Before Relevance 2022, all the other camps I ever attended were those organized by the Church and I thought Relevance 22 was going to be no more than a regular Church Campout.
Fortunately for me, I got there and met the corporate prayer session which boosted the Church campout mentality I originally had towards Relevance 2022. “Oh, here we go again”, this was what I had in mind the moment I stepped into the hall where the prayer session was been held. But as we progressed into the summit sessions, discussing a very valuable topic (UNIQUE SELLING POINT) and the talk sessions which drilled us on how to get into the READY STATE, I then began to realize that Relevance 2022 is more than a regular Church campout, but a gathering to ignite a spark of readiness in teenagers that would enable and enrich us take the market place for Christ.
The chronological arrangement of the summit sessions was very insightful, beginning from what our USP is, how to identify it/them, how to develop them, how to use it for the spread of God’s Kingdom here on earth and how to market them.
The summits and talks helped to implant in teenagers a zeal to strive for excellence in our various fields of endeavours.
The summit sessions in the senior category were always enriching resulting from the various questions and debates that came out of it. Such as; Can my USP be identified by others, how can I market my USP, yet still revealing Christ, etc.
The wonderful facilitators were very friendly with the teenagers and were excellent in using their various experiences to shape our mindset into a positive one. In fact, a couple of teenagers were liberal enough to share some disturbing issues with the facilitators due to the fact that they were very welcoming.
Relevance 2022 was indeed a complete package, as we weren’t just given information on how to make an impact in our worlds but we were also empowered by the Holy Spirit to take over our marketplace for Christ. An impartation session anchored by a fire-filled pastor was conducted for us and we were all impacted by a strong anointing to take over and become relevant.
We had a film show which wasn’t just recreational, but impactful, kudos to Christian Heritage Ministry for the skill of mixing reality with fun. This was also evident in the naming, as every participant went with the name “Relevant” all through the campout and did not forget our “Relevant hand clap” which the recipient had to catch it before we stopped…. Oh! What a wonderful experience
The welfare of each relevant wasn’t ignored at all. Transportation was well taken care of; We had central transportation that was responsible for conveying Relevant from their location of residence to Christian Heritage Ministries and back home whenever we finished the program. Not just that, we also had a tea break daily, followed by lunch which no teenager wanted to miss. As a matter of fact, there was no room for swag as every relevant pounced on their meals with joy. Indeed, it’s such a wonderful moment to remember.
The life and energy that ran through Relevance 2022 never died for a moment and every Relevant contributed to the energy in their own specifics.
The hype of the campout was the fashion parade, which took place on Wednesday evening. This is one of the major events that we had all been waiting for since the start of the campout. The event that determines who becomes the King and the Queen of Relevance 2022.
Wednesday evening was indeed an exciting day as the various contestants stunned the judges with their amazing presentations and responses to the questions asked from the book of Esther. The standard of judgement was top-notch as the judges assessed the appearance and ethics of the contestants alongside the answer they gave to the questions thrown at them. The questions asked were drawn from the book of Esther.
The final of the beauty pageant was wow! We had about five final contestants to be queen and just one contestant to be King…… he had to contest against himself, lol.
To end the suspense of the whole day, Ayanfeoluwa came out as King and Gbemisola ended up becoming Queen. Gbemisola was the only one who got the crown and she deserved it, she had to fight to get through unlike Ayanfe who was the only contestant for the final stage.
Here comes the icing on the cake and the beginning of the end of Relevance 2022; “Excursion Day”. This was the hype and vibe of R”22.
We all arrived at Christian Heritage Ministries very early that day as a result of the joy in the heart of every Relevant. The suspense of that morning was where we were going to for the excursion. Daddy and mummy had decided to keep it a secret and kept us all in suspense about where we were going. The suspense kept stirring up the excitement towards the excursion.
After the worship session in the morning, we proceeded to the final summit session which was very impactful as we were taught how to use our Unique Selling Point for the expansion of God’s Kingdom. The discussion/ question and answer session in the Senior category was fun, discussing how relative modesty in dressing is/ must we all dress old fashioned because we are Christians and the responses provided by our coordinators were wonderful.
After, we went on to learn a skill, “baking”. The gorgeous tutor explained to us the various steps involved in the baking process. Few Relevants already had experience with baking while some of us were new in the business. We all watched her as she demonstrated the measurement and mixing of each ingredient and how she kneaded the dough to make sure it comes out well after the whole process.
As we finished the workshop, we all went outside for some games. As for me, I played table tennis while some others played football and the rest just stayed outside jesting while they watched us play.
Finally, the moment came and we heard the call; “Relevants, it’s time to go”. We all assembled in the hall and arranged ourselves for migration. In no time, we were all transported to the destination; A mountain in Oba-ile [Yippee, we went mountain climbing].
When we arrived at our destination, we arranged ourselves in two and up we went. The climbing was not easy ooo. Some were already tired just at half the journey and started asking to return. The facial expressions on our faces were so funny and we were all laughing at each other while climbing.
At last!!! We arrived at the top of the mountain and you could hear the sigh of relief and the sound of victory fill the atmosphere. While sitting on the top of the mountain, The Executive Director of Christian Heritage Ministries came to give us a charge and we all gave the lessons we learned while climbing the mountain. We also had our comedian, entertain us. Our comedian’s entertainment helped relieve us of the stress of climbing. While on the top, we were also shown a deep water that was on the top of the mountain.
After our exploration, we all went down the hill. Another glorious moment of funny expressions to behold. When we got down, we all collected our packages and wished each other goodbye. It was like the campout shouldn’t end, but there was nothing we could do. Every Relevant exchanged contact and departed in different pairs to their various places of residence.
Oh, what a wonderful experience at Relevance 2022.
Relevant Ayanfeoluwa Olusola.