Minnesota New Immigrants Youth Summit 2025 Report

Under the theme of ‘Kingdom Minded Youth’, the Spiritual Gifts Church, in partnership with First Presbyterian Church, Rochester, MN as a co-sponsor, organized a three-day youth summit between June 13th – 15th, 2025, at Camp Victory, Zumbro Falls, Minnesota. PTCA supported this summit with a $10,000 Community Partner Grant.

The theme ‘Kingdom Minded Youth’ was adopted as a follow up on the previous year’s youth summit (Youth Summit 2024) designated as ‘Rooted in Christ’, which was directed towards anchoring the youth beliefs and faith on the biblical teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ as a foundation for a fulfilled life.

The Kingdom Minded Summit went a step further in building up the youth to have ‘sound minds’ (2 Timothy 1:7), addressed some persisting challenges among the youth, encouraging good behaviors, and embracing every opportunity, while also reaching out to more (new) youth.

The Summit was attended by about 80 participants from around Minnesota (compared to 43 participants last year). About 12 adults from the Spiritual Gifts Church were present to help guide, supervise, and support the activities.

Speakers:      

• Apostle Moses Soro, Youth Lead Pastor, Sudanese Community Church, Greensboro, North Carolina

• Pastor Sharon Anyak, Youth Champion, Motivational Speaker, Trenton, New Jersey

• Shadow Wolli, Youth Pastor, Sudanese Community Church, Houston, Texas

• Dr. Michel Asiedu, Mayo Clinic, Rochester MN, on opportunities and resources at Mayo Clinic and in the greater Rochester area

A generous $10,000 contribution from the PTCA Community Partner Grant played a crucial role in making the conference more accessible. These funds allowed us to subsidize registration costs for students who otherwise would not have been able to attend. In addition, we were able to fly in a lineup of speakers including Apostle Moses Soro, Pastor Shadow, Pastor Sharon, and a guest minister from Milwaukee, whose teachings added depth and spiritual weight to the content presented regarding what it looks like to have a Kingdom mindset. Our Youth Ministry will continue with monthly youth meetings so as to encourage, build, and enrich these youth with new tools and keep them engaged and strong in their faith!