Over the past five years the Gulf States Conference Youth Department has continued with the Adventist youth mission of seeking salvation of young people through Jesus Christ. Through facilitating different activities such as Adventurer clubs, Pathfinder clubs, youth rallies, teen invitational, Adventist Christian Fellowship and Young Adult retreats; the Youth Department has taken an active role in providing opportunities for our young people to encounter Jesus. While continuing with this commitment, it is also our desire to provide these same opportunities to our young adults between the ages of 18 – 35.

YOUTH

Currently the Gulf States Conference Youth Department has four teen invitationals in which youth from around the region can come together and take part in a variety of activities such as: caving, backpacking, canoeing, and rock climbing. These events provide opportunities for our young people to come together and spend time in nature with fellow Christians.

In addition to teen invitationals, the youth department currently has two regional youth rallies within the conference in Huntsville and Mobile, AL. Every March, “Cross eXamination" in Huntsville has continued to provide quality programming for youth, ages 13 – 19 in which teenagers from around Northern Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia come to worship and serve together with the help of both the local volunteers.

The Youth Department has also continued to have the fall “Epic Encounter” event that is also with the help from Engage group at SAU.

YOUNG ADULT MINISTRIES

Our Young Adult Ministry is continuing to grow under the guidance and leadership of Frederick “Ricky” Woodruff as the YAM coordinator. In 2020 the Yam group was able to meet at camp Alamisco and talk about this vision of gathering together more often to grow in Christ and enjoy each other’s company. The youth department continues to promote the two annual retreats for young adults that take place in the spring and fall.

Adventurers

Over the past five years the youth department has seen an increase to our Adventurer club numbers. This has been led by our Conference Adventurer Coordinator, Luisa Cortez whom we are extremely grateful to. Luisa will be taking a step down and this role will now be led by Elizabeth Rodriguez.

the attendance for our Adventurer clubs have been growing over the years, currently we have 23 clubs conference wide. Each April, the adventurer clubs come together at Camp Alamisco for a Family Fun Weekend that involves both the parents as well as the children in teaching them about the love that Jesus has for them. This special weekend continues to become more popular among adventurer clubs and the attendance for this event has increased as well.

PATHFINDERS

Pathfinders has continued to offer our youth ages 10-15 an opportunity to learn life skills while providing an avenue for them to learn about Jesus. The Pathfinder program is led each year by the Pathfinder Council under the direction of Ivan Lugo. Over the past five years we have seen tremendous growth within this ministry through the leadership of the Council. We currently stand at 38 clubs and 656 members. Each year the Council is responsible for organizing and sponsoring:

Inductions and investitures for all Pathfinder clubs within the conference.
Adventurer and Pathfinder leadership training at Camp Alamisco. In August of 2020, we had leadership from many clubs conference wide show up for the leadership weekend.
Pathfinder Camporee in which all Pathfinder clubs come to Camp Alamisco for a four-day camp out.
Pathfinder Fair, hosted at Camp Meeting.

While the above activities are offered every year, there are some activities the Council sponsors every other year, such as:

Spring flings, where Pathfinder clubs from a geographical location camp out together for a weekend in April.
Take a City is an event involving all Pathfinder clubs in a community service project at a predetermined location, teaching Pathfinders how to serve others for Jesus.

One of the unique aspects of Pathfinder ministry is the association young people have, not only with youth from within their church/conference, but also on a union/world level. Every five years the Southern Union Youth Department hosts a joint camporee at Camp Kulaqua, which includes all Pathfinders within their union. In addition, every five years Pathfinders from around the world come to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to take part in the largest Seventh-day Adventist Camporee in the world. In 2019 the event was entitled “Chosen” and had over 55,000 participants from 105 countries. In 2024 this event will take place in Gillete, Wyoming, the title will be “Believe the Promise.”

It is our desire as a conference to be intentional in offering programs that are not only fun and informative for our Pathfinders but also that mold these young men and women into Christ’s workers wherein they have an opportunity to experience Christ. It is our conviction that once they experience Christ, they will fall in love with Him. However, as mentioned earlier, this takes intentionality. For this to happen, we need your prayers and your support in helping us raise His children.

MASTER GUIDES

Our master guides program started in January of 2019. As of today we have 13 active clubs and approximately 120 members conference wide.

ADVENTIST Christian Fellowship

Located in the Tuscaloosa are our ACF group made up of young collegiate in that area began in 2020 and has grown under the leadership of Andrew Otanes who attends the university of Alabama. With the assistance of the Skyland church in Tuscaloosa and pastor Marcus harden we have been able to minister to college students on that universities campus and are praying to continue this ministry in the future.

Camp Alamisco

Over 50 years ago, Camp Alamisco opened its doors to service the then Alabama-Mississippi Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Throughout the years, many fond memories have been made at camp as people from all ages take part in this amazing ministry. Each year, young people come to Camp Alamisco and take part in our summer camp ministry program in which campers are given the opportunity to take part in activities they would not normally be able to do at home, such as: waterskiing, horseback riding, archery, canoeing, and R/C Cars. While camp is meant to be fun, the main mission of camp is to provide young people a chance to experience God.

Through these opportunities, many young people have made decisions for baptism. It is no wonder why Camp Ministries have been viewed as the most successful Youth Ministries Program our church has to offer.

During the 2021 Camp season we are excited to share with you that we had 45 Adventurer and Aquatics campers combined, 64 Junior Campers and 81 Teen Campers! We also had our family camp and our first every Hispanic family camp!

Not only has Camp Alamisco been a ministry to children, it has also been a ministry to the Gulf States Conference constituents. Throughout the year, numerous groups have been blessed by the facilities of Camp Alamisco to host their events. Those who have had opportunities to come to camp over the years know that Camp Alamisco is a special place and as such, we continue to solicit your prayers that our efforts to reach young and old for Jesus will continue to grow each year until Jesus comes!

Items we would like you to be in prayer about at Camp Alamisco are:

The building of a new Maintenance building and the continued remodeling of areas and structures around Camp.

On August 4, 2021, the conference announced the new Youth Director, Michel Rodriguez.

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