My time at CHIC had both its up and downs. The traveling process to get there was just as long as the time we spent in Tennessee. I really enjoyed traveling down with other churches and I liked stay over night at a hotel so we could get to know other people better. The only downside of the traveling was the length was extremely long and at points it felt like we were traveling forever.
When we arrived the long trip just made me even more pumped for CHIC and our first night at main stage was an awestricken experience. Although I didn’t know a majority of the first night songs, it was amazing to see how many teenagers and adults came to this one place for worship. I was also fairly impressed with the speakers of the week, each had their own unique style. My favorite speaker of the week was Efrem. His intensity and powerful speech really spoke to me. The other speakers were good as well but Efrem was by far my favorite.
Another aspect that I really liked about CHIC was seeing my friends from different states and to be able to hang out with them. There was so much to do at CHIC, from swimming, bowling, soccer, to volleyball—the possibilities were endless. I also like how every day there were also different ethnic days and gatherings at “A Place Called Heaven.” It was interesting to see the different talents people had as well as the diversity they brought.
The only downside if the week was that I was completely sick the entire week and I spent more time in the bathroom and in my bed than enjoying myself. But nevertheless I still had a great time there.
–Brian
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CHIC is an event in my life that continues to shape who I am. The first lesson I learned at CHIC is that the body of Christ extends across the entire U.S. and even around the world. I guess I knew in my head that Christians come from all cultures, but for the first time I experienced meeting with thousands of other youths. Second, CHIC opened up my heart to worshiping with fellow brother and sisters for the glory of Christ. I still can hear the worship of a packed out auditorium of passionate worshipers. Third, even after CHIC ended, I still communicated with people at CHIC (for example: I e-mailed Matt Lundgren who replied back).
Everyone has struggles in their lives and one of my biggest struggles was growing up without a dad. My parents divorced when I was two so I never had a relationship with my dad. When I was younger it never really fazed me to think about not having a dad around, but in the last couple of years it has. There were times I would lie in bed and cry because all I longed for was a father. I saw friends with their dads and I wished I had one. When I went to CHIC, I attended to a workshop about growing up without a father and there was also a woman speaker that talked about how God has helped her with her relationship with her dad. Through this experience, I realized that God is my father. On that trip, God replaced that
I felt that CHIC was a great trip for me to go on. At first I was dreading the bus ride, but it was much shorter than I expected. When we got there, it seemed like the whole area had a great atmosphere. The first night we had a meeting in the UT stadium, and it was amazing how many people were there. As the week progressed, I found that there were many different things that I wanted to experience. There were some interesting seminars, which were always thought provoking and often enlightening. Afterwards, there were so many things that I wanted to do. Different activities, ranging from bowling to pickup soccer games, were all very entertaining and provided possibilities to meet a lot of new people. At night there were concerts and then several speakers would give a message. Combined with all of this was some excellent time spent with the church group and some other people we met. CHIC was a fun experience for me, and I hope that everyone else can have a similar (or better) experience than I had.
“At first, I wasn’t all that excited to go, but all of that changed on the first night at worship. All of the speakers were amazing, but Judy especially spoke to my heart. On tuesday night when we sat close to the stage on the floor was when God first started working on me. The message was about Jesus being no ordinary healer. As I went forward (with a friend) to kneel all the hurts and pain I;ve been through recently just be lifted! All I had to do was ask and God heard my prayers…
As the week of CHIC approached, I didn’t really get too excited. I viewed this week as if it was like any other church retreat—a chance to get away from home and chill out with some church friends. It wasn’t until the first night of main stage that I started to realize that this week wasn’t limited to just playing games and having fun with your friends; it was also about a chance to take a step further in our lives with Christ. Each night at main stage was organized a little differently. As music being a big part of my life both in worshiping, but also in my everyday life, I was able to see and experience that there are many different ways to worship God through music. Whether the type of music involves screaming at the top of your lungs, rapping, or simply mellow music, worship can be found through any form. The week of CHIC is an incredible experience that can’t be completely understood by listeners of these stories. CHIC gave me the opportunity to hang out with some close friends, meet some new friends, worship, and many more things.
“On Tuesday night when Judy was speaking about how she didn’t see her dad for 10 years, I was thinking, “Oh man, so maybe I’ll never meet my dad”. And right then and there I broke down. (My friend) was worrying about me but I refused to tell her what was going on—good friend—but then when we were singing, I was still crying and it felt so good. I’ve never experienced a cry that felt good! After I came to realize it was me feeling the Holy Spirit (working) all around me and remembering when I feel like no one cares, Jesus loves me! OOO what a wonderful thought—to know that he is, has, and will always be there for me, just makes me and helps me to think I can do anything. Even though I don’t know if or when I’ll ever meet my dad, it’s not gonna bother me as bad…
My time at CHIC was a lot of fun. I met so many new people who shared the same beliefs I do and many who shared other common interests, which was great because I made good friends. All of it was very exciting and interesting because of the speakers and the number of people who were there. I’ve never been a part of anything so amazing and huge. The effect it had on the large number of us was unimaginable and the entire experience is one that I can never forget.
“The journey to Tennessee produced a new sense of trust within myself. I asked God to help me control my restless feelings that have made me run off and get into trouble. I literally felt him moving with me every step of the trip. I know from this that he will always be right behind me when I need a push forward, a yank back, a quick foot massage, or help with a heavy pack.”
One of my favorite things we did at CHIC was on the third morning when we had a service to raise money for kids in Africa. I don’t remember how much we raised but it was quite a bit and over the course of a few days we packed meals for these kids as well. I felt like it was good experience to awaken kids my age to the world around us and give us a chance to make a difference.
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