By The Rev’d David Marten, Youth & Young Adult Minister and Quinn Carrasquilla
Twice a year, the high school students in the diocese get together to host a Dynamos weekend. It is a student lead, discipleship intensive weekend which articulates and demonstrates to peers the love of Christ. For weekend #30 (the 30th Dynamos in the Diocese), St. Peter’s had 4 students on the team, 4 adults, and 1 candidate participate!
How does this work? The weekend is built around the candidates, high school students of various grades who have never attended before. One may only be a candidate once, then they can apply to be on the team. The team consists of high school students who run the entire weekend. The team members make it all happen, share their testimonies, lead the small groups, and make sure the candidates feel welcome. Adults also serve on the team in a behind-the-scenes, supervisory, and support role.
The weekend is nonstop and not for the faint of heart! The candidates spend the weekend worshiping, listening to testimonies, sharing in breakout groups and large groups, doing inductive Bible studies, and enjoying activities that highlight the story of Easter. It is a wonderful time that helps people experience God in a new way and connects them with fellow Anglicans around the Gulf Atlantic Diocese.
Here’s a bit more about Dynamos from our very own student and Dynamos #30 candidate, Quinn Carrasquilla:
Hello! I am Quinn Carrasquilla, a member, acolyte, and youth here at St. Peters. Recently, I took a short retreat called Dynamos. This retreat in many ways, is like any other Christian camp: we slept in cabins, ate camp food, and did generic camp activities in our free time. But really, this retreat was unlike any other camp I’ve been to. It became apparent that the atmosphere itself felt noticeably different than any usual camp. Dynamos is something special. I came in anticipating lots of Jesus nerds, corny games, and camp food, and well sure enough that’s what I got. But there’s more too. There is something that invites the soul to come out, to shed the barriers we’ve all set in and around our hearts. The retreat, for me, showed how, despite the paradox, it is possible that by losing one thing, one might gain so many other things. I not so much lost part of myself as I did give it up, and in its place, I gained a gift that can only come from the Grace of God. That is what Dynamos was all about for me: sacrificing something I held in myself so that I could come closer to God.