-Paul Amlin

I’ve been around the ministry of the Gathering in some capacity since the years leading up to the 1997 River of Hope event in New Orleans. I had brought a small group with me from Florida. I can still remember vivid details about ’97, including the stunned faces of our group when we first entered the dome for worship. Our young people (and me too!) were blown away in seeing thousands of other people just like us gathered together, as Lutherans, to worship, sing, conga, and pray. From that moment I was hooked on the ministry of the Gathering as a “game changer” for my ministry. The conversations and kinship of that group extended for years with this common experience as catalyst.

Since then, I’ve attended each Gathering. In San Antonio, I worked with the seminaries of the ELCA to talk with youth about their own call to ministry. I recently met one of those “youth” who is now a pastor and recalled our visit – powerful!

The past three cycles, I have served with  planning teams. Most recently, in Detroit, I served with teams, in my role as Program Director for Youth Ministry in the ELCA. I continue to marvel at the impact the Gathering has both in terms of lives impacted through our presence and service in communities, together with its impact on church groups who now share the same bond as me and my small group from ’97.

Recently, I was with a group of youth workers who, without prompting from me, began discussing the Gathering. One said of his group’s comments upon entering worship, “I go to First Lutheran, but THIS is my church!” – [Ed Wosinski of Muskegon, MI] Another leader shared how her youth group’s enthusiasm for pulling weeds in a neighborhood of Detroit led to a community of neighbors embracing them, thanking them them for giving the neighbors hope that they could recover and reclaim their neighborhood.

I thank God for the ministry of the Gathering in my own life and in the lives of the countless others we reach in the process.

Pastor Paul Amlin serves as the Program Director for Youth Ministry for ELCA Churchwide Ministries. 

-Thomas Tresselt

In 1999, my oldest daughter Melissa and my wife Carol attended the Gathering in St Louis. Upon returning, I heard nothing but great stories about the event and how the Gathering changed their lives. This prompted me to apply to be a member of the Gathering Volunteer Corps for the 2003 Gathering in Atlanta.

With a bit of apprehension, I arrived in Atlanta and was assigned to security for the convention center and dome. I was in awe that first night experiencing the mass gathering in the dome. I truly felt the Holy Spirit’s presence in the Georgia Dome.

On the second day of the Gathering, I met a person who changed my life. Pastor Daina Salnitis was the Safety and Security Team Leader for the Gathering. She had heard that I was a retired lieutenant from the NYPD, was currently a security director at Pace University in New York City, and had experience in managing large events. When the Gathering ended, I was asked to be part of the Safety and Security planning team for the next Gathering.

As the father of four children, I felt a calling to this challenging offer. Since then, I have been the Security Director for the past four Gatherings, and I’m looking forward to 2018 in Houston. It’s rewarding to know that when some people questioned our decision to go to New Orleans in 2009 and Detroit in 2015, I played an important part in reaffirming the decision to keep the Gathering in these cities that needed us.

Throughout this journey, I have found that my faith has grown stronger, and I have made some lifelong friends along the way. Knowing that I play an important role in providing our young people the opportunity to experience Jesus Christ is an invaluable reward to me and gives me the motivation to keep going.

Thomas Tresselt works as the Associate Director of Safety and Security at Pace University in the greater New York City area.

-Michael Deisting

Hi! My name is Michael, and when I’m not enjoying Chicago’s spectacular summers (I live in denial about the winters) or dreaming of where I might travel next, you can probably find me working alongside Donna and Molly in the Gathering office. This will be my third cycle with the Gathering, and I love what I get to do because I love this ministry. Here are 8 reasons why:

1. This ministry is always changing. The Spirit’s creative wisdom inspires planners, and we get to dream about the endless possibilities. No two Gatherings are exactly the same; no two days in the Gathering office are the same either.
2. The Gathering is BIG. Even as a self-identified introvert, there is just something that makes me awestruck every time I see the swarms of young people filing into the stadium for mass Gatherings. God is present everywhere, but the Spirit is present in a special way when 30,000ish Lutheran friends descend on a city.
3. We have SO MUCH FUN! Okay, yes, those 5 days are also a little exhausting, but it’s totally worth it. We love Jesus, and we love to have a good time.
4. We get to do some pretty cool things that can only happen at a Gathering—like collecting more than a million diapers (#RiseUpELCA). Our sheer size allows us to do so much together.
5. I always fall in love with our host city, especially the people. I know many others do too. Detroit and New Orleans captured my heart, and Houston is quickly capturing it too. We have already met some incredible Houstonians—be sure to introduce yourself in 2018.
6. Volunteers, planning teams, and partners are the backbone of the Gathering. This church is made up of remarkable people doing extraordinary things to share the Gospel, and it is the greatest delight getting to know many of them.
7. Our young people are energetic, hopeful, and faith-filled, and they fill me with those same characteristics. Anyone who talks about the decline or death of the church hasn’t been to a Gathering.
8. There is nothing else like the Gathering, and nothing our church does even comes close to it. It is like a service trip-music festival-faith formation convention-synod gathering-youth group outing all rolled into one giant Jesus party. I can’t wait until we celebrate together in 2018!

My love and passion for the ministry of the ELCA Youth Gathering goes far beyond the eight reasons above, but they limited my word count for this blog post and I’m already over (#oops #notsorry). So instead of me continuing, I invite you to share why you love the Gathering! Tweet us or comment on our Facebook page. Peace friends.

Michael Deisting works as the Gathering Program Associate.

-Deaconess Kristen Baltrum

There is nothing quite like watching the face of a teenager light up in wonder, especially when that face is lighting up because they have just walked into a stadium full of people, who like them have gathered together for five days of service, learning, and worship – the ELCA Youth Gathering.

That look is why I ride the bus for three days to get there. That look gives me the opportunity to say, “See? I told you; you aren’t alone.” And then together we spend five days unpacking that look – what it means, why it matters, and are assured of our place in this church, both the young person and myself.

It is the power of Christ present in the larger church that lights up the faces of the teens who experience the Gathering. While I absolutely believe that Christ is present where only two or three are gathered, or even if we are alone, there is something exhilarating for me to witness this power of the present Christ when it is seeping into the pores of youth in mass quantity.

But I am not a bystander at the Gathering, simply gleaning off the young people’s energy, only watching the Spirit work. I too am infused with the power of the present Christ. My call to walk alongside young people and “figure it out” is affirmed at each Gathering. It is an exhausting week that leaves me utterly spent and utterly filled at the same time.

And there is no better feeling than that: the feeling of simultaneously being spent and filled, giving and receiving so much. The Gathering is indeed holy ground where relationships are deepened through Christ, and the church, the Body of Christ, is pulsing with renewed energy. This is why I love the Gathering.

Deaconess Kristen Baltrum serves as Director of Faith Formation at Bethlehem Lutheran in Longmont, CO