5,500 teenagers aged from 13-18, travelled “up the mountain” this month for KYCK, hosted by Katoomba Christian Convention (KCC) in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.

KYCK Chairman Steve Wakeford said the response to the evangelistic talks each Saturday night across the three weekends was overwhelming.

“On the second weekend at KYCK we had about 2,200 kids there, and for the first time I was sitting up the back on that Saturday night. So I got to see what it looks like when hundreds of kids stand up for Jesus, and start flooding out the back to pray. It was amazing. I started crying.

The second weekend was the most popular time slot this year of the three weekends this year. Close to 400 teenagers responded to the gospel, after hearing what Steve called “one of the most powerful evangelistic talks I’ve ever heard” from Chris Colgan from Melbourne’s City On A Hill church.

This year, the third weekend of KYCK was held the weekend after schools went back for second term, so registrations were slightly down from previous years (though still up to about 1400 youth attended). But that weekend, almost as many people responded to the evangelistic call as the weekend before.

“What usually happens is that those who’ve responded to the gospel go outside to a large tent where we have volunteer counsellors – youth leaders and pastors who we know and trust – ready to pray with them and take their details so we can make sure they’re followed up by their church leaders when they head home,” said Steve.

“But on the third weekend, we didn’t have enough counsellors ready for all the kids! We had to make a call from the front asking for more youth leaders to head outside to help us out. It was just great to be so overwhelmed like that.”

KYCK Conferences over many years have aimed to meet youth where they’re at in their faith – whether still exploring or looking for ways to hold on to their faith amongst their peers. This year speakers John Dickson from Centre for Public Christianity and Chris Colgan spoke to the crowd about the great victory won by Jesus from Luke’s Gospel.