Early September 2022, Deaf Millennial Project hosted the first in-person Deaf young adults conference, Awaken.
In the beginning, we thought maybe 50 Deaf adult leaders would come to the conference, but God always does more than we expect. Awaken had more than 80 Deaf young people from all over the U.S come to worship, pray, and hear the Word of God.
That’s how hungry our younger Deaf generation is!
During the conference, the Holy Spirit moved like never before in the hearts of all. Deaf people felt themselves and were free to express who they really were. We saw God breaking down barriers. We saw Deaf faces full of tears, joy, laughter, unity, and prayers lifted and filled.
My good friend Lexi and I had the opportunity to lead worship together for the first time. We had only met twice on zoom before discussing the conference songs. Leading up to the conference, we were all so busy that we had to practice and pray individually. At the conference, we were so nervous! We prayed and prayed, and then we prayed more. We wanted the Holy Spirit to take over. The Spirit responded to our prayers and moved mighty through Lexi and me as we had never felt before. Our hearts were as one together with other Deaf believers.
A Deaf Leader during the conference said, “I’ve waited 30 years for something like this. For 30 years our generation has been quiet, for 30 years we’ve been crying out to God.” Thirty years and finally, Deaf people could come together for the first time.
In the Book of Judges, a generation of Israelites had forgotten God. They forgot what their parents had taught them and grew quiet. As a result, they were disobedient to the Lord.
We don’t want that to happen to our Deaf generation. We don’t want to become complacent and quiet. We don’t want to wait another 30 years to come together again.
Let’s pray as a generation to be eager to meet again, not to remain quiet and forget but to be a nation that is Awaken!