‘The Lord is doing a work’: Kentucky Baptist youth event breaks attendance record

A two-day youth evangelism gathering of the Kentucky Baptist Convention drew a record number of attendees, with more than 1,300 mostly young people participating.

The annual Youth Evangelism Summit was held Feb. 6 to 7 at Hillvue Heights Church in Bowling Green, with 1,337 recorded attendees, the highest in years and well above the 199 recorded in 2019.

The attendance also represents gradual growth. The 2020 gathering, held before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, had 264 participants, while 2023 had 828 attendees, 2024 had 1,207, and last year had 1,253.

KBC Children & Student Ministry Consultant Matt Flanagan told The Christian Post on Wednesday that he is “grateful that the Lord is growing this event to help churches equip the next generation with the Gospel.”

“First, and foremost, we believe the Lord is growing the conference to equip more teenagers to know the Gospel, influence their culture, and go to their communities to reach people,” he said.

“We are simply trying to help our churches accomplish this mission.”

Known as YES! for short, the summit featured mainstage and breakout sessions seeking to equip better student ministry, youth outreach, worship and prayer.

The event included student ministry leaders from across Kentucky working to better partner with one another, as well as a YES! app that contained listening guides for the breakout sessions.

“The mission of our Kentucky Baptist Convention is to help churches,” Flanagan continued. “We believe that we are providing a resource that our churches need, and they are affirming that with their attendance.”

“There are very few group leaders who walk through the doors without knowing members of our team personally. We believe that we are building trust with our leaders, and the churches are responding because they are confident of both the content and the character of the conference speakers.”

Flanagan told CP that the summit did not focus on “well-known speakers or bands,” but instead on “equipping ministry,” with “student ministry leaders throughout our state who bring their competence in leading their church and multiply that through students across the state.”

In recent years, some have speculated that younger Americans are beginning to reverse the trend of declining religious affiliation in the United States, while data analysts have cautioned that there is insufficient evidence to suggest a “religious resurgence is underway.”

“I believe the Lord is doing a work within both Gen Z and Gen Alpha,” Flanagan stated when asked about this debate. 

“I believe it is more a movement of authentic faithfulness and love for Christ than a rediscovery of a past generation’s version of Christianity,” he continued. “I believe that our next generations are embracing Christ and recognizing His call to make disciples of all people.”

“YES! has served churches well by providing meaningful training and equipping for students who desire to live on mission, to be articulate with the Gospel, influential in a culture that doesn’t affirm their beliefs, and intentional about going to the places God has them to verbalize the Gospel message.”