Over 10,000 students and volunteers gathered in Tampa, Florida, USA, from 5-9 July for Nazarene Youth Conference 2023 at Amalie Arena. 

The four-day youth conference for students entering 9th grade through graduating high school seniors featured plenary sessions, times of worship, live concerts, and service projects in the community. The conference brought together students from the United States, Canada, and missionary students for an impactful experience.

“NYC was such a unique opportunity,” said Crismari Leon, a student attendee from Nall Avenue Church of the Nazarene in Prairie Village, Kansas. “Being in an arena with 10,000 other high school-aged people worshipping God together was unreal.”

Popular Christian recording artists For King and Country, Zach Williams and Blessing Offor, and Lecrae performed following the evening plenary sessions. 
Thanks to the Ministry With Others portion of NYC, students put in over 30,000 combined service hours for various local service projects. Over 78 different projects completed ranged from helping with landscaping and painting at local churches to cleaning up local parks and putting together more than 30,000 Care Kits to be distributed through partner foundations around the Tampa Bay area. The MWO sites made an estimated economic impact of $1.5 million in Tampa.

In addition to the plenary sessions, The Experience, an interactive and immersive prayer experience, gave students time to reflect and connect with God in a more peaceful setting. 

“The Experience was a break from all the commotion of NYC to connect with God one-on-one,” Leon said. “It allowed for a time of reflection on why we were in NYC and how we could continue to use what we learned going forward.”

The conference’s theme, Overflow, was based on Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” This was illustrated through the seven sermons the students heard during the conference.
On Thursday morning, LaMorris Crawford started the conference by discussing the hope in Jesus Christ, encouraging students to walk in step with the Holy Spirit. Carly Bartlett followed up that evening, discussing God’s grace and how it renews and restores through the story of the Samaritan woman.
On Friday morning, Chris Simning preached about God’s goodness and how it can saturate the unworthy or unwanted areas of their lives. Rich Villodas then gave a powerful sermon on how the Nazarene holiness tradition is rooted in love and can help bring justice and restoration to a broken society, encouraging the students to be vessels of that process.
On Saturday, Jason Ballard preached about following God’s plans, reminding the students that He has equipped them for the task ahead. Ballard challenged them to think as Jesus would have as they faced certain moments in their life.

General Superintendent Carla Sunberg spoke on Saturday night, charging the students to stand in the overflow of the Holy Spirit, so they might be empowered to fulfill God’s call in their lives.
And finally, Eric Samuel Timm challenged the students during the final session on Sunday morning to share the hope they find in the overflow and to let it flow out of every aspect of their lives as they return home.

“If we allow God to overflow, He will take over our lives and guide us through the right path,” Leon said.

To help reorient the conference schedules for NYC and General Assembly, the next two NYCs will take place every three years. It was recently announced that NYC 2026 will be held in in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.