By Claudia Loucks
Geneseo Current

About 120 students and 30 adults attended the 2023 Fields of Faith gathering held Wednesday, Oct. 4, at the Bob Reade Football Field at Geneseo High School and in the athletic facility.

Fields of Faith is a student-led and student-driven event where young people gather to stand together against the pressures and temptations in the world and be a generation committed to reading the Bible and applying it to life. Students invite, pray for, share with, and challenge their peers to read God’s Word and follow Jesus Christ.

Cole Hartman, Director of Family Ministries at Geneseo Evangelical Free Church, said the Fields of Faith gatherings are held each year on athletic fields across the United States and world.

He said at least 120 students attended this year’s Fields of Faith at GHS, “and the best part of all is seeing the room filled with young people, regardless of the number. This event is focused on the gospel being shared with students from our own community and from cities that surround Geneseo, because this event brings in students from schools all around Geneseo.”

Fields of Faith is organized each year by the Geneseo Chapter of Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Each year there is a speaker and the 2023 speaker was Cole Hartman, who shared, “This year, teenagers have been faced with many challenges. These challenges make the idea of hope a foreign concept and nearly intangible. The issue is not having or longing for hope, but the problem is where we go for genuine hope. There is greater hope in Jesus. It is an authentic, living hope because Christ lives and through Him, we can too!”

“In high school, we place our hope in so many things that ultimately leave us empty and disappointed. I placed my hope in relationships and sports, only to feel frustrated and lost. The hope that we have in Jesus is eternal and permanent.”

He continued, “The Bible describes God as a God of Hope, and it describes the offering of abounding Hope through Jesus. The hope we want is not found in this world. It can only be discovered through placing our faith in Jesus. He died for my sins, and I am forgiven and made new because of Him. The amazing grace of God is where our hope comes from. Though teenagers face many challenges, we believe that the only true, genuine, and helpful escape is a personal relationship with Jesus. He changed my life and is actively changing the lives of teenagers today.”