More than 200 young leaders from all six regions of the Church of the Nazarene will gather for Third Wave 2025 in Orlando and Lake Placid, Florida, from January 7-12. 

Third Wave is a Global Nazarene Youth International (NYI) Conference for emerging youth leaders aged 18-29. Around five emerging leaders from each field are gathered from around the world for training, discipleship, fellowship, and worship to help them begin to think globally. 

“The Third Wave Conference is a celebration of our global NYI family, where we come together to learn from each other’s leadership journeys and support one another,” said David González, Global NYI Director. “It is also a time to affirm that our emerging young leaders are vital to the Church of the Nazarene.”

Third Wave was first held in Quito, Ecuador in 2004. More than 200 people gathered from 44 different countries. Since then, four more editions have been held: Johannesburg, South Africa (2007); Bangkok, Thailand (2012); San Jose, Costa Rica (2015); and Hyderabad, India (2019).

David Morris, Middle School Pastor at Gathering Point Church of the Nazarene in Bourbonnais, Illinois, and a professor in the Religion Department at Olivet Nazarene University, attended Third Wave in Bangkok (’12). Morris said that it was a transformative experience for him as a young youth pastor.

“It gave me the opportunity to witness firsthand the innovative and creative ways the Gospel is being shared with young people around the world,” Morris said. “I was inspired to think outside the box and be more intentional in how I engage with people in my local context while being mindful of the ways God is at work around the world.”

A call to prayer

Please pray for the participants of Third Wave 2025 from all our six regions. May our Heavenly Father fill each one with the Holy Spirit so they would respond to his invitation to partner with him in his movement in the world and that they will all become more like Jesus in the ways they serve this generation.

Please pray for the logistics and all the preparations for this event, as well as the traveling mercies for all. May everything be done for the glory of God.

Follow along during Third Wave 2025 on NYI’s Facebook and Instagram pages!