The 2025 Festival: A Youth Concert prerecorded concerts are now available online in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
As of Aug. 7, youth and youth leaders can hold Festival: A Youth Concert activities at days and times that best fit local needs and schedules. Youth ages 14 to 18 are encouraged to participate.
Festival: A Youth Concert is a chance for youth to gather and strengthen their discipleship of Jesus Christ, according to an event notice on ChurchofJesusChrist.org. Youth leaders are encouraged to let youth lead in planning and carrying out local Festival: A Youth Concert activities.
“Music has a unique ability to affect youth,” the notice states. “In-person music experiences can be a wonderful way for youth to gather and strengthen their faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. … These are also great opportunities to demonstrate how youth can worship Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ through music.”
Youth are encouraged to become familiar with song lyrics before concert events. Leaders should consider that larger, outdoor gatherings not held on Sundays may provide the best experiences.
The event notice also lists three ways to experience Festival 2025:
1. Watch and sing along
Participate in one of the prerecorded concerts.
2. Reimagine
Put on a local concert using local singers to perform the same songs featured in the prerecorded concert.
3. Create
Create a music event that provides youth an opportunity to gather together and celebrate their faith in Jesus Christ.
Planning resources, suggestions and tools are available in the Youth section of the Gospel Library and at youth.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
‘This is about our Savior’
This year’s Festival: A Youth Concert was filmed in English at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah; in Spanish in Mexico City, Mexico; and in Portuguese in São Paulo, Brazil.
During the English concert in Provo on June 11, almost 2,000 youth gathered on Cougar Field east of the BYU Conference Center to hear performances from 13 Strive to Be artists.
The singers were also joined by Young Women General President Emily Belle Freeman and then-Young Men General President Steven J. Lund, who explained the concert to the audience and gave them instructions about the stage, the cameras and the light-up bracelets distributed before the show.
Strive to Be is the youth channel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, dedicated to strengthening youth around the world through Christ-centered music and messages. Last year, the channel featured a worldwide broadcast of Festival: A Youth Concert, filmed in Salt Lake City in front of a live audience of almost 1,000 people.
“This is not about performance,” said Strive to Be artist Benjamin Taylor during this year’s English concert. “This is about our Savior, Jesus Christ. We are His followers, right? We are His disciples. We choose to look to Him in every thought. So tonight, we celebrate our faith in Him. We celebrate our gratitude, we celebrate our praise. He is the reason why we’re all here.”
He continued: “We have been planning this night for a very long time. Every song, every note and every prayer behind the scenes has led to this moment. What matters most is that you are here, every one of you guys. So we need you guys ready to feel, to listen and to be changed.”
The concert setlist of songs and Strive to Be performers included:
- “Good Day,” Liahona Olayan
- “Stand Strong,” Benjamin Taylor
- “Stronger,” James Thorup
- “Faith,” Reina Ley
- “Healer,” Sister Ellie Barry
- “FSY Medley,” sung by the entire group
- “Your Presence,” Ashley Hess and Pearce Morris
- “What Is This Joy?” JRay Kuhn
- “He’ll Be There,” Connor Austin
- “Fear Not,” Rylee Paige
- “Light My Way,” Jay Phung
- “Look Unto Christ,” Hanna Eyre
- “If You Believe,” Patch Crowe
Between songs, the performers shared stories and personal testimonies of Jesus Christ.
Phung, from Hawaii, recounted the story of Christ walking on water and Peter leaving the boat to walk with Him (see Matthew 14:25-31).
People sometimes focus on the part of the story where Peter sank into the water, Phung said. But he finds it incredible that Peter first walked on water.
“You are capable of seemingly impossible things as long as you have your eyes on Christ,” Phung said. “It was only when Peter looked away that the sinking began. So imagine what you could do. Please, please accept the Lord’s invitation and just take that first step out of the boat, and I promise you that you have nothing to fear, because the Lord will always be there.”
Eyre performed a song based on this year’s youth theme, found in Doctrine and Covenants 6:36: “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.”
“Looking to Christ invites His joy to our lives, and that is a real, lasting joy. Every song tonight has pointed us to the One, the One who gives us strength, peace and purpose,” Eyre told the youth, adding: “Jesus Christ is the hope in the struggle. He will give you courage.”
The crowd responded loudly and enthusiastically to each performance. Kuhn encouraged the youth’s energy, inviting them to get on their feet for the uptempo song “What Is This Joy?”
“I’m so grateful that we can also celebrate and have joy, for this is the Church of joy,” he said.
