ReEffect 2016
The Territorial Youth Department hosted the biennial ReEffect Conference at the Atlanta International Corps in Doraville, GA, January 8-10. This year’s theme, ReVision, called on attendees to see the invisible and to question their perceptions of others.
Well-prepared speakers led workshops and sessions that sparked conversations among delegates on racial reconciliation, the Syrian refugee crisis and the school to prison pipeline. The weekend was bookended by southern salvationist speakers Captain Andy Miller III and Commissioner Phil Needham who challenged those present to take back what they had learned to their corps and communities by putting it into practice in their local ministries.
On Saturday afternoon, some delegates separated into teams for integrated missions opportunities in the Atlanta area while others journeyed to the Sweet Auburn Historic District in downtown Atlanta to visit the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.
During the Sunday morning closing session, Commissioner Needham summarized the lessons of the weekend in a final call to see others in a new way and to love them, even when it isn’t easy. “If you don’t see as Jesus sees, you can’t love as he has called us to love,” he said. “If you see in the wrong way, you won’t love as you’re called to love or you won’t love at all.”
For more information, pick up a copy of the next issue of Southern Spirit, out January 30, and click through the photo slideshow to see select moments from ReEffect 2016.