in the 
Congregational Ministries Division, said she was moved by how earnestly 
participants struggled to come to decisions that were faithful both in 
committee and on the floor of the Assembly. 
 
    "They were amazing," Yeager said. "What a mysterious and daunting task 
they had ahead of them and yet both [Buckley and Rudolph] remarked on more 
than one occasion how excited they were; how grateful they were to God for 
the opportunity. We were blessed by their poise, their enthusiasm and their 
courage." 
 
    "Over 750 participants at the morning plenary were witness to one of 
the most creative and anxiety-filled elections I have ever seen," added 
Yeager. "The 600-plus voting delegates wandered their way through several 
ballots without the use of electronic voting equipment. The delegates 
passed the time during ballot counting by singing praise songs. Just when 
we thought, `They're never going to make it ... what are we going to do?' 
the energy in the room would rise, anxious leaders would calm down and on 
we would go. It was astounding." 
 
    During the National Presbyterian Youth Ministry Council executive 
committee meeting this fall, Buckley and Rudolph will discuss and further 
refine their roles. Representing and advocating for Presbyterian youth and 
PYC, Buckley and Rudolph will also be present at various church gatherings, 
including the General Assembly, throughout their three-year term. 

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