The Making of NextGen

NextGen did not begin as a program, a committee, or even an idea on paper. It began as a sigh—a quiet, aching prayer whispered by a few hearts who longed to see the next generation rise, belong, and take their place in the story God is writing through Balikatan.

It was the kind of prayer you carry for years: tender, persistent, sometimes trembling. For five years, that prayer was lifted up—sometimes loudly, sometimes silently—through meetings, through retreats, through tears, through seasons when it felt like the dream would remain just that: a dream.

But God, in His perfect timing, was listening.

And then came 2025, in the mountains of YMCA Estes Park, Colorado, where the air was thin but the presence of God was thick. That was the year the prayer finally had a face… and voices… and laughter… and names. NextGen didn’t just attend the Balikatan Conference—they showed up. They participated. They asked questions. They worshipped. They served. They stood shoulder to shoulder with those who had gone before them.

It was as if the Lord gently whispered,

“See? I have been preparing them all along.”

For the older generation, many watched with tears—some proud, some tender, some unable to believe that the prayer they carried for half a decade was now standing right in front of them, living and breathing. For the youth, it was a homecoming they didn’t even know they were longing for. A place where they were not just welcomed, but wanted. A space where they were not just the future, but the now.

The making of NextGen is the story of God’s faithfulness stitched into human longing.
It is the story of a sigh turning into a movement.
It is a reminder that nothing prayed for with love is ever wasted.

And in 2025, in a quiet Colorado valley surrounded by mountains older than memory, God allowed us to see the beginning of an answered prayer—one that will continue to unfold in the lives of the next generation we love and lift.

A sigh became a seed.
A seed became a prayer.
A prayer became a promise.
And that promise finally began to bloom.