CVC 2026: Bringing Teens Back to the Fold

Local teens traveled to the YMCA’s Christian Values Conference (CVC) at the Y’s Blue Ridge Assembly conference center in Black Mountain, North Carolina. Departing from the DeVos-Blum Family YMCA in Boynton Beach, the 35-person delegation comprised of teens and college-aged and adult chaperones spent the week with more than 300 others from across the Southeast United States to step out of the ordinary.

Teens retreated into the natural beauty of the Blue Ridge mountains on the Assembly’s historic campus and participated in outrageously themed mixers, laugh-out-loud sing alongs, an unconventional field-day, and a dressed-up banquet while exploring the conference’s “Leaves the 99” theme inspired by the Cory Asbury worship song Reckless Love. They learned how labels can help or harm, how to shed those that don’t apply, and how to build the relationships, inspirations, and focus that create connections when circumstances and stresses leave them feeling lonely, lost, or different.

The conference concluded with final songs in an outdoor amphitheater with joyful voices filling the twilight mountain air followed by a fire of friendship bonfire, where teens were inspired to bring the magic of the mountain—as well as their newly formed CVC friendships—back home to their communities, making them ready to navigate real-life stresses and challenges. One first-year delegate described the conference experience as “the best week of his life.”

written by Kelley Marcellus