Redeemed: Unity reminds students their stories aren’t finished

For two days, students from Hispanic churches across Arizona filled Tierra Fértil in Yuma with worship, laughter, honest questions and one word: Redeemed.

The theme of Unity Conference 2026, held Aug. 28-29 through Hispanic Ministries of the Arizona Mission Network, followed students from the main sessions to workshops on identity, worship, Christian relationships and calling. But rather than treating redemption as something that happens once, speakers challenged students to consider what happens when Jesus begins restoring every part of a person’s life.

For guest speaker John Pope, pastor of Mosaic Church in Mesa, that included the complicated question of identity.

Pope spoke directly to young people who regularly navigate different worlds — grandparents or parents who grew up in another country, friends and school in the United States, one kind of music at church and another in the car.

“You’re not less Latino, you’re just more Christian,” Pope told students.

Teaching from Isaiah 61, Pope described Jesus as the Anointed One who takes what has been broken and restores it. Using the passage’s image of “oaks of righteousness,” he reminded students that restoration isn’t always instant.

“Oaks don’t grow fast,” Pope said.

In a world accustomed to Tik Tok, Instagram and Amazon-speed results, he encouraged students to pursue a faith that grows consistently and becomes strong enough to help others flourish.

That idea continued into his second message from Ephesians 2. Redemption, Pope said, doesn’t stop with the individual. The same cross that restores a person’s relationship with God also tears down walls between people.

“Unity is not uniformity,” he said, reminding students that following Christ does not require erasing their culture or story. “You aren’t just redeemed alone; you’re redeemed to be part of a family.”

Speaker Abdiel Velasquez brought students back to the cost of that redemption in his message, “The Beautiful Sacrifice.” Walking through the Old Testament tabernacle, sacrifices and requirements for approaching God’s presence, Velasquez contrasted them with the access believers now have through Christ.

Quoting Ephesians 1:7, he pointed students toward redemption through Christ’s blood and emphasized that Jesus did not wait for people to clean themselves up before dying for them.

The weekend also gave students space to wrestle with what following Jesus looks like outside a worship service.

Workshops explored Christian relationships, identity, worship and discerning God’s calling. During an anonymous question panel with John Pope, Sammy Castro, Vanessa Castro and Camila Velasquez, students didn’t exactly play it safe.

They asked about dating. Prayer. Reading the Bible. Temptation. Difficult relationships with parents. Sharing Christ with LGBTQ friends. And whether God still loves them when they mess up.

The answers repeatedly returned to the same place the weekend began: Jesus.

By the end of Unity, about 180 young people had gathered in Yuma.

For students heading home to different cities, churches, families and circumstances, Redeemed carried a message bigger than a conference theme: Christ doesn’t ask them to hide the broken pieces of their stories.