Mission Yearbook: Students from Presbyterian Pan American School connect at Triennium

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Five students from the Presbyterian Pan American School attended Presbyterian Youth Triennium last month. (Photo by Rich Copley)

“If you are Presbyterian, you know about it, 100%. It is a big event, and that got us excited,” said Brenton, a high school senior from Ixtlahuaca, Mexico, who attended Presbyterian Youth Triennium for the first time this year. “We were pretty excited to meet new people from all different places and to get to know how God changed their lives in so many ways,” he said. Brenton was part of a delegation connected to Mission Presbytery through his enrollment at the Presbyterian Pan American School (PPAS), a PC(USA)-related college-preparatory school in the Texas Coastal Bend about 90 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Founded by Presbyterians in 1911 with the mission to educate young boys from Mexico, today PPAS equips and empowers an international community of some 70 students — from such countries as Mexico, China, South Korea, Rwanda, Taiwan and Colombia — for lives of Christian leadership as global citizens.

This was the first time that PPAS sent students to Triennium as a group.

The five students represented connections to the PC(USA) through the school that stretched to Mexico, Colombia and South Korea. Brenton’s family has long-standing ties to the Presbyterian church and PPAS through his grandfather, who served as a pastor in Mexico. Two other students in the delegation attended elementary school in South Korea but learned of PPAS when their families or friends moved to Mexico for work and joined local churches. From those communities, they heard about both the educational opportunities at PPAS and the Triennium event for Presbyterian youth.

“The experience we’ve had is very impressive. I know that I’ll remember it all my life,” said Brenton.

“It was worth the effort, and I’m enjoying it,” said Yeojoon, an 11th grader who persuaded PPAS principal Dr. Juan Plascencia to let him attend when another student had to cancel at the last minute. According to the students, Plascencia strongly encouraged them to go, hoping they would return to the PPAS community, share their excitement and inspire younger students to attend in three years.

Kevin, a 12th grader also from South Korea, learned about PPAS through a friend named David, whom he met in India when he was only 5. David later moved to Mexico and then enrolled at PPAS. He recommended the school to Kevin, who was a few years younger and looking for a high school experience abroad. The challenge of cultural exchange prompted Kevin to attend Triennium as well.

“Meeting new people from all different states was an exciting event for me,” Kevin said. “I really like exchanging these pins from all our different states.”

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The five students from Presbyterian Pan American School who attended Presbyterian Youth Triennium pose at the Kentucky International Convention Center. (Photo by Rich Copley)

Valentina, 17, heard about PPAS from a family friend in Colombia and about Triennium through Plascencia. She appreciated making connections with youth from all over — something she had noticed about being Presbyterian since enrolling at PPAS. “A highlight for me has been knowing more about God and the Presbyterian church,” she said. Her parents had attended “normal church,” but at school she came to appreciate the connectional nature of the Presbyterian church, especially through seeing so many countries and states represented by the youth delegations.

Although the PPAS delegation was new to Triennium — which was held for the first time this year at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville — they were among several other international delegations, including a sizeable group from Puerto Rico and another from Susamacher Presbyterian Church, founded in 1871 in Trinidad. Those delegations contributed to one night’s worship by leading salsa dancing (Puerto Rico) and steel drumming (Trinidad).

“All these people here are like my family,” said Shara, 17, who is originally from northern Mexico but feels close to the group of PPAS students because of the community of care and faith fostered at the school. She saw that same kind of community at Triennium.

“I love this event because there are many activities here to be more connected to God and other persons from different countries,” Shara said. Her favorite part was worship and a long-held Triennium tradition: “I love to exchange pins,” she said, pointing to the most recent one she received. “The person who gave it to me is from Puerto Rico. It’s a really unique pin. I really love it.”

Beth Waltemath, Communications Strategist (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Alejandra Sherman, Administrative Assistant, President’s Office, Administrative Services Group
Effie Shipp, Associate for Lending Services, Presbyterian Investment & Loan Program

Let us pray:

Loving Creator, we are grateful for the beautiful world you have created for us. Help us to be mindful as we partake of its resources. We pray that we may be good and faithful stewards in preserving and protecting its beauty and its natural riches. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: Young Adult Track inspires new leaders at Triennium

“Suddenly I found that I had a dream job that I never knew I dreamed of,” Bobby Watson told a group of nearly 50 young adults participating in the learning path of the Young Adult Track at the “As If We Were Dreaming”-themed Presbyterian Youth Triennium. For many delegates ages 19–25, the opportunity to attend a Triennium was a dream come true — especially after missing their chance before turning 18 due to the Covid pandemic.

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Young adults attended 2025’s Triennium event in Louisville. (Photo by Rich Copley)

Watson was one of several speakers chosen to address this year’s group. Others included Dr. Tamice Spencer-Helms, author of “Faith Unleavened: The Wilderness Between Trayvon Martin & George Floyd,” and the Rev. Dr. Jerry Cannon, with a guest phone call from his nephew, celebrity Nick Cannon.

This was the first Triennium to offer a dedicated Young Adult Track, featuring two distinct paths: service and learning. The Rev. Jeremy Wilhelmi, who oversaw the learning path with the Rev. Maggie Alsup, said the goal was to feature speakers — especially those close in age to the young adults — who could share personal stories and model authentic leadership.

Bringing young adults to Triennium had long been discussed, but the idea gained urgency when 2022’s event was canceled due to Covid.

“I have been looking forward to going to Triennium for forever,” said one young adult from the Heartland Presbytery delegation. “But my year was the year canceled by Covid, so I was really disappointed. But when I heard about the fact that I could come here and do an opportunity for the young adults, I was over the moon.” 

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The Rev. Jeremy Wilheimi curated the learning path on the Young Adult Track for the 2025 Triennium event. (Photo by Rich Copley)

Abby, 21, from Mid-Kentucky Presbytery, said, “In the young adult track, we learned about what good leadership qualities are and what are some of the issues in the world that we might, as young adults, need to take on and make changes in the church to help it be more inclusive and more empathetic towards everyone.”

For Esinam, a college student studying nursing and a member of the Ghanaian Community Presbyterian Church, a new worshiping community in Irving, Texas, Triennium offered a chance to build leadership skills. Recently ordained as a ruling elder during her church’s chartering process to become Covenant Community Church in Grace Presbytery, she hoped to better engage youth in her congregation. “It was really inspiring. I was low-key overwhelmed at my first training because I was learning so much,” she said. However, she found comfort knowing that several elders were ordained at the same time.

A recent Forbes article noted that Gen Z is reshaping the workforce, especially around purpose-driven work, authentic leadership and flexibility. Their experiences — as digital natives and with the Covid pandemic occurring during pivotal moments of their educational and career development — create a unique relationship toward efficient use of new technologies like artificial intelligence.

Themes of purpose, authenticity and flexibility were reflected in Watson’s session. Watson — now a policy advocate at Texas Impact and co-starter of Vidas Robadas — shared his journey through high school, college, and young adulthood and how those experiences shaped his interfaith policy work and the concept of faithful leadership. He named familiar Generation Z challenges: crises like the pandemic, wars abroad and school shootings.

For Watson, leadership means putting faith into action, being open to unexpected opportunities, relying on your support network, adapting to challenges and failures, creating positive change in your community, listening to and understanding diverse perspectives, taking initiative to address social issues and staying flexible and resilient.

“Everything that led me to Texas Impact was a series of failures, a series of surprises that I didn’t think would be important, and a series of people who got me to the next place,” Watson said as he introduced the concept of a “better North star.”

“I believe there are things you can want to be a part of that is a better guiding point to take you on a complicated, mixed and zigzagging path than if there were that one thing, that perfect plan,” he said. “I don’t think dream jobs are real, but I do believe in dream goals.”

At Triennium, young adults discovered how living out one’s faith can be just as creative, unexpected and winding as a dream.

Beth Waltemath, Communications Strategist (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Rebecca Rayner, Paralegal, Legal & Risk Management, Administrative Services Group
Shelby Reedus, NCTC Administrative Officer, Trust Services, The Presbyterian Foundation

Let us pray:

Father, we thank you for your ability to forgive us for being such an inconstant people. Help us to honor your son, Jesus, the way he deserves, each and every day. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: Last-day worship energizes Triennium with message of God’s bigger dreams

The theme for the final day of Presbyterian Youth Triennium was “Wake Up and Dream,” and the high-energy, thoughtful and feel-good worship service clearly had that effect on the youth and young adults gathered at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville for one final time together.

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The closing worship at the Presbyterian Youth Triennium featured the imposition of glitter ashes. (Photo by Rich Copley)

Owing to how tired many people were, a pair of energizers were conducted from a seated position. The Nettletons 2.0 reprised “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” from the most recent Triennium, held in 2019. Scripture choices for Thursday’s worship were Isaiah 55:12–13 and Matthew 2:10–12.

The Rev. Dr. Jerry Cannon, Vice President for Ministry Innovation at the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), offered up a traditional sermon, infusing it with the fire and insight for which he’s known and loved.

“What day is this?” Cannon asked worshipers. Then he answered his own question: “This is the day the Lord has made!”

He asked everyone to tell the person beside them, “Neighbor, O neighbor, wake up and dream.”

Constructed after God’s likeness and reflected in God’s awesomeness, “You are somebody!” Cannon said, telling youth and young adults they were not made sluggish and lethargic, maladjusted and flawed. “You are bright and beautiful, caring and concerned,” he said. “You are a giver and receiver, mentor and student, parent and child, guardian and protector. You are athletic and stout, cosmopolitan and chic. You are anointed with love and dusted with power. You are a contributor and a supporter. You have common sense and life training. Your hair is silver and your wisdom is gold. You are God’s child, made from omnipotent power. You are the church, and you are somebody! Somebody say amen.”

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During closing worship, energizers were offered from a sitting position. (Photo by Rich Copley)

“Let me drop my kickstand in Isaiah 55,” Cannon said, offering his first point, that “God’s dreams for you are bigger than your own.” He quoted the author Willie Jolley: “Your setback is a setup for a comeback.”

Consider the National Basketball Association’s all-time scoring leader, LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers. “His dream was to play in the NBA, but God’s dreams were so much larger — to impact the world beyond the basketball court,” Cannon said. Today James is a philanthropist and entrepreneur as well as a basketball superstar. His charity provides wraparound services for students attending the school he started.

“Don’t limit what God can do in your life based on what you see right now,” Cannon advised. “Pray about your future, your talents and your passions. It may be something you never considered. If it feels way too big for you, chances are it’s God’s dream.”

“Your dreams are good,” Cannon said, “but God’s dreams are gold.”

His second point was this: God’s guidance leads to unexpected joy. From the Matthew text, Cannon traced the joy the magi experienced after following “a celestial GPS.”

“God’s guidance often takes us on paths we didn’t anticipate. It might not be the easiest path, or the one your friends are taking. But when you follow God’s lead, it leads to true fulfillment, deep peace and exceedingly great joy.”

Take singer-songwriter Billie Eilish, he said. “Her music was dark and not mainstream. Many told her to change her style, but she followed her vision,” Cannon said. “Billie Eilish didn’t follow the typical path, but her authenticity led her to massive success. You’ve got to be open to where God is leading, even when it seems unconventional.”

“You’ve got to see what God is really doing,” he said. “You’ve got to look for counsel from parents, mentors and pastors, and listen for that nudge from the Spirit.”

That took Cannon to his third and final point: God’s protection guides you to a new way.

“God gave [the magi] a dream, warning them not to go back to Herod,” Cannon said. “God changed their direction, and they went home another way.”

“God sent you to Louisville,” he told the youth and young adults. “God placed you in this convention hall, to go home another way. Dreaming with God isn’t just about aspirations and following directions. It means listening to God’s warnings and being willing to change direction when God prompts you.”

Randy Hobson contributed to this report.

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Jim Phares, Web Systems Developer, Digital Strategy & Information Systems, Administrative Systems Group
Katherine Pierce, Strategic Knowledge & Project Manager, The Board of Pensions

Let us pray:

O God, we pray for eyes to see the gifts you have given us, we pray for hearts to hear your call and we pray for courage to go where you send us. Bless us as we go out to share the gospel wherever you lead. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: Young women share their hopes for a liberating church at Triennium

 On two afternoons, young women and gender expansive individuals gathering at Presbyterian Youth Triennium met with Presbyterian Women to discuss what models of leadership for women they experience and what they need from the church.

The gathering was offered along with other “affinity groups” like those set up by denominational staff for PresbyQueerians, Black girls and women, Spanish speakers, African immigrants and Black men. These groups offered a safe space to foster community but also served as listening sessions to offer key insights to denominational leadership about what certain groups need to stay engaged as the church evolves.

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Kelsey Law, vice moderator of Presbyterian Women, addressed a group attending Presbyterian Youth Triennium. (Photo by Rich Copley)

“This is a listening space for Presbyterian Women to hear from young women and our gender expansive siblings to help us understand what is it that young women need from our greater church to help stay engaged,” said Kelsey Law, vice moderator of Presbyterian Women.

Law invited participants to string heart- and star-shaped beads of all colors into key chains and bracelets as they described what need from the church each bead represented.

“Gentle love is what drew me into the PC(USA) and it’s what I need to fall further in love with my faith,” said a new youth director, who shared her amazement at her church’s graceful expectation of her. “It’s been really radical to learn to sit, rest — to just be and not feel like my productivity is my worth,” she said.

A young student also chose pink for love.

Purple was chosen for acceptance and light green for more inclusion.

Bright green was held up for a focus on the spiritual connections to nature and commitment to Earth sustainability practices and advocacy.

Light blue symbolized social justice and dark blue cried out for more public advocacy.

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Presbyterian Youth Triennium participants created key chains and bracelets to help describe what they need from the church. (Photo by Rich Copley)

A clear bead encapsulated clarity and transparency. “I picked the clear stars for transparency,” said a seasoned ministry leader, who noted the need to improve in this area. “When women start either a paid or volunteer job at church, they often aren’t told what it really is about.” Other women nodded in agreement, recognizing the ways women are socialized to keep saying “yes,” and how the lack of transparency in the church makes it hard to keep healthy boundaries on women’s labor.

“What stands out for me is all the beads and how they represent we are all different,” said a Christian educator who drew attention to the need for community and mentorship. A young person responded, “having the church community be able to help you is such an important thing.”

“Liberation comes from welcome and inclusion,” Law said as she asked the group to consider what a liberating church looks like and described the unique witness of Presbyterian Women. “What we do in leadership is mission and advocacy work,” said Law, describing the spaces of advocacy on eco-justice, reproductive and women’s rights where PW offers their voices, particularly their participation in the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women.

Law encouraged participants to go to the Presbyterian Women’s website to find opportunities to join a PW circle in their presbytery or remotely over Zoom and to connect with national programs like PW’s justice and peace national book club.

“The intent of this space was to listen to the voices of women, particularly young women, to hear the stories of women, what keeps them engaged, what will engage them in the future and to take that back to the national church,” said PW’s program director, Cheri Harper, who described how sometimes it can be hard to move beyond the superficial experiences of whether or not we like church and to look at our experiences in the church on all levels through a gender lens. What struck Harper about this newer generations of women compared to her own generations were all the stories that the young women told was the visibility of female pastors in their churches.

“We didn’t have female pastors that we were watching, but these girls did,” said Harper. “I just thought that was so powerful.”

Harper considered this a strength of the PC(USA) that needs more public celebration: “For the vast majority of PC(USA) churches, it’s very welcoming and inclusive, particularly for women in leadership,” she said.

Beth Waltemath, Communications Strategist(Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Lori Neff LaRue, Vice President, Education, Engagement & Church Relations, The Board of Pensions
Mai Nhu, Director, Core Business Applications, Information Technology, The Board of Pensions

Let us pray:

God of love, we give thanks for the vision of small groups of people all over the world who dream big dreams and work hard to realize them. Inspire us with their witness, that we too may join hands to make your world a safe and healthy place for all. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: Dreaming through the darkness is the message for Triennium attendees

“I was born a dreamer,” said the Rev. Dr. Peggy Jean (“PJ”) Craig, who preached on the third night at the Presbyterian Youth Triennium worship service.

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The Rev. Dr. PJ Craig preaches during worship at Presbyterian Youth Triennium. (Photo by Rich Copley)

Craig shared a photo of her high school superlative title, “Biggest Dreamer,” with the crowd of young people gathered at the Louisville International Convention Center in the midst of LED-lit nightscapes.

“When I heard about this year’s theme for Triennium, ‘As If We Were Dreaming,’ I got super excited,” said Craig, because, she explained, “I actually have some skills and expertise in this area.”

However, when she learned her particular night’s theme was “facing the nightmares,” she recoiled. “I don’t want to talk about nightmares. This is my nightmare, talking about nightmares.”

But “it’s in the midst of nightmares in real life that God is present,” said Craig. Craig invoked the God who gave dreams, visions and hope to Joseph in the Book of Genesis and wondered if Joseph would have been voted “biggest dreamer” by his peers. Maybe that was why his brothers were jealous of him — because he dared to dream. When he told them about his dreams, the brothers were threatened, because they were the kind of dreams that could come true. Joseph’s brothers set out to punish him.

Craig, who grew up in a multiracial family in rural Alabama, currently pastors Covenant Presbyterian Church in Germantown, Tennessee, serving immigrant and Latinx neighbors. As a community builder and passionate advocate for justice, Craig said she has “always been drawn to the margins,” where she’s helped many people face the nightmares of systemic injustice and seek their own wholeness.

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Under the direction of Phillip Morgan, the Triennium Choir sing during worship. (Photo by Rich Copley)

“The dreams that get you killed, kicked or locked out and dismissed are the ones that are possible,” said Craig: “You can kill a person, but a dream, especially if it’s from God, you cannot annihilate.”

She compared this kind of dream to Communion. “Broken into all those little pieces, where it spreads and grows, passed around and practiced when it can no longer stay in one body or one mouth, the dream becomes a dream for many bodies and many mouths, which is terrifying to people who for their whole lives have benefited by keeping things controlled and status quo.”

In Memphis, where Craig lives, she can walk to the Lorraine Hotel, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. She described the plaque underneath the balcony where King was shot that quotes the King James Version of Genesis: “They said to one another, ‘Behold, here cometh the dreamer. Let us slay him, and we shall see what becomes of his dreams.’”

Craig described how Joseph’s and King’s dreams were deeply threatening, because they meant “that we have to change the way we live.” It was not just Joseph’s dream that set out to change how his brothers in Egypt lived, but his actions towards them.

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Youth participate in Communion at Presbyterian Youth Triennium. (Photo by Rich Copley)

Craig warned not to oversimplify the ending of the famous verse, “what you intended for evil, God intended for good.” She explained how Joseph does not gloss over the trauma or explain it as a means to a necessary end. Instead, Joseph names the trauma that his brothers caused, refuses to transmit more pain and suffering, and brings restoration to his family. Craig draws a connection to the restoration that Joseph is able to bring to his family to the restoration possible at the Communion table.

“I don’t know what kind of nightmares you are facing right now,” she said before adding, “I don’t know if you’ve been betrayed, hurt or abandoned or if you’ve done that to others.”

“I don’t know if you’ve been dismissed, degraded or made to feel less than by family, friends or the church, and if so, I am so, so sorry on behalf of the church,” said Craig, pointing behind her to the Communion table. “This is not the church’s table. This is God’s table, and it is God’s dream to restore, to reconcile, to remember us in a way that we thought not possible.”

“Keep dreaming, dreamers! Dream on and then trust God to do what God always does: remember us into something we could not have dreamed up on our own.”

Beth Waltemath, Communications Strategist (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Julie Mullins, Acquisitions Editor, Publishing & Editorial, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation
David Myers,  Director, IT Finance & Administration, Information Technology, The Board of Pensions

Let us pray:

Protect us, O God, and give us compassion to help one another when life becomes overwhelming Inspire us to always look to you for grace, hope, and love, and may we always share these gifts with those around us. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: A DJ, hip hop and the Reformation take center stage at Triennium

Bill Buchanan of Asheville, North Carolina, goes by DJ5 when he’s spinning records at wedding receptions and other gatherings. His day job is executive director of Youth Mission Co, which plans and leads justice-centered and biblically based mission trips for youth and young adults.

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Youth listen in while Bill Buchanan delivers observations on “Hip Hop: The Music of Reformation” during Presbyterian Youth Triennium. (Photo by Rich Copley)

In the “Hip Hop: The Music of Reformation” class he offered at Presbyterian Youth Triennium, Buchanan offered each attendee a pair of headsets so they could easily hear him and his musical selections.

“You may ask yourself, why is a middle-aged white guy up here talking about hip hop?” Buchanan said. He put in a lot of research, and “I’m here sharing what I have learned out of appreciation. The music does not originate from people who look like me. It comes from the musical tradition of African Americans in this country.”

“I offer this out of great appreciation, not any sense of appropriation,” Buchanan said. “I think there is genius in the creation of all this music.” He noted that African American friends looked at his material to give him guidance and feedback “to tell this story well.”

Hip hop was born on Aug. 11, 1973, in the Bronx, Buchanan said. The DJ Kool Herc threw a back-to-school party at a community center, where he played old soul and funk records, focusing on the breakdowns by picking up the tone arm to repeat the breaks. His friend Coke LaRoc served as MC, making announcements and shoutouts and hyping the crowd.

Buchanan shared “Apache” by The Incredible Bongo Band, calling it “quintessential old school 

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Bill Buchanan traced hip hop music back to its roots during the class he offered at Presbyterian Youth Triennium. (Photo by Rich Copley)

stuff.” He also discussed Grand Master Flash’s improvements on some of Kool Herc’s methods, playing a track called “Superappin” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. “It was revolutionary, y’all,” Buchanan said.

For examples of sampling, the introduction of the TR-808 Drum Machine and scratching, Buchanan played Run-DMC’s “My Adidas” and Public Enemy’s “Prophets of Rage.”

Buchanan placed jazz between the 1900s and 1940s. He made a point to discuss ways that African musicians played European instruments differently, were not bound to notation, and were free to express themselves. Jazz has values that include extemporaneous soloing, which are shared equally. “Jazz was showing America what democracy was before American understood what democracy was,” said the Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III.

The headphones that each participant received had both blue and red channels. The blue had samples of whatever genre Buchanan was exploring; the red channel showed where the sampling came from in another genre. It was a rich experience.

For the funk genre, Buchanan discussed the musicality — seventh chords, extreme syncopation, hyperactive bass lines, psychedelic influences, affected vocals, groove-based and danceable. The example came from James Brown: “It’s Too Funky in Here.”

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Participants were offered headphones upon entering the classroom. (Photo by Rich Copley)

“Musically and lyrically, something is unresolved here,” Buchanan said. “The genius is it can say that while giving this irresistible groove, you just want to get up and dance to it.”

The genius of hip hop is this, he said:

• It’s blues, urban Black youth telling difficult truths.
• It’s jazz, adapting the turntable as a musical instrument. Freestyle rapping is extemporaneous soloing with authenticity.
• It’s soul, sampling soul records and the breadth of life experience.
• It’s funk, telling you that things are not all right, but with an irresistible beat.

He concluded by explaining how hip hop the music of the Reformation is, or “why hip hop is like being Presbyterian”:

• It was born out of the protest of disco narrative. Presbyterianism was born out of a protest over Roman Catholic theology and practices.
• Hip hop takes music down to the essentials, including beat and lyric. Presbyterian theology “is about taking out the extras of beliefs, rituals, etc.”
• Hip hop puts music back in the hands of the people. For Presbyterians and other Reformed traditions, it’s about putting the Bible back into the hands of the people. “Technology is key to both,” Buchanan said.
• Hip hop samples from its musical history to say something today. Presbyterians “sample the Bible and the Book of Confessions to speak about the present situation.”

“I think hip hop is a lot like being Presbyterian,” he said, “and I hope you feel the same way.”

Videographer Randy Hobson contributed to this story.

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service, ncy (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Roberto Morales, Research Analyst, Research Services, Administrative Service Group
Ronnika Muhammad , Payroll Specialist, Human Resources, Administrative Services Group  

Let us pray:

Loving God, we are grateful for all we have and are blessed by those with whom we share. Open wide our hearts and minds so we may discern how to ensure that all of your people live without hunger. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: Galactic games and galaxy of stars shine at Triennium

A playful atmosphere permeated the Kentucky International Convention Center as participants in the second night of the Presbyterian Youth Triennium enjoyed recreational activities and other entertainment, ranging from a human version of a galactic video game to musical artists showing off their performance skills.

The festivities were part of Starry Night, a fun-filled block that preceded evening worship at the first Triennium to be held in six years.

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Where else but Presbyterian Youth Triennium will you find a soccer game played between youth clothed in rocket costumes? (Photo by Rich Copley)

“Whenever you can present the opportunity for youth to closer connect with God in such an area like this where you have over 2,000 people their age singing and worshiping together, it is absolutely incredible,” said Joel Morien, a director of Christian education who’s part of a group from Winnebago Presbytery in northeastern Wisconsin. “It’s something you have to experience. This is going to change lives and it’s going to bring people closer to their faith.”

Starry Night began with Galactic Battles, which consisted of various games scattered across two floors of the convention center, followed by a talent exhibition called “The Galaxy of Stars.”

A luminescent blue background, starry lights overhead and various blips and props helped to turn one hall into a Human Galaga venue with teams competing to cross the room in pods with numbers hanging off of them while harmless projectiles were flung at them.

“It’s hard to mimic video games, so this is a good adaptation,” said Nhani, 13, a southern Californian who was fresh from playing the game. “Triennium is a really cool experience.”

Throngs of high schoolers and their adult leaders crowded into the hall to try the game or to simply get a look at what was going on. Among them was Hannah, 18, of Overbrook Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.

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The steelpan band from Susamachar Presbyterian Church led youth and into worship on the Presbyterian Youth Triennium’s second day. (Photo by Rich Copley)

“I don't get the chance to play it too often, so I was like, why not?” she said. “I feel like I'm kind of here to try new things.”

Hannah also commented on memorable experiences from the previous night, including worship with the Rev. CeCe Armstrong, Co-Moderator of the 226th General Assembly (2024), and a silent disco that was “really fun,” she said.

Nearby, youths lined a hallway to watch an offbeat version of soccer with players dressed in cardboard boxes fashioned into rockets.

Aaron, who attends the Presbyterian Church of Novato in California, said the recreational activities are a good way to channel kids’ energy.

“It’s all fun and games and no one’s getting hurt,” the youth said. Through the rockets, “people are showing creativity.”

Onlookers included Jennifer Davis, a volunteer from the Presbytery of the Redwoods, who said Triennium is a good experience for youths because it gives them an opportunity to see people living out their faith.

Also, they get to see that “there are other teenagers that are Christian too that are normal and cool and loving and kind — all the things,” she said.

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Dancers added greatly to the Triennium experience. (Photo by Rich Copley)

Galactic Battles quickly transitioned into the Galaxy of Stars, which featured a talented mix of musical performers, such as the youth steelpan band from Susamachar Presbyterian Church, one of the oldest Presbyterian churches in Trinidad and Tobago.

The crowd got a chance to salsa dance during a segment by the delegation of Puerto Rico and to experience voguing and ballroom culture through a bold and sassy performance by the LGBTQIA+ affirming Haus of Us.

“It was good. I liked it,” said Jenna, 18, of Mt. Paran Presbyterian Church in Maryland, who said she appreciated the opportunity to come together in the different spaces.

Earlier, Nhani said she’s kind of sad that she’ll only be able to attend Triennium once since there are generally three years between gatherings.

“Triennium has been a really fun experience,” she said. “I’ve definitely met a lot of people. It’s very social and I’ve had to connect with a lot of people to get their pins so that I have souvenirs.”

Morien of First Presbyterian Church of Green Bay, Wisconsin, said being able to interact with people from across the country is important.

“My kids from Wisconsin can see what a Presbyterian is like from California or from Maine or from Texas, see how they worship, see how we are all the same and yet different in our own way. It’s amazing.”

Darla Carter, Communications Strategist (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Chesimon Moore, Accounting Analyst, Controllers, The Presbyterian Foundation
Joseph Moore, Ministry Relations Officer, Development Office, The Presbyterian Foundation      

Let us pray:

Holy God, we pray for those you have called to be leaders. Equip them with energy. Fill them with courage. Empower them with love — that the church may truly become a community of faith and hope and love and witness. In Jesus’ name. Amen.