The South Holland Young People are again happy to welcome the Protestant Reformed Youth to South Holland, Illinois for the 31st Annual PRYP Convention. This convention is founded on love, as befitting disciples of Christ. For that is what we are; and so is the theme of the convention – “Disciples of Christ.” We are working hard to make it an enjoyable, but more, a spiritually enlightening experience for all the conventioneers. Keeping this in mind, we have attempted to revolve the social aspects around the spiritual aspects. We have tried to make such events as the Mass Meetings the center of the convention and the other events are made relevant to them. The following is a brief attempt to outline those plans.
The convention is to start at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 17 and will end with the Banquet on Friday, August 20. You will notice we have reverted to the earlier practice of having the convention during the week, instead of over the weekend. If I may sidetrack I will explain why. First, the week-end took too much time. We simply could not fill the days with activities. Second, several people have stated they could not obtain split vacations and so could not attend the entire convention. And, most important, all the ministers could not attend the entire week-end. We feel the change is most beneficial for our young people, and hope it is proven by the attendance record of both ministers and conventioneers.
Back to the schedule. Registration will be held Tuesday afternoon at South Holland church. At this time there will be registration fee collection, lodging assignments given, and also other activities. Late that afternoon is the first business meeting. That evening Reverend Kortering will speak on “The Mark of the Disciple” – John 13:35, 36, at the first Mass Meeting. It is to be followed by coffee and donuts and a “get acquainted hour” in the basement.
Wednesday morning we rise bright and early, for that is the day of the big outing. We plan to spend the entire day at The Lake of the Woods. In the morning at Lake of the Woods, the conventioneers will gather to hear Reverend Schipper speak on the “Costliness of a Disciple” – Matthew 16:24. I will leave the other activities there as a surprise.
The morning of August 19 is to be spent at Jurgenson’s Woods. Here we will have the second business meeting, discussion groups, games, and a revival of an old favorite – a Tug of War over a stream. It might be well to wear your old clothes that day! After a wiener roast, the annual East-West ball game will be played. Home for dinner, and then our one trip to Chicago. We will go on a scenic boat cruise and go up to the top of the John Hancock Building – the 94th floor.
The Pancake Breakfast is scheduled for the last morning, Friday, in South Holland Park. After breakfast, games will be organized and played till lunch. We hope then to show a film relevant to us and have discussions on it. We will disband early so everybody can have plenty of time to get ready for the Banquet. The formal/semi-formal banquet is to be at the Ramada Inn, and should be the high point of the entire week. Reverend Van Baren will speak on “The Reward of the Disciple” – John 8:31, 32.
I have neither the time nor the space to write the texts or theme song, but would suggest you look them up. The theme song is Psalter No. 100. If you do, you will readily see how beautifully they all tie in with our theme.
The above is but a brief glimpse of what is in store for you as conventioneers at the 1971 Convention. We hope it is enough of a glimpse that it inspires all of you into attending. Until then, we will work and plan and pray that this convention will be a successful one.

Originally Published in:
Vol. 31 No. 4 June/July 1971