December 2009 Youth Conference 13 to 18 December

"There is a Rock - Likhona iDwala Lokucasha" - Conference theme.

see more photos here

High resolution (10megs) of Tuesday night panarama view in Auditorium

13 December, opening service: The first official opening service was at 11am. Rev Stegen preached on the Sovereignty of God as descibed in the Christmas story of Luke 2 the first few verses. The Lord was in perfect control as he steered the birth of our Saviour to be at Bethlehem and not in Nazareth where Joseph and Mary were residing. God used a pagan Emperor to bring about the Census which forced Joseph and his pregnant wife to make the difficult journey to Bethlehem. Read more on the summary here.

13 December, Evening service: Rev Friedel Stegen took the evening service and preached from 1Cor 10:4, Deut 32:13, 2Sam 22:1-3 and Ps 78:16 on the Rock, Jesus Christ, which is a shelter, stronghold, Living Water and Life to all who trust in Him. Read the full summary here.

14 December, morning service: The morning service taken by Erlo Stegen continued the theme of Lk 2. In particular, the majesty and greatness of Jesus Christ, creator of heaven and earth, and here we find him in the lowliest place, in an animal manger. He, who has all the riches, forsook heaven, become so poor and lowly, to exalt us and lift us to heaven to share in His riches. Read more of the summary here.

14 December, evening service: The evening service taken by Erlo Stegen continued with Lk 2, but from verses 8-13 on the great multitude of angels which left heaven and came to earth to behold this great historical event: God becoming man to save man from their sins. Read the summary here.

15 December, morning service: Rev Joseph Chauke took the morning service and read a number of verses. His main message was from Mark 4:35-41, where the disciples took Jesus into their boat. When the storm arose, Jesus rebuked the storm and there was a great calm. Read the full summary here.

15 December, evening service: Rev Erlo Stegen continued with Luke 2:15-18. The shepherd obeyed God immediately and they received the blessing. Read more here.

16 December, morning service: Rev Joseph Chauke took the morning service. He took us on a journey through the Bible where we looked at Bible personalities founded upon the Rock of Ages. Read more here.

16 December, evening service: Dr Sieling took the evening service and spoke on God's bounderies in our most intimate relationships. Read more here.

17 December, evening service: Rev Erlo Stegen preached from Matt 16:13-19. God revealed to Peter that Jesus was the Son of God. Unless God reveals the Gospel to you, all your education will be in vain. Salvation is not by education but by revelation. Read more here.

18 December, morning service: Rev Joseph Chauke preached from Jer 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?". Read more here.

18 December, evening service: Rev Erlo Stegen took the closing service (again from Matt 16:13-19) with sound advice to the youth to hide in the Rock as they go home. Jesus is not dead but alive and sits at the right hand of God (where He ascended) in heaven from where He intercedes for us. Trust in Him and cry to Him to keep you as you go home and live before your unsaved family and friends. Stay firmly on the Rock of Ages.

Note before the start of the conference: The date may strike you as unusual being so close to Christmas. We always try to have the Youth Conference a little earlier to get them back with their families well before the Christmas rush. It's also more difficult transporting them during this season with the heavy traffic on the roads. But, God's providence rules over all, even though FIFA 2010 is the main reason for upsetting the dates. The South African Government would like school children to get the opportunity to attend FIFA 2010 matches - which means a very long July vacation. Because of this the Department of Education has made the December closing date for schools a week later (11 December) and schools start next year a week earlier (13 January). We need to adjust our Youth Conference dates to be as convenient as possible for school children. Our main audience, twice a year, is made up of mostly school children.

Please pray for this special time.