MGSOSA Southern Regional Leadership Conference

by Dn. Zacharia Varghese

God has been pleased to expand the ministry and scope of our Church in recent years. In happy addition to new parishes being built, new converts being won, and new initiatives being explored, our youth members are assuming responsibility and leading the way forward. Properly equipping young people to take the leadership mantle is essential for continued momentum. 

We are blessed to have progressive elders at the Archdiocesan, Regional, and Parish levels to shepherd the American Church in its “second generation” phase. Our Archbishop, the Archdiocesan Council, and our Parishes have entrusted the Mor Gregorios Syrian Orthodox Student Association of North America (MGSOSA) to spearhead youth efforts. Innovative in approach, the MGSOSA has deftly built a consistent, uniform movement – unveiling an eager batch of potential leaders in the process.

Engaging such energetic Church builders requires a special effort. In late 2005, several MGSOSA leaders began to develop ideas for a leadership conference. Instead of foraying directly into a national leadership conference, it was decided that a regional conference should be our first attempt. The Southern Region (Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California) was charged with the task. In a further report, the framework, process, event, results, and feedback will be thoroughly analyzed to provide insight on how to best proceed with leadership development training. 

The 1st MGSOSA Leadership Conference was held in Waxahachie, Texas, just south of Dallas, on March 17-19th, 2006. The theme of the conference was “Teach These Hands What to Carry: Creating a Roadmap for the Future.” The chief guests were His Eminence Yeldo Mor Teethose, Archbishop and President of MGSOSA, Very Reverend Father Avgin Aydin Rabban, Doctoral Candidate at Princeton Seminary, Very Reverend Doctor Abjar Bakhou Rabban, Youth Minister, Reverend Father Bijo Mathew, Vice-President of MGSOSA, Reverend Deacon Joel Jacob, MGSOSA Secretary, and Mr. Reji Varghese, Youth Coordinator of our St. George’s Syrian Orthodox Church, Bethany, Oklahoma. St. George’s parish served as host. The venue was Lakeview Campsite, a recently constructed retreat center operated by the Assemblies of God. Though the weather turned out to be terrible, through God’s grace, the presence of these and other dignitaries, and thirty-seven of our precious youth leaders the conference was a success. The regional parishes represented were St. Ignatious and St. Mary’s from the Dallas area, St. Mary’s Houston, St. Mary’s Los Angeles, and the aforementioned St. George’s. Thirty of the youth present were from the Southern Region. Several youth flew in from the three other MGSOSA regions and California. Those flying in and those from the Dallas area met at the house of Reverend Father Alias Aramath on Friday, March 17th for prayer and travel preparations. These included Reverend Deacon Zacharia Varghese, Regional Advisor, Mr. Binu Aramath, Senior Regional Coordinator, and Ms. Irine Thomas, Junior Regional Coordinator. This caravan met with those from St. George’s parish in Waxahachie and registration began.

Upon the Archbishop’s arrival, evening prayer was conducted, brief introductions given, and we had our first Lenten meal. Afterward, we proceeded to a campfire where smores were made, songs were sung spontaneously, and a well planned ice breaker by St. George’s youth drew out the crowd. As we made our way back to our conference rooms, a rain that lasted the rest of the weekend started to fall.

Fortunately, Fr. Mathew, Mr. Jesse Scaria, and Mr. George Aramath were able to present an engaging presentation on confession, preparing us to partake in the sacrament the following day. Confession was a focus of the conference so that leaders could return to their home parishes refreshed and ready to engage in church work. Another focus was the introduction of the Beth Gazo, the repository of Syriac music. Throughout the conference Syriac and Syriac music was practiced and sung. Mr. Mike Wingert California kindly organized and led these efforts. 

On Saturday, March 18th our day began at 7:00 am with morning prayer. After breakfast, we had the pleasure of introducing Rabban Avgin, who gave a message on the theme, drawing upon the leadership qualities of our church fathers and emphasizing prayer. He then fielded questions for a considerable length of time from the audience. 

After noon prayer and lunch we took our group photos and were treated to an enlightening discussion of group dynamic by Mr. & Mrs. Ken Goodgames, leaders in the field and personal friends of Fr. Mathew. They turned our attention to the evolution of a team as it sets goals and works to accomplish them. Another session led by Mr. Varghese also reinforced the aspects of team building and leadership from a practical point of view. 

After evening prayer and dinner, attendees prepared themselves for confession. Reverend Father Alias Aramath and Reverend Father V.M. Thomas, along with Monk-Priest Abjar and Fr. Mathew, heard and absolved our sins and inspired us to trust in Jesus Christ. Dn. Joel prepared us further before hand with a poignant message. As members waited in turn, Psalms were recited and songs were sung in a traditional manner. 

To apply our earlier training, we split up into project teams and tackled various issues facing the church. One group pondered how to set up a young adult ministry. Another group discussed setting up a print media ministry. This lasted through midnight.

On Sunday, March 19th, the highlight was Holy Qurbono led by Archbishop Teethose. Everything except certain Malayalam songs, including the morning prayer, was conducted in English and Syriac. Special books prayer books were prepared by Mr. Aramath and given as souvenirs to all attendees. After service Archbishop Teethose gave a presidential address along with his sermon, gifts were presented to speakers, a plaque commemorating the St. George’s hosting was presented, and closing comments were delivered by Dn. Varghese. We also viewed a video presentation by Ani Skariya, a seminarian, detailing the life of a seminarian. 

We concluded the meeting and broke for lunch, where the national MGSOSA leadership conducted a planning session for future events. Much feedback has been generated from this conference, and enthusiasm is present for developing our resources. We thank God that He has placed these choice leaders (and many more) to drive His Church into the future. Also, the hard work of Mr. Aramath, Ms. Thomas, and the youth leagues of the two Dallas parishes is also very much appreciated.