News release: Finishing touches on planning for January youth event

Meetings in Toowoomba this week (October 18–20) will put the finishing touches on planning for a national youth event to take place in the city in January. The Seventh-day Adventist Church’s “Pathfinder camporee” is to be hosted at the Clive Berghofer Events Centre from January 4 to 9. Currently more than 2500 young people and leaders from all parts of Australia have registered to attend.

Tony Knight, national director for the church’s youth ministries, is excited about the opportunity to host this event in Toowoomba and the reception his team has received on their previous visits to Toowoomba. “All the people we have dealt with have been very welcoming and friendly, right from the first contact,” he says. “The Glenvale showgrounds are a fabulous venue and we appreciate the great infrastructure with the ability to source the things we need for the event.”

But Mr Knight also expects this event to contribute to the Toowoomba community. “This event will have economic elements, through food, catering and building supplies as well as tourism in the region before and after the camporee,” he says. “But one motivating factors is community service and citizenship, so we hope to be able to contribute to some community projects while in Toowoomba.

“Our organisation is all about building up young people and equipping them for success in their life journey, so we are planning that this will be a positive experience for the young people attending and for the community of Toowoomba, as well.”

The young people who will travel to Toowoomba in January for this once-in-four-years event represent Pathfinder clubs from around the nation. Pathfinders is an activity-based adventure program hosted by Adventist churches around the world for young people (aged 10 to 15) from the church and community. There are currently an estimated 2 million Pathfinder members worldwide.