The greatest blessing in life is to help someone change his life from bad to good, from darkness to light, from despair to hope.

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear or the smallest act of caring — all of which have the potential of turning a life around.

The culture and values of the world have changed. The change in values of the contemporary world has provided a serious challenge to our youth’s educational, social and Christian commitment.

Often they do not find encouragement to move in the right direction, but Community Churches Partnership (a group of church members and educators from the county and city communities) will have its first youth conference from 8 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. Oct. 23 at Christian Hope Baptist Church, 301 Lasalle St., to help prepare our youth for the challenges of this 21st century.

Community Churches Partnership will aim to inspire youth to press forward in hope of their becoming educational, social and Christian winners.

Topics for the conference will include: church etiquette — behaving in an acceptable manner in a worship setting; dare to be different — an endeavor to have them say “no” to bullies and gangs; the garbage truck comes on Mondays and Thursdays — an attempt to help them rid themselves of physical, mental and emotional garbage and replenish their lives with seeds for educational and spiritual growth and sugar and spice but not so nice — an effort to help adolescent girls explore ways to make relationship choices that respect their values and boundaries.

Presenters of the conference topics will include: Ashleigh Irving, a business education major at Florida A&M University; Michael Winn Jr., a pharmacist in Natchez; and Nedra R. Frisby and Adrian L. Wilson, Baton Rouge attorneys.

The concluding activity of the conference will be a cultural luncheon for the attendants with attorney Tayarta Brown of Dallas serving as the keynote speaker.

It is our desire that at least 10 youth from all partnership churches will register by this Sunday to be provided with this meaningful, educational experience — one, we pray, will send them away marvelling over how they were helped by what transpired in that conference.

Bertha I. Gilmore is an organizer of the Community Churches Partnership youth conference.