Out of a youth conference developed a friendship, the friendship grew into a lifelong bond, and with that an idea was borne. About 2022 Layne Wright and Ethan Leslie came up with an idea that, at the time, sounded crazy. Then in January of 2024, the idea began to grow. With a small, local areawide youth meeting, Layne saw the possibilities again. During a mission trip during the summer the idea developed into a plan and with the need being fully realized, we began upon this journey.

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We had an idea and a plan, we wanted to create an opportunity for the youth of our churches to meet and make friendships like the ones we were blessed with. We wanted to create an environment to bring young people together in a Christ filled event to positively impact their lives. We wanted to help the youth of NE Arkansas to realize there are more Christians out there beyond their own youth groups. We wanted to provide a God inspired event in NE Arkansas to help the church in our area grow. 

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K.E.Y. (Keeping Evangelism Youthful) bloomed out of our devotion to this idea. With lots of prayer and support, we were able to move forward.  The elders at Hoxie Church of Christ supports and shares these ideas with us and is the sponsor church of KEY. With their continued support, encouragement, and help, we hope to grow this event into a scale that we can not even foresee. 

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We wanted this event to be affordable, with low cost of attending while providing the best speakers and teachers that we can find. We always want Keynote speakers who are good Godly men that are doctrinally sound in the word of God with a shared passion for encouraging and inspiring our youth. We want song leaders who can lead us is songs of praise that will uplift and inspire the youth. Teachers, that can engage both young and old, bring lessons that connect on an individual level and seek to help change people and turn towards God. Our ultimate goal is for this convention to be free of cost for the attendees and have it solely supported by local and area congregations and sponsors.  Until that time we will do everything we can to ensure the price of attending is as low as possible.

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