Every movement is made up of people - and GYC is no different! Year after year thousands of young people come together to attend the GYC Conference but it’s behind the scenes where the action really takes place! The backbone of organizations like GYC is made up of volunteers. Without the quiet, unseen work of these volunteers throughout the year, the yearly conference would never happen. In this episode of the GYC Beyond Podcast Esther Louw interviews Carl Brugger, a long-term GYC volunteer with a passion for using his talents to serve Jesus.

<p>Every movement is made up of people - and GYC is no different! Year after year thousands of young people come together to attend the GYC Conference but it’s behind the scenes where the action really takes place! The backbone of organizations like GYC is made up of volunteers. Without the quiet, unseen work of these volunteers throughout the year, the yearly conference would never happen. In this episode of the GYC Beyond Podcast Esther Louw interviews Carl Brugger, a long-term GYC volunteer with a passion for using his talents to serve Jesus.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Shauna Chung

Lisa Topete

GYC Beyond

01- Incorporating Evangelism into Your Life

Mark Finley

02- How to Live a Consecrated Life

Sebastien Braxton

03- How to Navigate Past Brick Walls

Amy Sheppard

04- Leadership and Time Management

Gem Castor

05 - How to Have a Powerful Life of Prayer

Natasha Dysinger

Esther Louw

06 - How to Have a Vibrant Devotional Life

Justin Kim

07- How to Teach an Interesting Sabbath School Lesson

Adam Ramdin

08 - Discovering Our Christian Heritage

Anthony Bosman

09 - Why Christianity?

Moise Ratsara

10- Why You Should Be Involved in Your Local Church

Janet Page

Jerry Page

11- How to Experience Revival and Reformation

David Skau

12- How to Reach Out to Refugees and Immigrants

Neale Schofield

13- How to Use Media and Art for God

Tara Vang

14 - The Power of Sharing Your Faith

Lela Lewis

15 - How to Get Involved in Medical Missionary Work

Carl Brugger

16 - Why You Should Volunteer for GYC

Andy Im

17 - How to Overcome Temptation

Michelle Doucoumes

18 - The Heart of Ministry

Doug Batchelor

19 - How to Overcome an Ice Cream Addiction

Kyle Allen

20 - How to be a Part of Total Member Involvement

Nathaniel Justin Khoe

21 - How to Create a Social Media Ministry

Wayne Blakely

Michael Carducci

Danielle Harrison

Ronald Woolsey

22 - Coming Out Ministries: Sexual Identity & Adventism

Gary Blanchard

23 - How to Live Dangerously for God

Every movement is made up of people and G Y C is no different. Year after year, thousands of young people come together to attend the G Y C conference, but it's behind the scenes where the action really takes place. The backbone of organizations like G Y C is made up of volunteers. Without the quiet, unseen work of these volunteers throughout the year, the yearly conference would never happen. Hi, this is Esther Lowe. In this episode of the G Y C Beyond Podcast, I have a discussion with Carl Berger, a long-term G Y C volunteer with a passion for using his talents to serve Jesus. Hi Carl. Welcome to the G Y C Beyond Podcast. We're just really grateful to have you here. For those who don't know who you are, you are actually someone who is integral to G yc and you make everything that happens online, whether it's being able to put the podcast online or register for the G Y C convention, you make all of that happen. So we wanted to talk to you day a little bit about what you do for G Y C, what life looks like as a volunteer, and also about your own experience with serving God through programming and software engineering. So start off with, can you share us a little bit about your testimony and how you came to know Jesus? Yes. I was raised in Adventist family. My parents did a, a great job bringing my sister and myself up learning to learning the Bible and the doctrines of our church. And it wasn't until I was about 16 years old or so that I started to transit to learn to gain the personal relationship with God. Up until that point, I had a, I had a good understanding of the doctrines and, and a good knowledge of the church, but I was lacking in the personal, the personal relationship. So in your teen years as you're just coming into making adult choices, you make one of the best choices you could have made, really, and that is to have a personal experience in Jesus. Now, at that point, was this about the same time that you were getting interested in computer programming? How did that interest take off in your life? No, it wasn't actually. So at that time I had attended a family camp and, and I had listened to some messages that had had prompted the, the thought process about the benefits of having a personal relationship. But I, I didn't really have an interest in programming or until I got into college, actually. I've always had a technologically tracked mind, very mechanical minded type of person. I remember that from a very young age. My father was overseas in the army and my mother would take VCR VHS tapes of us kids and send them to my dad. And she, at times would have difficulty getting the system set up and running and all. But it was something that even at a age of about three, I was able to set it up and, and do three recordings. And yes, at three years old, that's, that's impressive. So I've always, I've always had a knack for those sorts of things. And when I started college, I wanted to do something engineering related and I started pursuing mechanical engineering and looking into the draft team. But those degrees weren't offered at Indiana University. And it was kind of a family tradition for us to, for my family to attend Indiana University, third generation graduates from the school. Oh, wow. And so while I was at Indiana University, I entered into the computer science program and I took a few classes and I really enjoyed what I was doing. So I continued with that, with that track and started working for the school newspaper and met a friend there who spent a lot of time helping me gain my skills in web development and, and just web development in general. And that's where a lot of my interests came from for web development. That's really cool. So, you know, some, a lot of people I know who do web development and computer programming, it was like a passion since they were like 11 or or 12. But for you, it was a later choice that came into your life right at that key moment and became what you shaped your life around. You've got this relationship with Jesus and you're studying computer programming. How did you start volunteering for G Y C? When I lived in Colorado, I had a good friend, Brandon Schrader. At that time in my life, he was the VP of communications for gyc. And he knew that I was studying web development and asked me if I could take on some small projects for him. I don't remember exactly what they were. I think it had to do with some cutting PDF files up and making them into h t HTML pages. So I did some of those. And at that time, I hadn't attended A G Y C. Oh, wow. I didn't attend my first G Y C to attend G Y C 2009 nine in Louisville. Did you attend because you were volunteering? No, I didn't. I had desired to attend G YC I for the last three years. The three years prior to that, I had listened to all the G YC meetings that were broadcasted online. And that created a, a burning desire for me to go to G Y C. I firmly believed in the G Y C mission and, and message, and I wanted to experience it myself in person. So you've already kind of started doing little things and then you go to G Y C. What was your impression of U Y C when you came? It was, was, it was amazing. That was the, the, probably the, the first and last year that I actually attended all of the meetings. But I was, I was thoroughly blessed by them. All right. So you mentioned that was the last year that you attended all the meetings. What happened from there? Yeah, from there. So at that point Brandon asked me to do some more web work for him, and I got a lot more involved in the communications department in, in the website capacity. The following year I started volunteering with the registration team as a registration assistant. You know, the guys that you, the first people you see when you walk into the, the convention center? Mm. And I, I got a taste for the registration system and the registration process and really enjoyed that. And that was also the same here, that G Y C was building a new website. Mm. And so G YC 2010, I was backstage of the meeting hall transferring all of the audio files. I can't remember how many of them there were. Myself and ICO were transferring the audio files to the new, the new website. So there's a lot of hours spent backstage listening to snippets of the message while we're busy working. Cuz we wanted to launch this at the end of G Y C. Oh, Wow. Oh, I mean, why does G Y C have volunteers? Doesn't an organization like that have enough people that can get things going? I mean, we see the VPs on stage every single year and they obviously doing a great job. Why did you need to volunteer for G yc? You want to believe the amount of work it takes to put on a convention of that size. There are I probably hundreds of volunteers who put in thousands of hours of time preparing for the convention to actually take place. Taking the time that's spent before the conference, preparing the schedule and the programming and putting together contracts for the logistical aspects of it. And even down to the registration part of it. Preparing for the preparing to build the, the system that's going to, to allow you to register for the event. And then answering all of your phone calls and emails and everything that comes in in the meantime as you're trying to, trying to go through that process. So it takes a lot of work to, to put on a conference like this. I remember my first time at G Y C to me it just looked at like everything was just going smoothly. It wasn't a problem in the world. But you're talking about a lot of little details here. Like sometimes you're just writing up PDF documents, other times you're working on registration system or answering phone calls. Did anything ever go wrong? Oh goodness, yes. Many times we have a lot of stories of the, the hiccups that have happened backstage and off offsite and and stuff that we do our best to smooth it over and make things continue as as they should. But we've, we've had some interesting stories. I remember one year in Houston, it's a few years ago, our, we had, we had a issue with the registration system where it was not allowing us to print the name badges that you pick up when you come to the, to the desks. And it was a bit of a stressful time for the registration volunteers trying to get, waiting for the, the IT guys to get it all set up and working and then also hoping that the people who, who are the attendees are going to come in, that they aren't gonna be too stressed out about it. And it was probably about a two to three hour wait before we were able to open registration. But as the people, as you guys were lining up outside the, the registration booth, they were, they were singing hymns and that just that that, it was an inspiring moment for me to see the, the, the, the difference of a secular environment to a Christian Adventist environment. Cuz a lot of people, when they're waiting for something to happen, something that they've paid for, they aren't gonna be very happy about it. Yeah. But seeing that you could go through a, a hardship and it's not a big hardship, but it's a hardship like that and still have a smile on your face and a song in your heart was, was encouraging. Why do you do this? I mean, you've been here now you said since 2009, volunteering for G Y C I mean, this is coming up to like eight, nine years that you've been volunteering. Why do you keep doing it? I do it because of those first few years that I listen to Gyc online and that first year I got to attend the meetings in person. I remember the blessing that it was to me and, and the way that it encouraged me and challenged me to, to become an involved member of my church and in my community and to, and, and how it inspired me to, to have a personal relationship with God and to, to work on, on building that relationship continually. And so I do it because I remember what it did for me and I want to provide an opportunity for other people to experience that as well, Giving back. Right. That's a beautiful idea. You know, I think that's what pretty much everyone who volunteers with G YC is doing. I mean, we've talked about, you know, the reason why Gyc needs volunteers is because this is so much going on at a conference and so much planning that goes behind the scenes and it's, it's not natural sometimes to wanna do something that doesn't get recognized. How has volunteering for G Y C ultimately enriched your spiritual life and what advice would you give to somebody who's thinking about getting involved in a ministry near them to give back? Hmm. G Y C definitely has enriched my spiritual life by volunteering. And I think a lot of that is happened because of, because of the experience of giving to something sacrificially. And in the sense that I haven't been able to listen, to attend the, the conference as a traditional attendee. Being able to, to sacrificially give of my time and talents in those areas has, I think that that type of experience just draws you closer to God because God, Jesus, when he was on this earth, he, that's what he did. He, he gave of his time and of, of his divine healing powers and, and all to, to bless the people that were around to him. Ultimately. I hear you just saying you're blessed by following Christ's footsteps of service. Right. And doing those small things that need to be done to make an eternal impact on someone's life. And that's really powerful. And just to wrap up, this is just a, a short interview to find out, you know, what does it look like to be a G YC volunteer? And and for you, you're a programmer. I am. And, and so you are using your talents and what God's given you to do that, and everyone has their own unique gifts. What do you ultimately think someone should do who's sitting where you were maybe back in 2009? What steps should they take if they wanna get more involved in either G Y C or some other ministry where they can utilize their talents for God? Be willing, like I said, it takes a lot of people to put together a conference like this and a lot of the people who volunteer, myself included, started volunteering by volunteering to volunteer, Taking Initiative to by taking initiative. Yes. And like I said, Brandon knew me, but I went out on my own and volunteered to be part of the, the registration team. Connect with the, the volunteer team at G YC talk to, they, we have a, usually we have a booth that says, volunteer on it. Go up there and put your name on the list, your name, your contact information. Tell us a little bit about yourself, what your passions are, what, what talents you have. We do have needs in web development and programming and in many other areas. And you may think that you don't have anything in particular that is of use, but there's a lot of just brute force or blunt of hard work that just needs to be done. And it doesn't take a skilled person necessarily due to, to sit at a desk and, and, and greet people with a smile and check them in and print off a badge and give it to them. So there's a, there's a lot of ways to serve. But yeah, to do it, just, just get out there and, and volunteer. If you can't find the, the booth that says volunteers or maybe you wanna prepare ahead of time, how can someone sign up to you volunteer during a G Y C conference? When you register for G yc, after you've completed your payment, you get to your profile page. There is a button on there to apply as a volunteer. There'll be a form that shows you, oh, the different opportunities that you can volunteer for, whether you wanna be a greeter or on the registration team, and just fill out what, what you're interested in. And if it's not on that list, still contact us because there are other opportunities that we could, How can, how can they contact Us? Yes, you can contact us at volunteers@gycweb.org. Perfect. Thank you so much for sharing with us about all the things that you've done over the years behind the scenes that often goes unnoticed. And I just hope that, you know, this has inspires other people like yourself, like myself, who wanna give back to just go out there and take initiative. Thank you for taking part in this interview. Thank you Esther. A special word of thanks to Carl Ruger and to all the G Y C volunteers who give their time for cause close to their hearts. May you also be inspired for service.

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GYC Beyond

16 - Why You Should Volunteer for GYC

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Other Teachings in Series

01- Incorporating Evangelism into Your Life

02- How to Live a Consecrated Life

03- How to Navigate Past Brick Walls

04- Leadership and Time Management

05 - How to Have a Powerful Life of Prayer

06 - How to Have a Vibrant Devotional Life

1 more

07- How to Teach an Interesting Sabbath School Lesson

1 more

08 - Discovering Our Christian Heritage

09 - Why Christianity?

10- Why You Should Be Involved in Your Local Church

11- How to Experience Revival and Reformation

12- How to Reach Out to Refugees and Immigrants

13- How to Use Media and Art for God

14 - The Power of Sharing Your Faith

15 - How to Get Involved in Medical Missionary Work

16 - Why You Should Volunteer for GYC

17 - How to Overcome Temptation

18 - The Heart of Ministry

19 - How to Overcome an Ice Cream Addiction

20 - How to be a Part of Total Member Involvement

21 - How to Create a Social Media Ministry

22 - Coming Out Ministries: Sexual Identity & Adventism

3 more

23 - How to Live Dangerously for God

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