TESTIMONIALS
We know Teens Encounter Christ is an impactful weekend for everyone who attends, but don't take our word for it! Here is what some people have to say about TEC!
Abigail
Teens Encounter Christ has been such a monumental part of my life; both in my faith walk as a Christian and in my relationships. I have had the opportunity to strengthen friendships and relationships with my youth group, my pastors, my mentors, and my family through this TEC weekend experience. This hand-in-hand community has been there with me through hard times and has built me back up out of those valleys. I made my TEC weekend just before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down everything for months. But, even though so much light was snuffed out of my life because of the extended quarantine, I had so many wonderful friendships from TEC that helped me get through this dark time. Because of TEC, I have an amazing family in Christ that encourages me, prays for me, and lifts me back up to the mountains where I feel closest to God. GLYASDI!!
Noah
TEC is an amazing experience. For some, it’s a getaway from the stressful world, for others it’s a way to meet great faithful people. But, for me? It was an extraordinary experience because it took my faith to a whole new level. TEC did so many things for me. Personally, I have always found it hard to talk to people, which makes it hard to make friends. But at TEC? It was like the easiest thing I had ever done! The community at TEC isn’t just ordinary people, these people really, REALLY care about you! It’s almost hard to resist the power of the Holy Spirit at TEC. Every time I’m there, I am filled with this indescribable feeling of pure joy! Like I said, TEC took my faith to a whole new level. It changed my entire perspective of the world. I had always heard that Christ loved me specifically and it was nice but… it never resonated with me until TEC. TEC helped me see God’s bountiful and endless love for ME. I had never been super confident in my faith until I attended TEC. But once I did, I was never the same! No matter what, I wanted everyone I knew to attend TEC and feel the same way I did. I wanted to go to every corner of the earth and share the great story of Jesus Christ’s love. Before I attended TEC, I was at my very worst and even questioned why I was created. But TEC opened my eyes. It showed me not only that God loves me, but how much He does. That He would go to the ends of the earth just for me! TEC absolutely changed my life, not for the better, but for the best! I pray that one day everybody can attend an event like TEC. The community loved me so much before I had even met them. TEC is single-handedly the best thing I have ever experienced in my life.
James
In my years of working with TEC, I am convinced that this is one of the most powerful and effective tools available to strengthen faith, deepen spiritual disciplines, build community among faithful teens, and connect faith with their daily lives that are available to congregations in our area. I have witnessed this as a pastor sending youth; as a pastor working on TEC retreats with youth; and as a parent whose two children were very involved in TEC for several years.
Pastor Scott
Every time I come to HIH TEC I always say the same thing- there is spiritual residue all over these grounds. Every step of this weekend and place you can feel where evil has attacked... but God prevails. This is a place where we experience true worship and where you can feel the Holy Spirit move so strongly that the impact is felt all over the physical ground and in the communities spiritual growth.
Joshua
As a very guarded and inhibited person, I have often struggled to form really deep and meaningful relationships with those around me since I instinctively hide my inner turmoil and pain under a mask of peace and confidence. While at first, I didn’t think that this was a very big deal, I am sure that the many teens out there in the world who are suffering through the same issues would agree with me that such practices only lead to loneliness, resentment, and sometimes if left too long even a loss of the desire to live. Left to my own choices, I would probably be continuing to spiral farther down into these sorts of unhealthy feelings and well on my way to a life-sucking depression. But God, so rich in love and mercy that He cared about a wretched sinner like me, put people into my life who practically forced me to make a TEC weekend in my freshman year of high school. Although I did not experience a complete change of heart and mind that first weekend, God planted a seed during that time and has used the subsequent TEC weekends that I have served on to teach me what it looks like to be a man after God’s own heart in a broken and distraction-filled world. While it has not fixed my life completely, TEC has certainly saved me from a lot of misery and given me the opportunity to slow down and listen to God’s ever-present voice. Put simply, each TEC weekend is an oasis of depth, truth, and honesty in a world where depression and loneliness lurk just beneath the surface of the superficial lives that we build around ourselves. Not only will TEC lead you through the sometimes painful and yet ultimately freeing process of leaving your old life behind, it will surround you the whole time with a family of people who want nothing more than to see you come to find the same peace and hope that they have all found in truly knowing God. If you are broken and tired of the empty promises that this world has to offer, then I cannot wait to see you at the next TEC weekend!
Grace
HIH TEC was exactly what I needed when I came there. God put it on my heart to come when I was 15 and it really changed me. It made me open up after so long of being afraid to be myself. I found so many life-long friendships and gained a tremendous amount of confidence from the love I so strongly felt. It awoke a stronger passion for Christ in me and gave me a place where I could serve God’s creation. TEC will always have a very special meaning to me and I will always cherish the family I found here.
