April 3 declared as Youth for Christ Day

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Council’s declaration of April 3 as “YFC Day” has delighted the thousands of Youth for Christ members currently gathering at the Cebu City Sports Center for the 16th CFC-YFC International Youth Conference, which will end today.

Rommel Ancheta, YFC International head, said the declaration has pleased the members of YFC and even made the 9,000 conference participants to greet each other “Happy YFC Day” during the event opening last Friday.

Councilor Nestor Archival sponsored the resolution to declare April 3 as “YFC Day,” which the Council approved during its regular session last Wednesday.

The conference at the sports center opened with the athlete’s parade and the oath of sportsmanship and followed by the street dance and praise parade that started at the Fuente Osmeña circle. A holy mass was also celebrated.

Ancheta said they have added more activities to this year’s conference, including the first clergy congress and the Bounty parade wherein participants get to share the delicacies of their respective provinces.

The city government even donated 100 pieces of lechon for the participants.

Ancheta said this year’s conference still features the much-anticipated competitions such as the Kinetic Dance Competition, Cheerdance, Praise Parade, Regional Booth Contest, singing and gag competitions but they added a twist to the customary talks by missionary speakers by having them present their talks with songs and dances.

Likewise, original praise songs that are written by the youth themselves would also be introduced in this year’s conference.

The conference’s theme “STEP UP!”, Ancheta said, is taken from Phil 3:13-14 of the Holy Bible, which calls on the youth to rise above everything “especially the problems that go with being a youth.”

Ancheta said they were not expecting that the number of participants would reach 9,000, considering the ongoing financial crisis. Each participant would need to pay a registration fee of P1,000, on top of their transportation expenses.

Ancheta said the overwhelming number of participants just proves that the youths are committed in showing their dedication and love for Christ.

This year, Cebu and Cavite reportedly have the biggest number of delegations from within the Philippines. Eighty participants still come from Singapore, Thailand, East Timor, USA and the Caribbean.

The International Youth Conference is a yearly gathering participated by youths worldwide, which comes after provincial youth conferences and regional youth conferences. – AJ dela Torre/JMO (THE FREEMAN)