News Blog

The Great Plains Convention

Great Plains LTC News Blog

March 23, 2008 - The board of directors of GPLTC chose Nathan Gatewood of Oklahoma City, OK to join their number. Nathan grew up participating in the LTC program, and has served as the Puppet Event Coordinator for the last several years.

March 22, 2008 - The Chairman of GPLTC, Steve Gregg, announced during the Saturday night celebration that the 2009 Convention will return to Rogers, AR. This decision followed the overwhelming response of the participating congregations in favor of this move. Congregational coordinators and coaches appreciated having all of the events in one facility, the high quality of the convention facilities, the quality and value of the nine hotels supporting the convention, and the warm hospitality of the Rogers and Bentonville communities. The board of directors honored Tammy McDaniel for her part in bringing the convention to this site.

March 13, 2008 - The Master schedule and the team schedules are released for the 2008 Convention. They are made available on the Resources page.

February, 2008 - The theme and Bible Bowl book for the 2009 convention are announced. The Bible Bowl Book is John. The Theme is Light - Life - Word. The 2009 Convention will be held on April 10-12 at a location to be announced.

May 5, 2007 - The Rogers Retreat - Over 100 people representing over 50 congregations came to Rogers, AR to visit the 2008 Convention site (see LTC 2008). They were impressed with the size and caliber of the facilities, and became excited about the possibilities for the 2008 Convention! At this retreat, the Board also revealed the following planned changes for the 2008 Convention:

Planned changes for GPLTC 2008:

• Event deadlines are significantly earlier this year because Easter is significantly earlier.

• The Master Convention Schedule has changed. Sermon Delivery has moved from Saturday morning to Saturday afternoon, and a special time slot has been added for those students who do both Sermon Delivery and Drama. The morning time blocks have also been moved to allow Elementary Puppets to be the last morning event.

• Providing judges remains a significant responsibility for every congregation that participates in LTC. We have increased the importance of remaining accountable and responsive in this area.

• Both Bulletin Boards and Banners used to be Convention Display events; this year they have been changed into Pre-Convention events. This means that you can actually design, construct, and enjoy these items in your own church building. But they will need to be finished earlier to meet the Pre-Convention deadline. Please change your schedule accordingly.

• Several events have had their names changed (usually abbreviated). For example, Christian Art, Christian Banner, and Live Christian Drama have become simply Art, Banner, and Drama. The presumption is still that these events will still be performed in a Christian context and with Christian subject matter. Their alphabetical order in the manual has changed accordingly; hopefully this will make finding these events in the manual easier.

• A new event – Power Point Presentations – has been added to the list of Pre-Convention events.

• The Signing guidelines are significantly changed; please re-read them to properly prepare.

• There are a number of minor changes in many events and forms.

• Watch for further updates at www.gpltc.com.

April 6-8, 2007 - Our young people have a great weekend! - 1,811 young people from 80 congregations in KS, MO, OK, and TX had a wonderful weekend in Tulsa and glorified God with their heart-felt endeavors.

March 23, 2007 - 2007 Convention Room Schedules are set - The master schedule for our 2007 convention was finished on this date and made available for all participating congregations; go to our Resources page, where you can download this information. The team event schedules have also been set and posted on that same page. As much as was possible, the timing of individual teams was set in such a way as to allow your participants to watch the performances of as many of your own teams as possible. Please make as many copies as you need of these schedules so that your congregation members have them at the convention.

March 3, 2007 - GPLTC Board has an information meeting - On this date, the GPLTC board met to confer and finalize plans and assignments for the 2007 convention. Everything is on track for another good convention.

January 30, 2007 - Updates to Convention Coordinator Contact Information - A number of our convention event coordinators have changed their contact information. To get these updates, go to our Resources page, where you can either download the entire updated manual, or only the updated page 43.

January 15, 2007 - GPLTC Board announces 2008 Convention Location - Because of a number of circumstances, the Great Plains Convention of LTC will be visiting another venue for our 2008 convention. The 2007 convention is still going to be in Tulsa. To find out more information about the 2008 convention, click here.

December 31, 2006 - Posting of Revisions to the 2007 Reference Manual to the Web site - The 2007 Reference Manual has been updated to include several changes: some event coordinators have changed, some contact information for other event coordinators needed to be updated, and some other minor corrections to the manual were made. A new paragraph about students with special needs was added to page 12. To download the revised manual, go to the Resources page.

September 15, 2006 - Posting of Reference Manual to the Web site - The 2007 Reference Manual was completed, and it was placed on the web site on this date. All congregations participating in the Great Plains convention may download the Reference Manual here. Each congregation is authorized to make as many copies of as many pages as required for the use of their local congregation to participate in the LTC program. To download the manual, go to the Resources page. Paper copies are mailed to congregations that do not have the technology to download and print copies on their own.

May 13, 2006 - Board Meeting - To evaluate the 2006 convention, and to prepare for the 2007 event, the board of directors met and made a number of significant decisions. The board reviewed the reference manual for necessary changes in the 2007 book and judging forms. The board then chose a new chairman, Steve Gregg, to replace Randy Roper, who is retiring from the board. The board selected Ben Bruner as another Vice-Chairman to join David Boiles, who has served as Vice-Chairman since 1995. David is responsible for Awards; Ben is responsible for Convention Site Management. The board then affirmed a new board member, Jake Perkins, from the Edmond Church of Christ.

April 17, 2006 - Post Convention - The 2006 Convention was blessed by God with wonderful participation by the young people present, and by a smoothly running event. We are thankful to the hundreds of Christians whose uncounted hours of service have made this outstanding program possible.

March 30, 2006 - Posting of the Convention Schedules - The Master Team Schedule, and the team event schedules (Puppets, Live Christian Drama, Large Chorus, and Small Chorus) have been prepared and are now available on this web site. To down load these documents for your congregation, go to Resources.

February 10, 2006 - Posting of Bible Bowl tests to the web site - Having previously put the Bible Quiz tests on site to help coaches better understand the event testing methods, it was decided to place the Bible Bowl tests on this site also. To down load this information, go to Resources.

January 30, 2006 - New postings to the web site - The latest update of the Reference Manual (1/28/06) is now available online. In it, minor corrections were made to the information for several event coordinators, and the guidelines for Worship Leadership Challenge were broadened (limitations in guideline number 4 were deleted). Also, a copy of the 2005 Bible Quiz test was placed on line so that coaches preparing students for Bible Bowl or Bible Quiz could better understand the type of testing that is conducted at LTC. To down load this information, go to Resources.

January 28, 2006 - GPLTC Board meets - The board discussed and approved plans for the upcoming 2006 Convention.

January 13, 2006 - Themes for 2007 and 2008 are announced - The themes for our upcoming conventions have been announced. Our 2007 convention will use the book of Acts as its Bible bowl book, and the theme will be "Unstoppable!", from Acts 5:42. Our 2008 convention will use the book of 1 Samuel as its Bible bowl book, the theme will be "Here I Am!", from I Samuel 3:16. For more information about themes from other years, please see Themes.

January 6, 2006 - The 2006 Reference Manual is updated - This week several important corrections were made to the Reference Manual. Specifically, the rules for Signing for the Deaf have been updated, and some new event coordinators have been added. A copy of the updated version is available online in PDF format on our Resources page.

September 6, 2005 - The 2006 Reference Manual is published - As of this week, the 2006 GPLTC Reference Manual is being published and should go in the mail at the end of the week. It is also available online in PDF format on our Resources page.

May 20, 2005 - George and Elaine Davis honored - At the post convention board meeting, the GPLTC board voted unanimously to name the GPLTC Leadership scholarship in honor of George and Elaine Davis of Duncan, OK. Both George and Elaine have been involved with LTC for more than 15 years, and have been influential in the lives of young people for many years previous to that. George recently stepped down from the Chairman's role after several years of service. Elaine has served as the Recording Secretary of the Board for the last few years. They had previously been honored by the Board with the Eagle Award. God has blessed this organization greatly through their gifts and their passion for this work.

May 20, 2005 - New Board Members selected - The GPLTC Board of Directors met and moved forward with plans for the 2006 convention. Plans were made for additions and corrections to the Reference Manual, and two new board members were selected. Celeste Donaldson from Mustang, OK, and Gary Southerland from Bixby, OK are our newest board members. Celeste is a product of the LTC program, and has been the church coordinator for Lakehoma in Mustang for several years. Gary is the Youth Minister at the Downtown Bixby Church of Christ, has served as a church coordinator there, and most recently has served with the Friday and Saturday night assemblies at the convention. May God bless their work as a part of the board.

March 26, 2005 - LTC volunteers honored at Tulsa - At the Saturday evening assembly, several volunteers with the LTC organization were honored. Nick and Colette Stewart were awarded the Eagle award for their long and passionate service to young people, including coordinating the Signing for the Deaf event since the beginning of the GPLTC convention. That same evening, the City of Tulsa honored George Davis for 10 years of outstanding service as the convention facilities manager for GPLTC. In the last 24 years, Tulsa has only so honored two individuals. George is stepping down from that role this year.

March 30, 2005 - LTC statistics added to the web site - For news about attendance at the various LTC venues across the United States, go to Past Conventions. Work has already begun on the 2006 Convention, and as information develops, it will appear here.