Thy Kingdom Come

Unified Underground 2010 is over and it was incredible. We were blessed with amazing speakers, whom we're fortunate enough to also call our friends, as well as a really unforgettable time of worship with Ascend the Hill. The Lord was truly present and we saw Him working through fellowship, prayer, teaching, and worship. We've started looking through the evaluations you filled out and are learning more about what you desire in next year's conference.

We're looking forward to next year as we try to hold on to the knowledge and growth we received this year. It seems as though there is always a period of let down after spirit-filled encounters such as Unified Underground. You reach a spiritual high there and feel so close and wrapped up in the arms of God, then return to regular everyday life. It's back to work and back to busy schedules. But, He is still with us here in the everyday life. We didn't leave Him behind at Riva Trace. He is still in our hearts and souls and still longing to be just as close and intimate with us. We don't have to lose that feeling. We can keep the fire burning. Through worship with Ascend the Hill we claimed that we would spend it all for Him. We offered up our soul, mind, hands, and time to Him. We need to not forget these claims. Every day is a new chance to invite Him in and ask him to take hold of our lives. He tells us that he is with us until the end of time (Matthew 28:20), and our God keeps His word.

It is our hope to help keep the fire going by writing here often and giving encouragement to you all. Please let us know if there is anything you need help with or want to know more about. You can email me at starr@HFTR.org or my husband Lucas at lucas@HFTR.org.

We hope to see you all again next year at Unified Underground: THE END IS NEAR (September 30-October 2, 2011). The promo video will be available online soon as well as mp3s from the speakers at this year's Unified Underground: Thy Kingdom Come. Stay tuned!

Unified Underground has come and gone...

We want to thank everyone who came out to Unified Underground this past weekend, and everyone who kept the conference in their prayers as well! It was an amazing time, and judging from everyone's response, a life-changing experience for all who attended; we give all the glory and praise to God for that!

All of us at Hope For The Rejected have been slowly recovering from running around all weekend, but we have already started planning for next year. The questionnaires that we handed out will be an integral part of putting together Unified Underground 2009; in fact, we've already gathered several great ideas from them. Our goal is to meet the needs of our community, so rest assured that we will ever be striving for that!

Keep your eyes out for pictures and videos from this weekend; we'll be rolling those out over the coming days, weeks, and months.

Thanks again to everyone who came out and supported what God is doing through Hope For The Rejected and the rest of His servants in the underground subcultures. This movement would be dead without you!

Unified Underground 2009 will be held Oct. 16-18, 2009!

Unified Underground 2007 video!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uRR_2-ixrKI

You can learn more about Unified Underground, read a full recap and see tons of photos at www.UnifiedUnderground.com!

UNIFIED UNDERGROUND 2008 will be held October 10-12, 2008! Keep an eye on the site for more details as they become available!


www.UnifiedUnderground.com

Unified Underground 2007

Just imagine it... punks, goths and hardcore kids from all over the country, all gathering in one place for three days, all sharing the same belief systems and—as Leroy from War of Ages put it—all committed to changing the world. Speakers from the various cultures opened their hearts and spoke their minds to the rest of us, teaching us and encouraging us by pointing to the Word, and bands led our worship in their own styles ranging from punk rock to gothic-industrial to electronic to metalcore. This was UNIFIED UNDERGROUND 2007.

I'm going to be honest: I didn't know how well it was going to work. I didn't know if the kind of fellowship we were aiming for was possible, but I knew that God had a plan for this weekend. And His plan came to fruition by His grace! His children, no matter what they looked like, got to know each other and built lasting friendships that will persist long after everyone arrives back home in their respective states. All of the social walls were completely obliterated, and we shared our time in worship, growth, learning, discipleship and even recreation. Every time I looked around, I saw people talking and introducing themselves, rather than sticking with the groups that they had come to the conference with. Real, enduring UNITY was achieved this weekend, and that unity is only going to continue to grow and strengthen as the spirit of this weekend "trickles down" through all of the people who participated as they share their experiences this weekend with others.

I am still collecting my thoughts and reflecting over this weekend, but I think I can safely speak for everyone in attendance and say that it was a life-changing event for all of us. Every person with whom I've spoken has said that they grew through the events of the weekend, and are committed to being there next year and every year after.

Over the next few days and weeks, we'll be collecting photos and testimonies to share with all of you that couldn't make it! If you were there, please email me with any testimonies or weblogs that you kept for the event, and links to any photos you may have taken.

We've got less than a year until UNIFIED UNDERGROUND 2008, featuring our amazing friends in Flatfoot 56. We're shooting for the first weekend in October (Oct. 3-5, '08), so mark your calendars and start making your plans now! God bless!