WAVE Student Conference sees fifty salvations and ‘hundreds of liberations’ during San Antonio meetup

More than 500 students and leaders learned to “make a wave” in the culture for Jesus while attending African American Ministries’ Wave Student Conference, a four-day event for 7th graders to college students held June 9-12 at Resurrection Baptist Church in San Antonio, TX.

According to Robert Purvey, director of NextGen and WAVE coordinator, the purpose of WAVE is to bring students and student leaders from predominantly African American churches together and give strategy, concept, inspiration and hope for the next generation. The conference’s theme, ‘See Something, Say Something,’ encouraged attendees “when you see someone who needs Jesus, when you see somebody who needs to hear something about God, say something.” 

“The difference in other conferences is we’re not just there to have fun, there's a theme we want you to go back home with, so we are cultivating all the sessions, all the classes around the theme that gives you immediate, tangible strategy to go back to your youth ministry with,” said Purvey. 

WAVE welcomes, connects with San Antonio residents

WAVE opened up the general worship sessions to the entire city and saw between four and five hundred people gathering for worship each night, said Oza Jones, director of African American Ministries at Texas Baptists. 

“[The students] didn’t come in shy. They didn’t have these moments where you have to warm up. Conference night one, they were ready,” said Jones. 

With intention to connect with the city of San Antonio, Purvey said the WAVE team invited two guest speakers from the city to give a message at worship sessions throughout the week. This year’s local guests were Josh Shelby, youth pastor at Resurrection Baptist Church, and Jess Kemp, youth and young adult minister at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church.

Shelby kicked off night one by speaking to the week’s theme, “See Something, Say Something.”

“When you begin to say something in the face of the enemy with the power of the Holy Spirit, with the passion you have for Christ, the wave will begin,” said Shelby. 

Kemp followed up on night two, encouraging students and leaders to “refuse to accept knockoffs” and “keep it 100” by being who God called them to be. 

Sam Pryor, young adult pastor at Come As You Are Dallas, wrapped up the evening worship sessions, imploring attendees to “keep applying pressure” to their walk with Christ. 

“God has so much in store for us as a generation and so he really impressed on us tonight, keep applying pressure to whatever He’s called you to do. Go after it. He graced you for it,” said Pryor in a recap video on Instagram.  

Fifty salvations and ‘hundreds of liberations’ 

“One of the biggest things was just the movement of the Holy Spirit each night. I mean, the students really gave themselves to the moment,” said Purvey. “Yes, there were 50 salvations, but there were just hundreds of liberations.”

Among the crowd of worshippers that saw liberation was a mother-daughter duo, a youth leader and volunteer and her 9-year-old living with stage four cancer. 

“These kids weren’t just spectators of worship, they were participants in worship, and she was one of the students, with stage 4 cancer, younger than the actual age to be in the conference, and she was worshiping God. It was amazing,” said Jones. 

“It was almost like if she's nine and she's committed to Christ and starting a WAVE in culture for Christ, what’s your excuse?” said Purvey. 

According to Purvey, the young girl’s mother served every day of WAVE, setting an example for adult leaders to lean into serving where they are called. 

“To the adult leaders, it's like, ‘okay, this woman is battling her own health issues, and her daughter has stage 4 cancer, and she's been here every day and she serves in her church every week,’” said Purvey. “What's your excuse when it comes to serving?”

During the final morning session on June 12, Purvey called the mother-daughter duo back to WAVE, where the whole conference prayed over the 9-year-old’s illness, spurring attendees on in worship. 

Over the course of the event, WAVE saw 50 salvations, with 40 on the first night, 106 rededications and seven surrendered to a call to ministry. Katie Frugé, director of the Center for Cultural Engagement at Texas Baptists, said the amount of decisions being made for Christ, even on the first night, was an encouraging affirmation that the Holy Spirit was with them. 

“With youth camps, you expect that to happen more later in the week, and so just the presence of the Spirit so plainly evident on day one was really exciting,” said Frugé.  

One-of-a-kind conference draws churches beyond Texas

The Spirit moved Victory Missionary Baptist Church all the way from Las Vegas, Nevada to San Antonio to attend the conference. 

“[We asked], ‘Do y’all wanna find a conference over there?’ They were like, ‘Nah, we’re coming to Texas, we’re coming to WAVE,’” said Jones. 

Jones said the group seized every opportunity during their visit to Texas to share the gospel, creating time in their schedule between sessions to visit local entertainment districts and hand out gospel tracts. 

“They weren’t just coming to WAVE getting poured into, they even went out to San Antonio, a place they don’t even know, and shared tracts and the Lord, too,” said Jones.

Shekinah Rose Wilson, a high school senior from Victory Missionary Baptist Church in Las Vegas, said WAVE stood out from other conferences she’s attended because of the inviting and genuine atmosphere. 

“The energy from the first night was unmatched,” said Wilson. “There were no kids afraid to be vulnerable and open to accepting God into their lives, which was so refreshing.”

Frugé said WAVE is the only conference of its kind, reaching out to African American youth in a unique and special way. 

“We saw churches even traveling from out of state to come to WAVE just because there is nothing like it,” said Frugé. “It’s a really unique blessing that we are able to provide to churches; no one else has really thought to step into this space.”

Making a WAVE for Christ 

Jones and Purvey extended their gratitude to Ben Bullock with Star Vision Media Group for capturing the conference, to Ladarius Waits, WAVE worship leader and Dezmond Mason, WAVE music director, for leading attendees in worship throughout the week. The WAVE team also expressed thanks to Resurrection Baptist Church for hosting the conference. 

“The Lord has proven himself with this conference that he shows up however he wants to, and he showed up every time we met for WAVE,” said Jones. 

WAVE will be back at Resurrection Baptist Church in San Antonio on June 8-11, 2025. Learn more and support WAVE at txb.org/aam and txb.org/wave.