Charismatic Conference 2026

Published: August 3, 2026

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor shared this message with young people participating in the Arkansas Charismatic Conference July 24-26 in Springdale.

Bishop Taylor

My dear brothers and sisters, many of you are at the age where you begin to think about what you will do with your life. 

We all naturally want to have a happy future and so we start to try to figure out what life choices will make them happy. We ask ourselves, “What are my talents and interests? We might even take an aptitude test. We ask, “What do I like to do so much that I could do it for the rest of my life and get people to pay me to do it?” 

Many of you are dating, which is ultimately the search for a partner for life. In many areas of life we start to ask, “What do I want to do with my life?” What will make me happy? But that’s the wrong question.

The right question is: “What does God want me to do with my life?” And the answer to that question will of necessity involve living for something bigger than yourself. Living to do God’s will. Focusing on what I want to do with my life leads to self-centeredness, what’s in it for me, and so is ultimately focused on the self, and you know as well as I do that self-centered people are never happy. 

The right question is, “What does God want me to do with my life?” Trying to do God’s will in every area of your life is the path to happiness and fulfillment. 

For some of you, that will be the path to priesthood or religious life. For most of you that will lead to marriage and raising children. For some of you, this may lead to a career in a field that helps others — in the medical field or working with immigrants or refugees. But the key thing is discerning what is God’s will for you. 

This is a Charismatic Conference, and so I pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal to you what God’s will is for you — and then give you the courage to do it.