HLC2010 - National MGOCSM Leadership Camp held in Houston
This year’s National MGOCSM Leadership Camp was held in Houston, Texas from July 22nd through July 31st at the Houston Baptist University. The main speaker was Father Maximus Urbanowicz, a missionary of the Orthodox Church of America who has traveled the world to preach the gospel. His talks were focused on the necessity of establishing a vision in our lives and that the vision is only obtained through internal contemplation, which helps determine the correct path for each and every person. Fr. Maximus said many profound statements throughout the weekend, however two statements that stuck with many of the youth were, “when you fail, fail forward, don’t give up” and “you know the true measure of a leader by what it takes to bring him down.”
A major goal for the Houston Leadership Camp (HLC) was for the participants to come up with ideas to tackle the ever-increasing problem of low attendance to MGOCSM/FOCUS events throughout the country. The task was designed to stress the importance of creating a strong foundation for the MGOCSM through different activities and how to communicate this with the older generations. Each small group came up with many ideas and they were presented to the rest of the participants through skits and songs. This creative approach to learning helped build fellowship within each group and it also served as a type of icebreaker.
HLC marked the first time in the History of the MGOCSM of North America where the Common Prayers (Sheema) was observed throughout the conference. It is a great tribute to the hard work that is being done by our young deacons and seminarians who attempt to bring forward many of our prayers into English. It was a blessing to have many young talented ministers attends the camp to help with the singing of the various hours. For many participants, this was their first exposure to a prayer life outside of Sunday Holy Qurbana. It was extraordinary to see more than 50+ youth attend the Mid-night Prayers early in the morning in the chapel that was located in the dorm rooms. All the prayers were lead by Metropolitan Alexios Mar Eusebius and his presence was a great inspiration to everyone.
Special thanks to the Metropolitans, Mar Barnabas, Mar Eusebius, Mar Nicholovos for their unceasing support for unified MGOCSM events in this country, Dn. Gheevarghese John (MGOCSM General Secretary), Joel Mathew (MGOCSM General Treasurer) and the conveners of HLC, Ms. Beena Babukutty and Ms. Jinus Kuncheria along with all the rest of the HLC committee members.
May God continue to bless the work of the youth of His Church!!
View more pictures at http://www.ds-wa.org/hlc-2010.html