Traveling to London for the Leadership Conference at Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) with Al Zadig and Ann Hester Willis was truly enjoyable and inspirational. I am honored to have been given the opportunity to take the trip.

There are many humorous and exciting anecdotes that I could share from the trip, such as meeting the former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, and his wife Eileen; attending services on Sunday at four different churches; visiting St. Michael’s sister church, St. Martin in the Fields; and praying for an Egyptian Muslim, at his request, during our morning prayer time at our hotel. However, the part of the trip that was truly remarkable and tremendously inspirational was the young worshippers are HTB.

The Leadership Conference was attended by over 1800 people. It was a first class conference with excellent leadership talks and panel discussions consisting of clergy, including the Bishop of Kensington and Nicky Gumbel, top business leaders from England, a former British military leader, as well as a member of the House of Lords.

Entering HTB on the first morning of the conference, the worship service was in full swing. It was dark, colored lights were flashing, and the music was loud. After the initial shock wore off, I started listening to the words of the songs, many of which we sing at the 6:00 p.m. service here at St. Michael’s. I quickly realized that this was no show or performance.  The crowd consisted of one thousand (the 1800 attendees were split between two church sites) young men and women, most of whom were in their twenties, passionately worshipping with pure, genuine faith and love. This was evident not only from observing them, but also from meeting them during breaks. Each person I met was the kindest, loving and humble person I had ever met. The musicians were not performers. I met several of them and they were faithful worshippers who were as humble as anyone in the church. Observing and meeting these young worshippers was truly inspirational. Their love and faith was contagious. The Holy Spirit was truly at work at HTB.

HTB has approximately 160 staff. We attended a staff meeting at the church the morning before we flew back home. Those staff members in their twenties were identified so that they could be prayed for. At least seventy five percent of the HTB staff is in their twenties. The importance of developing young leaders in the church may seem obvious. However, witnessing the extent of young leadership in a church such as HTB and what they are accomplishing, I began to fully understand the importance and urgency of the need to develop young leaders. I also more fully recognized the tremendous role that Alpha plays in the “recruiting” process.

The leader of Alpha in the Asia-Pacific region gave a presentation during the staff meeting. He summed it up best when he told of an email that he had just received that morning from a friend in Australia whose son had been battling depression and had just taken his life by jumping from a bridge. He used this story to emphasize the point that he had planned to make during his presentation even before hearing this tragic story, which is the urgent need for the younger generation to help advance God’s kingdom on earth.
-Capers Barr, IV