By Logan Crews
The 2023 Episcopal Youth Event is in full swing as hundreds of teenagers, adult chaperones and bishops traveled to College Park, Maryland, for a week of fellowship, learning and worship.
EYE’s theme is “Regreso a Casa (“return home” in Spanish): A New Age of Faith.” The conference was originally planned for 2020 but was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pent-up energy accumulated during the three-year hiatus is now bursting across the University of Maryland campus.
“This is like my big step into the world to see new things and meet new people,” said Izzy Blevins, a high schooler from the Diocese of Upper South Carolina.
The event began quietly on the evening of Independence Day, with an ice cream social that quickly moved inside after the July heat started to melt the ice cream and light rain fell on the delegations arriving on campus. On July 5, members of the student leadership team welcomed participants to a worship service and the opening keynote speaker, Missouri Bishop Deon Johnson.
Johnson introduced one of EYE’s themes taken from the book of Esther: “For such a time as this.” Esther’s story, he said, can be an inspiration for youth because of how God uses ordinary people for extraordinary things, just at the right time.
“Our youth are not the future, our youth are the present,” Johnson said during his address.
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