Prayer-filled Spark Retreat Calls Young Adults to a Higher Purpose

Pastor Teddy Williamson baptizes Vivana Romero in the cold waters of Lake Winnekeag at the culmination of this year's young adult Spark retreat. All photo credits: @justmcstudios

Prayer was the foundation for success at this year’s Spark, a young adult retreat held at Camp Winnekeag from April 17-19. While preparing for this retreat, SNEC Young Adults and Youth Sabbath School Ministries director, Teddy Williamson, and his team of volunteer Young Adult (YA) area coordinators fasted and prayed together.  When praise team coordinator, Christina Hernandez, gathered the musicians to practice, they also prayed together. In fact, the YA leadership team has been meeting virtually once a week since 2021 to connect and pray together. 

With the theme, “Higher Purpose,” this retreat attracted185 attendees from across Southern New England Conference territory and some from Northern New England Conference, Northeastern Conference, and Greater New York Conference.

Friday night’s speaker, Edsel Cadet, author, speaker and pastor of the Berea SDA church in Boston, called young people to consider the decisions that Jesus made on our behalf.  Kimberly Mann, associate pastor of the Oakwood University church, preached on Sabbath and Sunday, reminding young adults that sometimes God uses a collision to bring us into harmony with His higher purpose.

During Sabbath afternoon seminars, Mann addressed spiritual lethargy, and SNEC Pastor Kevin Maldonado presented how to find your temporal and spiritual purpose.

The young adults were blessed with a concert by Ebenezer Ministerio Musical (Music Ministry), a vocal group from New York City, and several songs by the mass choir organized by Hernandez.

Saturday night, attendees had the opportunity to relax and get to know each other with basketball, board games, and party games, organized by Moises Almanzer, SNEC’s YA sports ministry coordinator.  

The heart and powerhouse of the retreat was the prayer room, called “Ground Zero,” open 24 hours a day during the entire weekend. Here YA area coordinators, Nichole Clark and Maria Almonte, thoughtfully created separate stations for quiet prayer and personal reflection, to confide in a counselor, to explore what’s in your heart by sharing with others, and to pray for others. Early Sabbath morning, Clark also organized a prayer walk inspired by contemplation of Jesus’ miracles.

The entire weekend was a testimony of what needs God can meet through a unified, prayerful leadership team, from a much-needed counseling session that lasted till 3 AM to an impromptu Bible study with two non-Adventist attendees who had questions about the state of the dead. Through some God-blessed attentive listening and swift communication, someone even found one young adult a job internship.  But the highlight came during the final gathering on Sunday, when Vivana Romero experienced new life in Jesus through baptism. Camp Winnekeag had no indoor baptistry, so she and Pastor Williamson braved the cold waters of Lake Winnekeag. Praise God for the first baptism ever held at a Spark retreat!