Revitalitzation or Rejection??

In a comment to the previous post Dave Watson from Kent, WA, brought up a good discussion point that warrants its own post. He asks:

"I guess I'm just wondering whether The Returning Church group (I realize it's not a very tightly knit organization) is going to have a somewhat lasting impact on the CRC or if you are just going to move on to greener fields when you can't stomach the direction of the CRC leadership anymore (like the URC folk)."

Those involved with the Returning Church discussions have stated their commitment to the CRC and bringing revitalization to the denomination. Being an unorganized "organization" the Returning Church has so far sought to be a forum for networking and sharing ideas as well as encouragement. How can this best be done in the CRC? What sort of "lasting impact" do you see the Returning Church discussions having... if any? Or are we just setting ourselves up to bolt from the CRC and form yet another Reformed denomination/federation/fellowship??

This discussion is open to anyone and given the looseness of the Returning Church organizationally, your thoughts and reflections are very important in determining where this should all go in the future.

Summer Youth Conventions/Camps

Summer youth conventions/camps have been almost ritual for our high school youth for the last many years. Some of the churches involved in these discussions have attended the Youth Unlimited convention in Bozeman this past weekend and others the Reformed Youth Service (RYS) covention in Minneapolis last week... maybe your congregation went somewhere else, like a Young Life camp or wherever. Your eyewitness reports would be very helpful to all of us. We would love your comments, evaluations - good/bad/etc, especially as we are thinking about faith formation as a denomination. What role does "convention" play?