ENCOUNTER 2027 – #NOFILTER

Based on Psalm 139, these weekends are specifically designed to inspire growth and encourage a #NoFilter life through powerful worship, impactful messages, and community-building opportunities. Help your students discover the freedom of being fully known and fully loved.  Empower your youth to live authentically before God.

Our ENCOUNTER weekends offer a fully programmed experience, combining lodging, meals, dynamic speakers, and engaging activities designed to help your group strip away the distractions and build a genuine, transparent connection with Christ.

The guest speaker will be the Rev. Dr. Michael Adam Beck, currently a pastor, professor, author and thought leader in the Fresh Expressions movement.  Beck, a popular youth speaker, recently spoke at IGNITE 2025: A Celebration of Creativity & Connection, the youth conference for New Jersey and New York United Methodist Church in Wildwood, New Jersey.

Beck serves as the co-pastor of Wildwood UMC, St. Marks UMC, and Compassion UMC all in Florida with his wife, Jill, where they direct addiction recovery programs, a jail ministry, a food pantry, an interracial unity movement, and house a faith-based inpatient treatment center. Wildwood and St. Marks are traditional congregations and a network of 13 fresh expressions that gather in tattoo parlors, dog parks, salons, running tracks, community centers, burrito joints and digital spaces.