5,000 Young People Meet for Three Days to Talk About Anxiety
Nine plenary sessions, four workshops and three concerts: this is how the gathering grew from 1,200 to 5,000 attendees since 2010.
About 5,000 young people gathered for three days in Santo Domingo to talk about anxiety, social pressure and the future. Noticias SIN reported it: the gathering was called Revival Conference 2026.
They came from different provinces of the Dominican Republic and also from abroad. It was organized by the Ministerio Internacional Monte de Dios Horeb, under the motto "Revolución," at its venue in Colinas del Arroyo II, on Jacobo Majluta Avenue.
The conference began in 2010 with about 1,200 participants; in 2026 it reached 5,000, according to the organizers. The agenda had nine plenary sessions, four workshops and three concerts. Among the guests were pastors Sebastián and Andrea Franz, musician Mathew Morales, from Miel San Marcos, and on the music side Kairos Worship, Elevation Worship and Redimi2.
«The value of a person does not depend on their performance or the season they are going through.»
Anxiety, social pressure and the future
Pastor Miguel Alberto Bogaert described what many are going through: unemployment, violence and family conflicts, without spaces to express what worries them and receive support. It is a map that anyone from 16 to 30 recognizes, with school, the first job, home and social media pressing at the same time.
Bogaert rejected the message that only repeats that everything will be fine. His proposal was to strengthen faith, recognize one's own worth and understand that "asking for help, when they need it, is also an important decision." He also asked them to take on responsibilities in studies, family and work.
Pastor Mariana Bogaert addressed identity, purpose, decisions, personal relationships, leadership and responsibility. She told them that a bad season does not define a person's whole story, and that a mistake or a disappointment does not mark how far they can go.
Asking for help clashes with an idea deeply embedded in the culture: that the one who strives alone, endures. The pastor put it the other way around. Seeking support is a weighty decision, not a sign of weakness.
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." (Philippians 4:6, ESV)
The value of a person does not depend on their performance or the season they are going through.
A conference does not solve life
Bogaert acknowledged it: three days of plenary sessions do not by themselves fix the problems of those who attended. They can serve as a starting point. The distance between a good start and real change is usually decided later, in small things: going back to class, ordering life at home, holding down a job, asking for advice when it's time.
The organizers said they seek to unite spiritual formation with guidance on personal and social situations. That approach explains the mix: plenary sessions and workshops by day, concerts at night. A conference can order ideas, give a name to what one feels and put someone in front of you who listens. What it cannot do is walk with you the following Tuesday. For that there is the local church, a small group, a friendship that asks how you are and does not settle for the first answer.
Who listens to you in your city?
If any of this sounds like your week, the next step is not to wait for another conference. Choose a specific person—your pastor, a counselor, a trusted adult, a health professional—and tell them what you are carrying. If it is an emergency, call your country's emergency services; at findahelpline.com you can find the helpline that works where you live. No one was made to hold it all in silence. Who listens to you today in your city?
