How would you use $1,000 for Jesus? $50,000? How about $200,000?
Here in the Lake Union, we get to ask these questions to young people. Not only do they have answers for us, but we actually have the opportunity to give them the money and watch them use it, to God’s glory!
TLDR; You can register for the Youth Evangelism Congress HERE
The Lake Union Conference Youth Evangelism Congress was pioneered back in 2013, by Pastor Ron Whitehead’s CYE (Center for Youth Evangelism). The vision was simple, but profound: what if we actually funded local young people to do evangelism their way? Out of this idea, the Congress was born! The weekend boasted excellent music, moving speakers who talked about fresh evangelism ideas, and breakout sessions where you got to workshop deeper into these ideas. Then, at the end of it all, attendees could submit their wildest evangelism dreams, and claim free money to help make those dreams a reality. The weekend was a success! The only problem? Money was left on the table! Most didn’t take the opportunity and actually take CYE up on the money they were offering.
I was one of the attendees that year, and truthfully I did not claim any money. I was a young pastor, and I figured some other non-ministry-professional could use the money more than me. However, I was inspired by the Congress just the same. I went back to my church and started up a homeless ministry that the local youth got to help out with. That evangelistic effort is still going strong in that community today! Clearly money wasn’t the only thing that the Congress had to offer. The networking, community building, and inspiring aspects of the event were also powerful.
Nevertheless, money is offered, and it is a significant reason attendees keep coming back. Since that first iteration of the event, the concept has caught on more and more. The most recent Youth Evangelism Congress, 2024’s Now is the Time, was an amazing success when it came to funding young people’s creative evangelism ideas. Between CYE’s initial money on the table, matching funds from local churches and Conferences, and an additional sum given in the eleventh hour by the Lake Union office: $212,200 was awarded to young people so that they could do evangelism. In total, since 2013, over $500,000 has been awarded. We all know: it’s not all about the money. But I do want to impress on you a key truth: this doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world. Our local Lake Union is the only one doing this. That makes this an amazing opportunity for our young people, that they won’t get anywhere else.
That brings us to today, and the reason I’m writing this article now. February 13-15 is the date of the upcoming Youth Evangelism Congress: Limitless. I want to strongly encourage our pastors and church leadership to send your young people to this event. As a younger person (and even today) this event has been inspirational to me. I have met a lot of people who have become partners in ministry. I have deepened relationships with people who I already knew. I have learned things that are working right here in the Lake Union that have encouraged me to try something new in my own ministry context. And, as a pastor, I have even sent young people who came back from the event, excited for the first time about doing something to reach their community for Jesus.
TLDR; You can register for the Youth Evangelism Congress HERE
The event isn’t without cost: like everything CYE does, it is a high-quality event that takes place in a high-quality space. But what you’re getting out of the event is also a high-quality result. And truthfully, with the offer of free money on the table, your church stands to receive much more out of this event than you put into it–not just qualitatively, in the inspiration your young people will receive, but quantitatively in the money they stand to receive to help fund their projects.
Let’s talk details, though: how much does it cost, and how can you sign your young people up for this event? The costs are based on how many young people (between one and four) you fit into a hotel room. If you send one person to stay in one hotel room, the cost is $369 per person for the weekend. However, if you send four people to stay in one hotel room, the cost is $209 per person for the weekend. This is a huge incentive to send multiple youth to the event, instead of one. Even if you don’t have four youth to send, it would be worth the time to talk with other pastors in your area to see if you can team up to register multiple youth for one room. Also, consider that if the young people you send are under the age of 18, they will need to have a chaperone, so that will be two beds right there.
You’ll also notice in the graphic that the cost is based on when you pay. The lower prices last until November 30 of this year. After that point, the prices go up. You can still get pretty decent rates for putting four attendees per room. The latest you can sign up is February 1, 2026. However, even if you wait until the last second, you can spend less money per person if you send four in a room, than if you register right now with one person in one room. I think I’ve beat the horse to death by now, but in case you skimmed the last two paragraphs, I want you to come away with two things:
Register your young people ASAP, and fill up the hotel rooms when you do.
You can register HERE
We should also talk about the other glaring feature from the graphic about projects and money awarded from 2024: Wisconsin doesn’t have a lot of projects on that list. Well: why not? We had a great group of attendees. In the past, we’ve been one of the highest awarded conferences. The bottom line is that either we didn’t ask for money, or we didn’t ask until it was way too late (and I mean WAY too late, because they just kept finding more money and funding late projects in 2024). So what can Wisconsin do differently ahead of the 2026 Congress?
- Come up with your evangelism ideas and plans now. We’ll actually be brainstorming ideas at our upcoming Wisconsin Young Adult event: The Table. But even if you’re not going, you can start with this question: how would you spend $1,000 for Jesus?
- Talk to your church board about these plans, and get a dollar amount approved in your board minutes (you will have to show these minutes when you apply for Youth Evangelism Congress dollars). Remember: your local church has to match, so if you want $1,000 do accomplish your evangelism idea, the church must commit to $500.
- Qualify for the money: people asking for money have to be attendees at the Youth Evangelism Congress. They also must be young people (which honestly is pretty broad, as the event is for ages 16+, and young adult is usually defined as someone younger than 40). Again: the money has to be voted through a local church board, which means if you want money, it will be awarded to the local church, not to you or to a ministry you started outside of the church.
I already know that we have a group that is planning on attending the upcoming Youth Evangelism Congress. We always do. For those who have been going to it in the past, they know that it is an excellent event worth attending. But here are my hoped-for outcomes of this article:
- I want to see even more young people from Wisconsin attend this event.
- I want to see our local Wisconsin church leaders see the value in sponsoring young people to go.
- As a result, Wisconsin’s local churches could come away with thousands of dollars in funding for local evangelistic efforts. Even better: your local young people can feel the support of their church boards, the Wisconsin Conference, and the Lake Union as they creatively come up with new ways to reach their community. That is priceless.
- The event is in Chicago (Hilton Northbrook, 2855 Milwaukee Ave). In the past, it has been in Shipshewana, Indiana. Chicago is very close to us, compared to Shipshewana. If we want to give a reason to keep it close to us, Wisconsin needs to send young people. Otherwise, the Lake Union is a large geographical area, and it’s possible they could move to a further away location again.
Still on the fence about attending/sending young people? Do it for Kurtis!Kurtis grew up in Wisconsin (peep the Camp Wakonda hat!). He and his wife and kids live in Tennessee now, but he still comes back up north every time there is a Youth Evangelism Congress.
Did I mention that every year, Wisconsin Young Adults are always part of the lineup for inspiring speakers and breakout session leaders? Every Conference in the Lake Union (Illinois, Indiana, Lake Region, Michigan, Wisconsin) is asked to send two presenters (or presenting teams) to the event. At the last event, the speakers from Wisconsin were Josh Guerrero and Josue Peralta. One reason to be there is to hear what your local Wisconsin peers have to say, and to support them as they present to hundreds of their peers from around the Lake Union.
You can register for the Youth Evangelism Congress HERE
Before I let you go, encourage young adults (any attendee over 18) to stay the extra day (Monday, February 16) for FREE, and attend the Young Adult Summit. This is a bonus day where young adults will recieve leadership training, connect with other people who are young ministry leaders around the Lake Union, and be able to give input as new ideas and tools are developed for building up young leaders. It’s no extra cost: plan on sticking around the extra day. Do it for Pastor Zack!
If you’ve gotten this far in the article: thank you for reading. I believe that our Lake Union leadership truly have put together an excellent event and opportunity for our Wisconsin young people, and I don’t want them to miss out on it. At least not for lack of trying. I’ll leave you with pictures from the last Youth Evangelism Congress, 2024’s Now is the Time. If you see someone you recognize in the photos, don’t take my word for it: reach out to them and ask if they felt it was worthwhile.
Register for the Youth Evangelism Congress HERE
Pastor Zack Payne,
Youth Director
