8.29.2007 LCMS News
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH Missouri Synod
August 29, 2007 .................... LCMSNews -- No. 59
Youth Gathering offers 'snapshot images,' more
By Joe Isenhower Jr.
At the 2007 National LCMS Youth Gathering, July 28-Aug. 1 in Orlando, Fla., countless young people and adults slapped exhuberant high-fives with friends and strangers all over the Orange County Convention Center and elsewhere.
And in a quieter show of awe, thousands of cell phones rose spontaneously above heads at mass events, their lighted display screens recalling candles or flashlights used at earlier National LCMS Youth Gatherings.
But, according to participants, this year's Gathering is providing much more than memories of "snapshot" images like high-fives and flickering cell-phone screens. For some, the experience was -- and continues to be -- life-impacting.
This year's Gathering, with some 27,500 youth and adults (counting volunteers and other behind-the-scenes workers), was the Synod's 10th National Gathering since 1980. All were sponsored by LCMS District and Congregational Services -- Youth Ministry.
"As a DCE [director of Christian education], I have continually prayed that my youth would be touched by the National Youth Gathering experience," Kristy Witek of Nederland, Texas, shared in an e-mail to LCMS Youth Ministry after this year's Gathering.
"Never [before] have I had a youth in the middle of family group time tell me out of the blue that he wants to become a pastor," Witek wrote.
Witek was one of five adults and 22 youth in Orlando from Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Nederland. Often, such groups met during the Gathering as a "family," for group Bible study or discussion, for instance.
Witek later said that when she arrived back in Nederland at 2 a.m. on Aug. 2, she went to her MySpace page on the Web to see if any of her youth had posted bulletins about the Gathering.
She said she was surprised to see that several Holy Cross youth had already made entries "about how awesome the Gathering was," posting comments like, "Just returned from Orlando. I will never be the same."
Witek also said that the Holy Cross youth group was planning a Gathering "reflection" worship service for later this month -- something they insisted on holding, even though she told the group it was not expected of them this year, since the congregation was currently involved in welcoming a new associate pastor and planning its 50th anniversary celebration.
"They are talking about how much they have changed through this Gathering," Witek said of those youth, "not about the theme parks around Orlando." She added that other youth workers she has since talked with in Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin, and elsewhere share similar stories.
"I think the LCMS has some of the neatest teenagers in the world," Dr. Terry Dittmer, director of LCMS Youth Ministry, said when asked to share his "lasting impressions" of the 2007 Gathering. "They are courteous, Spirit-filled, Lord-loving, serving, caring, energetic, courageous, happy people. They are passionate about God. They love their church. They truly enjoy each other's company. God has given the LCMS some amazing gifts in our young people. Our teens are the church with a smile on its face and the joy of Jesus in its heart."
Adult leaders and Gathering planners also noted that workers with Orlando hotels, restaurants, and other businesses and services commented about "how impressed they were with our young people," Dittmer said.
Several youth and adults with family groups at the Gathering said that they, too, were impressed -- and grateful -- that other adults plan and see to completion the National LCMS Youth Gatherings.
Jake Schwichtenberg, a first-time Gathering participant, said that "one lasting impression" he would have from the Gathering is that "adults care about our generation. I hope they can keep doing Gatherings like this for many years to come."
In Orlando with nine others from Trinity Lutheran Church, Morristown, Minn., Schwichtenberg said the Gathering "makes me realize how blessed we are to be in a church like ours."
"A lot of adults have taken a lot of time to put all this great stuff together just for us," said Christian McKean, 19, who also said that "sometimes, we forget they've pretty much been through everything that young people today go through."
McKean said he is "especially grateful" for adult youth leaders in his congregation, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Memphis, Tenn., who "put in a lot of hours getting us ready for the Gathering."
LCMS President Gerald B. Kieschnick, speaking at the July 29 mass event, mentioned an action of other adults -- Resolution 2-05 of the 2007 Synod convention earlier that month in Houston, which delegates adopted 724 to 130. The title of that resolution is "To Support National LCMS Youth Gatherings."
"The focus of these National LCMS Youth Gatherings is on your relationship with the God of the universe," Kieschnick told the audience.
The Gathering program was driven by daily general sessions for all participants, workshops, experience-based activity, fellowship, Bible study, worship, and service projects.
The Servant Event projects included 7,500 participants serving 39 elementary schools, 17 parks and community-senior centers, and nine private facilities throughout the Orlando area.
In service projects on which this writer went along, youth from Missouri and Northern California pulled weeds at one school and scrubbed outside walls at another -- on a 90-plus-degree day -- while others separated and organized boxes of textbooks for the new school year.
When asked what she thought about her textbook-separating duties, Richele Allen, with a group from Bethany Lutheran Church, Vacaville, Calif., said, "If Christ is in your heart, you can see even the most mundane task as Christian service."
Donna Smith, the principal of that school, said that "it's obviously in observing these young people that they place spiritual value in what they're doing. They've certainly helped us immeasurably in getting ready for school this year, and we're eternally grateful."
At the convention center, the following occurred:
* Youth and adults constructed eight sheds and 250 door or window headers for "Thrivent Builds" and Habitat for Humanity.
* Key verses were highlighted in 3,500 Bibles to be distributed throughout the Florida penal system.
* 2,500 fleece blankets for hurricane-affected families in the LCMS Southern District were assembled.
* 64 pints of blood were donated.
* Two tons of food were collected and sorted for the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.
* 10,000 pairs of eyeglasses were donated, washed, inspected, calibrated, sorted, and packaged for the needy in Nicaragua.
Each night during the Gathering, an average of 1,800 viewers across the country accessed cost-free live streaming video of mass events, with more than 2,800 online viewers watching the Tuesday evening worship service alone.
To help youth and adults back home keep alive the Gathering experience and its "CHOSEN" theme based on 1 Peter 2:9, the Gathering Web site, www.lcmsgathering.com <http://www.lcmsgathering.com> , continues to provide a number of resources.
Congregations may purchase the "Gathering Media Pass" at the Web site, providing them with high-resolution photos, other graphics, and video to use in building media presentations. The site also has MP3 files from Gathering Bible studies for congregational use.
By mid-September, LCMS congregations and participants are expected to receive by mail copies of "CH07," a pictorial guide of the 2007 Gathering, along with a Gathering DVD.
"Our goal has been to provide media that allow the whole church to access the Gathering experience," said Gretchen Jameson, associate director for Youth Ministry and Gathering communications director.
Planning is already under way for the 2010 National LCMS Youth Gathering. Jameson said that event's location will be announced "within the coming months," as contract negotiations are completed.
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If you have questions or comments about this LCMSNews release, contact Joe Isenhower Jr. at joe.isenhower@lcms.org <mailto:joe.isenhower@lcms.org> or (314) 996-1231, or Paula Schlueter Ross at paula.ross@lcms.org <mailto:paula.ross@lcms.org> or (314) 996-1230.
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