By Jennifer Colosimo

Throughout January’s Martin Luther King, Jr., weekend, youth groups from CBF churches in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee converged at First Baptist Church Huntsville for the 2024 Winter Youth Summit (WYS)—the sixth since its inception, and possibly the best yet.  

Through meaningful worship, impactful speakers and informative, deep-study breakout sessions, this year’s Let Your Light Shine theme challenged students to be Christ’s light in their world back home. With 23 churches represented and nearly 500 attendees, the resulting light was bright and the future shown to be exciting.  

“WYS was a meaningful event for both our students and our leaders,” said Johns Creek Baptist Church Youth Pastor Annie Westbrook. “We had the opportunity to explore in a number of ways what it means to shine the light of Christ. I loved seeing our teenagers have fun while growing in their faith.” 

Youth pastor at FBC Huntsville, Jamie Mackey, said this year’s event was an especially good time “to be together, free to worship together…and return to the kind of energy we’d missing in big gatherings like this. The students were totally free to be themselves and the environment didn’t seem restricted. They were just open to gather, to worship, to connect, to have fun.  And to see the smiles on their faces gives us great hope for this generation.” 

The 2024 WYS followed suit with past years, attracting more churches, more students and incredible experiences with the Rev. Ruth Perkins Lee of Princeton Theological Seminary as preacher and Davey Flowers leading worship. There were more than 25 breakout sessions, including “Roll Up Your Sleeves,” a hands-on mission experience; “Race and Faith,” an honest conversation about the intersection of race and faith in 2024; or “Sabbath Rest,” a time of guided meditation, to name a few. The weekend did big things. It also was a way to share the different missions efforts in which CBF is participating and how students can get involved.  

“Being with a large group of students from other CBF churches broadens our connections and helps students see they aren’t alone on the journey of faith,” said Westbrook. “It allows perspectives to shift from ‘me’ to ‘us,’ creating a deeper understanding of what it means to be in community.” 

Before the inaugural event in 2015, then CBF coordinator for Alabama, Terri Byrd and Mackey put their heads together to dream up something bigger than what they were currently doing for students in their region. A lack of successful programs wasn’t the problem; but they desired growth potential. They knew something bigger and deeper was stirring in their hearts. The Winter Youth Summit was the result of those conversations, a healthy collaboration between FBC Huntstville and Alabama CBF. It grew into something purposefully bigger than what most churches could accomplish on their own. It offered an opportunity to  immerse their students into that idea of community with other students. 

 “We thought, when has another CBF event gathered this many students in one place?” Mackey said. “When have they had the opportunity to gather with sister churches from Alabama CBF, CBF Georgia and CBF Tennessee for such a quality event along their faith journey? We knew that if we collaborated, we could come up with something unique and that we could change the way we were reaching youth in our region.” 

On the heels of this year’s WYS was an overwhelming feeling that they’d been able to nurture these students to live their authentic faith once they got back home amongst their friends and people at their schools, Mackey said.  

The theme verse for the weekend was Isaiah 9:2: The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. 

“I feel grateful that we were able to offer these students—many of whom are living in the land of darkness—a great hope,” said Mackey. “Many youth pastors shared that it was just so good to have their group together at a conference away from home, to just be together with dedicated time where they could share where they were in their lives, ask questions and grow as a group.” 

As planning for the 2026 WYS gets underway, Mackey said their hope is that there will be even greater participation of CBF churches and from that increased participation the conference can continue to grow. 

“Ultimately, we want to create a ministry event with excellence that will speak of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to our students in real, sincere and authentic ways,” shared Mackey.