Kids Kon 2026

Moment: January 2nd, 2026 at 7:29 PM

"Quit using the word 'just' in your prayers. It’s an apologetic way of asking God, like we know that You don’t really want to do this, so we’re 'just' asking, we’re 'just' wondering. There’s no reason for 'just' wondering or 'just' doing it in that way at all.

Recognize the generosity of God and then come boldly."

Alistair Begg: "Entreating the Extravagant Generosity of God" at CROSS CON 26

Ever since I got my driver’s license and we no longer needed an “adult” to chaperone us, my cousins, my brother, and I proudly claimed what we called the “Kids Kar.” It meant we could ride together, separate from our parents, blasting our own music, talking freely, and feeling (at least a little) grown up. It was our first taste of independence, a small but meaningful shift where we moved from being supervised kids to our own little unit, navigating the world side by side.

This year, we officially graduated from Kids Kar to Kids Kon on our first-ever trip together without parents. We traveled to CrossCon in Louisville, Kentucky, turning what used to be a playful name for independence into a meaningful milestone. There, we learned from voices like John Piper, David Platt, Shai Linne, Alistair Begg, and Bob Kauflin, who challenged us to think more deeply about our faith, what it means to follow Christ faithfully, and how to live with conviction in a world that often pulls us in different directions.

The conference centered on a massive, singular theme: Behold the Triune God. Everything we heard pointed to the idea that God’s glory is the center of the universe and our lives are meant to be the way that glory spreads.

It all started with Afshin Ziafat, who grounded us in the Victorious Gospel. He reminded us that while we were once dead in sin, we were now destined for a life of good works because of what the Triune God did for us. Carl Trueman then showed us that the Local Church was the only real anchor for our identity. This was especially important in a world obsessed with "choosing" who we are rather than beholding who God is. Rosaria Butterfield followed that up by explaining how our identities are actually God-given roles. She described being a "battle-mate" or a "spiritual mother." She taught us that we should use our strength to protect and nurture the family of God regardless of our marital status.

Alistair Begg challenged us to rely on God’s "extravagant generosity" instead of our own plans, and pray without condition or qualification. John Piper pointed us to Meticulous Providence, proving that God’s sovereign hand was in every single detail of our pain and our joy. Finally, David Platt took that whole vision and pushed it global. He compared the Garden of Eden to the Tabernacle and the Tomb to show how God has always wanted to dwell with us. He dared us to leave our comfort zones for the "Red Zones" of the world so that every tribe and nation could finally behold the Triune God.

All four of us are involved in worship ministry in some capacity or another, so one talk that deeply spoke to all of us was by Bob Kauflin from Sovereign Grace Music, who taught on "Songs to the Sovereign: Why Our Songs Matter."

1. The Command to Sing

• A Divine Mandate: God commands His people to sing 56 times in Scripture.

• Inclusivity: Singing is not reserved for the "musically inclined" or professional singers; it is for every believer because Jesus has given us a song to sing.

  
  

2. Why Our Songs Matter

• Songs Stay with Us:

  • Deuteronomy 31:19: God uses songs to write His law and promises on our hearts. Lyrics often stick in the memory longer than prose.

  • This might be a familiar feeling if you can't remember the sermon by Sunday night, but the songs you sang at church are stuck in your head.

• Songs Teach and Admonish Us:

  • Colossians 3:16: Singing is a primary way to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly.

  • It moves us from merely emotional or "inspirational" moments to deep intellectual and theological education.

• Songs Move Us:

  • Music is meant to serve the truth, not overpower it. When Objective Truth (Lyrics) is paired with Music, the music acts as an amplifier for the heart’s response to that truth

• Songs Reveal Our Hearts:

  • Singing acts as a diagnostic tool, preparing us for "unrestrained" worship and revealing where our affections truly lie.

    
    

3. The "Participant Archetypes"

Kauflin identifies various ways people engage (or fail to engage) during corporate singing:

Type	Description
Observer	Watches the stage or the crowd rather than participating.
Chameleon	Sings only because everyone else is; lacks personal conviction.
Hypocrite	Sings the words while the heart remains far from God (Amos 5:23).
Experience-Seeker	Chases a "worship high" or an emotional "moment" rather than God Himself.
Spiritual Giant	Focuses on their own vocal excellence to impress others.
Isolationist	Adopts a "me and Jesus" mentality, ignoring the "one another" aspect of singing.
Engaged Responder	The Goal: Singing in the Spirit with a heart that responds to truth (Ephesians 5:19).

4. Practical Wisdom for Singing

• Truth over Sensation: We should choose songs based on what we should sing (theology) rather than just what we want to sing (feelings).

• Internalizing the Gospel: Songs should clearly explain reconciliation, adoption, and victory over death so that people walk away with truth that changes them, not just a tune that moves them.

• Shepherding through Song: Pastors and leaders are responsible for the "theological diet" of the congregation, ensuring they sing the full bandwidth of Scripture, including God's holiness and wrath, not just His comfort.

I also had the opportunity to talk to Mr. Kauflin one-on-one and ask him more about the role of worship leaders in the church and what qualifies them to be in that role. He explained that “worship leader” is not an office named by Paul in the New Testament. Since Scripture outlines specific roles and qualifications for church leadership (such as elders and overseers in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1), the role of a worship leader must fall under those biblical categories and be held to the same standards of character and spiritual maturity. He warned that churches sometimes treat worship leadership as a transitional or lower-stakes role, placing spiritually immature people in these positions, when in reality it is a deeply influential and formative role within the church.

He explained that because worship leaders shape a congregation’s theology and affections through what they sing (cf. Colossians 3:16), they function in a shepherding and teaching capacity. For that reason, musical ability can never outweigh godly character. Those who lead worship should meet the same biblical qualifications expected of church leaders.

In many ways, this trip marked more than just our first time traveling together without parents. What began years ago as the Kids Kar, a symbol of independence and growing p, became Kids Kon, a shared step into greater responsibility, conviction, and maturity. We didn’t just come home with inside jokes, memories, and stories from the road, but with a deeper understanding of the weight of worship, the seriousness of leadership, and the call to let the Word of Christ dwell richly among us. Traveling together, learning together, and being challenged together reminded me that growth is rarely accidental. It happens when independence is paired with submission to truth, and freedom is shaped by faithfulness. In that sense, Kids Kon was not the end of something familiar, but the beginning of something more rooted, more intentional, and far more meaningful.