Ontario Young Adults From Attend Alberta’s ElevateX
Current and former members of the Ontario Conference.
Long before the first worship song rose beneath the vaulted timber beams of the retreat lodge, before the keynote messages echoed against the Rockies, something else settled over the ElevateX Young Adult Retreat: expectation.
For dozens of young adults who travelled from across Canada, including several past and present young adult members of the Ontario Conference, the weekend of Nov. 14–16, 2025, unfolded as something more than a getaway. It became a rare intersection of faith, identity, and community, forged in one of the country’s most striking landscapes.
“From the moment I walked into ElevateX, I could sense it was going to be a powerful weekend,” said Andrea Ventura, Ontario Conference Young Adults Co-Chair, describing the retreat as an atmosphere of warmth. “Everything, from the registration table to the smallest details, was thoughtfully planned and beautifully delivered… The location itself — mountains surrounding us on every side — felt like something words can’t fully describe.”
At the center of the retreat was Pastor Debleaire Snell, speaker-director of Breath of Life TV and Senior Pastor of Oakwood University Church, who delivered what many called the most spiritually impactful messages they had heard in years. His sermons on receiving the Holy Spirit, walking in God’s power, cultivating a new kind of faith and embracing life as a “walking testimony,” blended theological depth with pastoral urgency. Several attendees described moments of “heart-level conviction,” followed by tangible hope.
Pastor Paul Llewellyn, President of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Canada, brought greetings and issued an unmistakable charge from the main stage: young adults, he said, are not the church of tomorrow but the church of now. His message underscored a nationwide effort to invest in young adult leadership and empower them as mentors for the next generation.
Ontario’s delegation played a noteworthy role as well. Pastor John Scott, Ontario Conference Youth Director, led workshops on ACF and leadership development, challenging participants to envision themselves as catalysts for meaningful change on their campuses and in their churches.
ElevateX Attendees participating in the Red Flag / Green Flag panel discussio
One noteworthy highlight, widely discussed over shared meals and late-night conversations, was the Red Flag / Green Flag relationship panel — an unfiltered, often humorous exploration of modern dating from a Christian young adult perspective. Attendees laughed, debated, and occasionally winced as panellists unpacked behaviours that signal promising partnership… or looming disaster.
Yet beneath the levity rested something deeper: a generation searching for connection, authenticity and spiritual grounding in a world increasingly marked by uncertainty.
ElevateX, attendees said, delivered exactly that. “It was amazing and powerful; a weekend I will never forget,” reflected Erika Saintvil, an Ontario participant attending from Ottawa East Seventh-day Adventist.
In the shadow of the mountains, between worship and workshops, laughter and late-night conversations, a truth seemed to settle over the retreat with the same quiet insistence as the falling snow: young adults are elevating in faith, in leadership, and in community.
Praise God they are not elevating alone.