Teens and volunteers from every diocese of the Lower Peninsula addressed the questions:  Is Jesus worth following? What does an identity rooted in Jesus, not the world, look like? How does Jesus want to bring you freedom from the things that weigh you down?

At the end of the daylong Catholic middle school conference — the first ever of its kind in Michigan— the youth knew:  the answers are only found in Jesus.

“[Anchor] is a very spiritual place where you can grow in your faith and learn about what other people have gone through on their journey,” said Mariana Bercel, a middle school student from St. Agnes in Freeland. Mariana was one of 90 middle school youth, parents and youth ministers from 10 parishes in the Diocese of Saginaw who attended the event.

National speakers Emily Wilson and Brian Greenfield, both alumni of the National Eucharistic Congress, shared passionate talks. They exhorted teens to anchor their life to Jesus and find new life and meaning in him. Students also had the opportunity to pray, worship, receive the sacrament of Reconciliation and attend Holy Mass.

Abby Jones, the youth minister at Sacred Heart in Mount Pleasant, shared that one of her students was dragged to Confession by a friend. Coming out of her first Reconciliation since she was 8, she felt free, happy and unburdened.

A powerful experience for many was a prayer led by Brian Greenfield asking God to heal painful memories.

David Pierre, a middle schooler from St. Agnes, experienced God in a personal way at that moment.

“I closed my eyes and felt a person on my shoulders, telling me, ‘It’s okay,’” he said.

Mariana had a similar experience.

“I could see [Jesus] and feel him hugging me,” she shared.

Anchor was created with the goal of facilitating these personal encounters with Jesus in mind.  Alarming research has found that youth who leave the Church on average make that decision at age 13.

In addition to the spiritually impactful sessions, the day was filled with fun and fellowship. Youth guessed if lyrics were from Taylor Swift or the Book of Lamentations, played giant Jenga and were peppered by a T-shirt cannon.

Bishops from each of the six dioceses in the Lower Peninsula also attended Anchor to show their support for the youth, offer opportunities for Confession and celebrate Mass. Our diocesan youth were excited to see that Bishop Robert Gruss also preached the homily at Mass.

In his homily, Bishop Gruss shared his story of being “a lazy Catholic... who wasn’t ‘all in’ on Jesus.”

As a young adult, Bishop Gruss worked as a pilot, and becoming a priest wasn’t even on his radar.

“My dream was to get married, have a family... have a perfect flying job, retire at the age of 55 and live happily ever after,” he said.

God changed his life at a Bible study, where he surrendered his life to Jesus and “gained everything.” He never looked back as God led him on a crazy adventure.

“One of my biggest life lessons is that God’s dream for me was bigger than any meager little dream than I may have had,” he said.

Referring to the Gospel story of the Transfiguration, Bishop Gruss pulled out old 3-D glasses.

“These 3-D glasses allow us to see in different ways ... than merely the human eyes can see. They bring reality to life. Now, what if our 3-D lenses were the promises that Jesus has made to us, that he will be with us always, until the end of time?”

He likened this to Peter, James and John’s experience of Jesus’ Transfiguration.

“For them, the experience on this mountaintop with Jesus was like being given 3-D lenses. In this beautiful encounter, Jesus gave these men a new set of eyes in which to see their lives, their purpose and their future.”

“In anchoring ourselves to Jesus, we gain more than we could possibly imagine,” Bishop Gruss continued.

The statewide event team, which included youth ministry coordinators from each diocese in the Lower Peninsula, hope to host Anchor every other year, alternating with the National Catholic Youth Conference for high schoolers.

Jacob Vasquez, a seventh grader from St. Francis of Assisi, recommends attending Anchor.

“It’s a great experience and [if you’re thinking about attending] you should really talk to God about it and pray on it,” he said, adding that at Anchor, “you can grow closer to God and get more experiences of God.”

David described Anchor as a conference where “you realize the truth you need to accept God.”

“God needs to be our anchor,” he said. “God has a plan for us, and we need to open our hearts to him. He's crying out for us.”