By Kelly Luttinen
Conquest and Challenge national leadership attended the NFCYM conference and is now on YouTube, Twitter and more.
February 2, 2011 — Conquest and Challenge groups are getting noticed nationally, thanks mostly to the organization’s own efforts. Conquest and Challenge recently promoted their programs at a national conference for youth ministers, and now has a YouTube channel, Twitter account and is offering online CatholicQuiz.com memberships as part of the Conquest younger programs they offer.
Todd Brechbill, National Director for Conquest, said he and Nadine McMillan, National Director of Challenge for girls, recently attended the national conference for Catholic youth ministry in New Orleans, Louisiana.
“We had a wonderful experience with thousands of youth ministers, diocesan directors and other dedicated people who work in youth ministry and religious education across the US,” said Brechbill. “The conference is sponsored by the National Federation of Catholic Youth Ministry. Conquest and Challenge had a booth in the Resource exposition hall to get the word out to the dioceses and youth ministers about how they could start groups in their parish or school. It was great to meet so many people working to bring young people closer to Christ.”
“We spoke with hundreds of youth ministers and diocesan directors about Conquest and Challenge, who showed great interest in starting up the program. Over 90 people want us to mail them sample materials to show to their pastor or to see for themselves how it works. We learned a lot from their experiences and their testimony about what they are actually looking for and what they want to offer their youth. This will surely help us with some tweaks to the programs this upcoming year.”
Brechbill said Conquest and Challenge recently mailed a combined catalog to most dioceses in the US and Canada, and have received feedback from many of these dioceses asking for more information about the program.
“We are growing!” said Brechbill. “Last year Conquest participation grew 20 percent, and so far this year we are 9% over the number of participants this same time last year!”
Send in Your Videos – The Conquest YouTube Channel is now accepting club videos.
Brechbill encourages everyone to check out the new Conquest videos on YouTube. Go to the website and click on the link on the homepage, or go directly to the YouTube homepage at https://www.youtube.com/ConquestClubs.
“Special thanks to ‘Chart a Course’ video productions for their help, as well as to the dads for the Conquest club in Pinckney, MI for creating the new Dad’s Promo Video,” said Brechbill. “Make sure you cast your vote on the site, and share these videos with friends!”
He encourages Conquest groups to send him their local videos. “We are looking for fun and crazy activities, apostolates, as well as special guest speakers, even team leader talks. Send your camps and retreat videos too!”
Video DVDs can be mailed directly to Brechbill or sent to [email protected] via Dropbox.
For fans of Twitter, Brechbill said Conquest is on this site as well. Go to https://twitter.com/ConquestClubs or click on the link at the Conquest website homepage! “Be a follower for updates and for a sneak peek at what’s new for the coming year!” he said.
Free Memberships Available
Each registered Father & Son and Junior Leadership Group receives a free membership for each boy CatholicQuiz.com.
Brechbill said Conquest sponsored an Advent Contest on the catechism site at the end of 2010 for every group in North America to compete over Christmas break.
“More than 800 boys participated,” said Brechbill. “Participants played 1,876 games and answered 15,153 questions! Wow! Now that is forming some serious Conquest-IQ!”
The winner of the catechism contest was the Holy Redeemer group from Pickering, Ontario, Canada with a total of 13,215 points. The Conquest group from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada came in second with 3,004 points; the group from Minister, Ohio came in third with 2,129 points; and the St. William group from Round Rock, Texas came in fourth with 1,530 point. Congratulations!