Tonight was not the first time youth worship turned into a dance party, but Greg Boyd was still surprised when he looked out over the energetic crowd at Saturday evening’s worship service, the finale of convention week.

“I’ve been in a couple of Mennonite church services, and none of them look like tonight,” Boyd told the near-capacity crowd, as youth spilled into the aisles and pushed towards the stage, jumping up and down. Responding to the energy of the crowd and adding his own, Boyd, who is the senior pastor at Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minn., and is known for his dynamic and engaging presentation style, recognized the Anabaptist youth as a distinctive group.

“You are part of a Mennonite tradition that is unique and rare and something the world is hungry for,” he said. “I’m not a Mennonite, but maybe some day I will be!”

Boyd urged the crowd to remember that the Holy Spirit lives inside and works through every Christian. “You are the temple of God,” he told the youth. “Jesus wants people empowered by God’s own presence in their lives.”

In telling his own story of an abusive childhood, Boyd questioned whether the church today has become numb towards the movement of the Spirit similar to the way he had felt towards his step-mother. “God’s talking,” he said, “but the question is, are we listening?”

A passionate Boyd concluded his speech by challenging listeners with three tips.

The first was to “remain awake.” He said, “Every second of every day God is closer to you than your own skin.” Boyd said. He urged youth to practice being in the presence of God every day.

Secondly, Boyd told listeners to ask God for guidance. Every morning, he begins his day with a prayer: “Holy Sprit, this day is yours. What would you have me do?”

Finally, Boyd asked the audience to act as they feel led. “We tend to think everything that goes on inside of us is our own doing,” he said. “God will often call you in inconvenient ways, but it is in your best interest to say ‘yes’.”

Adding that “normality is way overrated,” Boyd told the audience to look for “kingdom coincidences” in their lives — the unexpected ways that the Spirit calls Christians to faithfulness. “Sometimes God encourages you to walk on water.”

Boyd concluded his message with a prayer, telling God, “we give you permission to bug us.”

Congregation: Circle of Hope

Current work: “Loving God and loving people. But when I leave the country, I say I’m a social worker.”

Favorite Bible verse: “I like the whole thing pretty good.”

First encountered Mennonites: “I remember [when] I first heard about Anabaptists … I thought they said anti-Baptists and I wondered what they had against Baptists. I met Mennonites in my work, around Philadelphia, to decrease violence.”

Most fascinating thing about convention: “How much we have in common and the opportunities for collaboration.”

What’s next: “Going back to Philly to open up the fire hydrants and throw a block party! Not because it’s the Fourth of July but just because it’s a gorgeous mid-summer afternoon.”

After leading thousands of voices in singing in the Nationwide Arena Friday morning, Jeremy Kempf told the youth audience, “Greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city.” Then he introduced Shane Claiborne, the main speaker for the morning worship service.

Claiborne, who has become nearly as familiar to convention-goers as black drawstring backpacks, delivered a message of radical hope to the responsive gathering.

Referencing Mother Teresa — whose inspiring story and spirit was also discussed by June Alliman Yoder and Mandy Yoder Schrock at Thursday evening’s joint youth and adult worship service — Claiborne shared his own experience of learning from the late Roman Catholic nun. Mother Teresa started the Missionaries of Charity order in the desparate slums of Calcutta, India.

“Calcuttas are everywhere if we only have eyes to see,” he told the youth, encouraging them to find their own Calcutta. “Being a Christian is not about getting a ticket to heaven and ignoring the hell we’re living in.”

Illustrating Mother Teresa’s attitude of service, Claiborne offered the poignant image of the humble nun’s feet, which became deformed after years of voluntarily wearing the worst shoes donated to the mission. “This is the great secret of the Gospel,” Claiborne said, “If we want to find our life, we’ve got to give it away.”

He asked the crowd to consider what the world would look like if everyone lived this way. The audience then saw another example of generosity of spirit in a short video clip: a young man who won thousands of dollars on “The Price Is Right” game show and donated the earnings to an orphanage in Uganda.

“I don’t know where people get the idea that Christians should be ‘normal’,” Claiborne added.

Along with these inspiring examples, Claiborne concluded with an image of hope.  “I see a whole generation in the church that is aware that we are here for a reason.”

“Who are you becoming?” he asked.  “What kind of doctor or lawyer or school teacher are you going to be?”

Following his message, Claiborne met with dozens of youth groups and sponsors excited to get their pictures taken with him and to learn more about his Simple Way community in Philadelphia.

That’s what the 12 financial gurus from the Midway, North Lima and Leetonia Mennonite Junior Youth groups did to turn $50 in seed money into more than $320 of earnings.

In late May, each Mennonite middle school student who registered for the convention received $5 in the mail. They were asked to creatively grow the funds and bring them along to convention where they would help send junior youth from Racial/Ethnic minority churches to the Pittsburgh convention in 2011.

When the offering was collected during Thursday morning’s worship service, the $1,200 initial investment given to the middle schoolers had grown more than three-fold into $4,368.09.

After the Midway, North Lima and Leetonia groups received the money, two mothers of youth from the churches decided to pool the money for a group fund raiser.

Eleven-year-old Cana Carr of North Lima Mennonite discussed possible fund raising plans with her father, a firefighter at the Beaver Township Fire Department. He offered the use of the local fire station and equipment for a car wash, and the group was on its way.

“My favorite part was getting to wash a Hummer and a motor home,” said Carr, adding that she thinks these over-sized vehicles resulted in an extra-large donation for their services.

Other groups from the Junior Youth assembly mowed lawns or organized bake sales with their seed money. In the end, Swamp Creek Mennonite Church’s Junior Youth tallied the biggest profit for their investment: $625 was raised at their own car wash.

The adolescents who participated in the activity spent time in small groups thinking about how the money could be used to further the Kingdom of God. They also found it was an excellent opportunity to serve others with their gifts, as well as to work together and have fun.

Carr’s favorite memory from the fund raiser was the result of accidentally spraying her Junior Youth friends with a powerful fire hose used to rinse cars. Her friends retaliated by wringing out a soapy sponge over her head.

“It was great!” Carr said.

Brandon Long/Photo
Shane Hipps addresses the crowd at Wednesday morning’s youth worship service at Nationwide Arena.

Taking “center ice” in the Nationwide Arena for the first morning youth worship service of the convention could feel like an opponent lining up against the Columbus Blue Jackets hockey team, who call the space their home.

Sleepless, travel-lagged teenagers without glow-sticks found it difficult to sustain the standard beach balls that bounce through the crowd during most services. Even a brief conga line and energetic step dance during the morning music struggled to rouse the crowd trickling in from the rainy streets of Columbus.

Then, Shane Hipps took the stage.

“I made it my mission in life to become a dancer,” Hipps told the crowd before inviting everybody to stand and learn his patented “Booty-X” dance. “It will change the world.”

Hipps’ moves had more to do with his last name, he said, than with his message, but he won over the crowd before diving into a discussion on ancient languages.

“We’ve lost sight of one of the most powerful and profound truths of the Bible,” Hipps told the assembly.

In Hebrew, the language in which the Old Testament was originally written, the word ruach means both breath and spirit. The same is true for the Greek word pneuma, found in numerous New Testament writings.

As the Holy Spirit was transmitted to the disciples through breath, Hipps encouraged the youth to see every breath as a gift from the Spirit.

“The fullness of God’s power lies in each and every breath we take,” he said.

“If you want to understand the nature of God, understand the nature of the breath you just took.”

Inviting the audience to breathe along with him, Hipps fleshed out this metaphor.

Our breath cannot reject or judge us, he said. Even if we don’t want it to, breath will flood into our bodies and give us life, just like the Holy Spirit.

Breath – which Hipps referred to as a “divine kiss” – is a gift which cannot be earned.

“If you ever wonder where God is,” Hipps concluded, “just breathe deeply.”

Bratwursts and burgers for $4; pizza at $3 a slice; sushi plates for $5; a wide range of ethnic selections such as Moroccan chicken over mojadara at Firdous Express Mediterranean and traditional Pho fare via at the Lac Viet Market.

All frugal options.

But Flavors of India might provide the most value for your money. Six dollars buys a mountain of basmati rice and two vegetarian sides, including a creamy palak paneer that nicely counters spicy dal lentils. For a few dollars more, add lamb or chicken curry. Don’t miss the refreshingly unique ginger lemonade for $1.50.

The wide selection of international options ensures that everybody can find something to enjoy. But it’s the less exotic offerings that might provide the most memorable taste experiences. The lemon garlic dill cream soup from The Fish Guys stand offers a taste as complex as its name implies. Loaded with giant chunks of freshly-cooked halibut, this rich and hearty soup is the antithesis to the canned variety that college students have become accustomed to. At $3.50 for an eight-ounce cup, soup is a slightly less cost-conscious option, but even frugal diners need to splurge occasionally.

For dessert, Taste of Belgium pairs waffles and crepes with freshly-ground, individually-prepared coffees. You’ll smell (and hear) the grinding coffee beans and sizzling crepes long before you see your food being made before your eyes. Waffles cost $3.75 and dessert crepes run $5. For the true penny-pincher, stop by and try a free sample of the waffles from the amply-stocked tray.

For those looking for a refreshing treat on a hot summer day, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams a few stalls away offers an awe-inspiring – though somewhat paralyzing – selection of homemade treats (keep reading this column for much more information on Jeni’s in the coming days).

North Market is open daily from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. Conventiongoers pressed for time should consider planning an early lunch break as the crowds of local business people and fellow Mennos swell soon after noontime.  Ample seating is available in two locations: streetside patio or second-floor, balcony tables. If you’re lucky, your afternoon snack attack might be accompanied by local musicians playing beat-box infused bluegrass, as ours was.

Mike Yoder/Photo
J.D. Nafziger, left and Lynelle Yoder, both of Goshen, IN., trim their ID cards and toss the trash in the convention center’s recycling bins Tuesday, June 30. The recycling bins take unsorted plastic, glass, paper and metal making it easier for people to recycle all their trash in one location.

Sharing a songbook with your pew partner is nothing new, but at this convention there will be more sharing with the elimination of specially printed songbooks – one of the many ways Columbus ‘09 is trying to make less of an impact on the environment.

“Sustainability has not been largely on our radar until the last two to three years,” said Rachel Swartzendruber Miller, associate director of convention planning. “Part of that has been brought about by the [Mennonite] Creation Care Network. … [They] really started encouraging us to look at sustainability.”

The Mennonite Creation Care Network – a network of people engaged in sustainability efforts within the church – created a “Green Guideline for Conference Planners” that encourages planners of regional and national assemblies to hold gatherings that place less of a strain on the environment.

“It has been good to see the convention planners thinking and working more at greening a large gathering,” said Luke Gascho, chair of the Creation Care Council, a leadership arm of the network. “We worked as the MCCN council in encouraging the planners to use the Green Guidelines which we developed about two years ago.”

Along with asking people to bring their own songbooks, planners ordered convention bags that are made out of recycled material.

“[In previous years] we went with the most affordable options but now we’re willing to pay a little extra to have recycled materials,” Swartzendruber Miller said. “And that’s something that’s becoming more of a priority.”

Also, unlike in years past, there will be no off-site events that require buses to haul thousands of youth and their sponsors.

Swartzendruber Miller recognizes that some of the changes – like the discontinuation of the convention songbook – might be a difficult for some people, “but we really hope that having sustainability as more of a focus, they’ll understand why we want to make that switch,” she said.

While planners may not have been as mindful of sustainability concerns at previous conventions, Swartzendruber Miller said they were ahead of the times in some respects.

“One of the things we did before it was cool was not to change linens every day,” Swartzendruber Miller said. “It was difficult at some points to convince hotels to do this because it was just not on their radar at all, and so now it’s becoming much easier to do this because it’s in the media and it’s hip and trendy to be green. … In that way we’re ahead of the curve, but in other ways we still have a ways to go.”

And with thousands of people in one building, choosing the convention center was also a priority.

The Greater Columbus Convention Center is in the application process to become certified in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). LEED is a nationally recognized third-party program that recognizes the operation of high-performance green buildings.

One way the convention center will become more sustainable is by using a single-stream recycling system.  Instead of separating all recyclable materials, they will be able to go into the same container: plastic with glass, for example.

Lighting will be managed more efficiently, with Neptun induction lamps; which save electricity, contain no mercury and last up to 10 years; motion detector switches; and a centralized lighting system controlled from one computer.

The convention center also uses an HVAC system that monitors heating and cooling from one room, adjusting the temperature according to occupancy. And for cleaning materials, the convention center uses Green Seal products that have less of an impact on local water systems and indoor air quality.

A day into the convention, however, there have been a few complaints about sustainability practices.

Many conventiongoers are wearing long-sleeved shirts due to the air-conditioned convention center, which is kept at an average temperature of 71 degrees.

Additionally, some attendees are complaining about the volume of waste generated by Aramark food services, which uses Styrofoam trays and cups and disposable plastic silverware in the dining hall.

“We’re kind of talking baby steps this time and making some noticeable changes,” Swartzendruber Miller said. “Our hope is to be classified as a green convention by 2011, which will be held at Pittsburgh. In Pittsburgh you’ll start to see major shifts.”