The Wristband That Changed Everything

In 2018, a youth pastor in Birmingham, Alabama named Derek Hayes took his students to a massive Christian conference. When they arrived, volunteers handed out colored wristbands — green for general admission, gold for VIP access. Derek's group got green. They sat in the back, watched from a distance, and couldn't enter the worship leader meet-and-greet or the front-row reserved sections.

Then something shifted. The conference director walked to the stage and made an announcement: "We've decided to remove the tiers. Every wristband is now gold. Come forward — all of you."

Derek watched as teenagers who had been pressed against the back wall surged forward. Kids from small rural churches stood next to kids from megachurches with production budgets. Nobody checked credentials. Nobody asked about denomination or background. The dividing lines — who could afford what, who came from where — dissolved in an instant.

That's the revolution Paul describes in Galatians 3. The law was the wristband system — it sorted people into categories, kept some at a distance, and made access conditional. But when faith in Christ arrived, the Almighty tore up the tiers. "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

You don't need a better wristband. Through faith, you already have the only identity that matters — child of God.