– Carmen Cobo, Mission Investment Fund

Mission Investment Fund (MIF) comes to each Gathering because we are church, and because we believe in lifting up the youth of this church.  I am energized as I come to each Gathering.  I am energized by the positive teens in my midst who have such a strong belief in God and a strong conviction to serve others, by the dedicated youth leaders and pastors who have so much to share with those they guide, and by the ELCA leaders who make this inspirational event happen every three years.

For these very reasons, MIF has made special contributions to bring youth to the Gathering—so that those who may not otherwise be able to attend can indeed be part of this incredible event. We are church together.

MIF is your partner—as you prepare for the next Youth Gathering, during your participation in the event, and after you return home and settle back into your normal ministry routines.  We offer your congregations a Youth Ministry Demand Investment Account, which is a great way for youth groups to save for the triennial Youth Gathering and other youth activities.  If you don’t already have an account, we encourage you to open one.

When you come to Houston in 2018, our MIF Service Center will be open each day to assist you with your financial needs on site. We’re also planning a new, fun, interactive activity—more to come on this later! And long after the 2018 Youth Gathering is over, we will be here to assist your congregations and its future leaders with financial products and services that support your ministries and help you carry out your missions in your communities.

I can’t wait to see you all in the summer of 2018!

Carmen Cobo is Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer of the Mission Investment Fund, the lending ministry of the ELCA.

– Chris Marien

Greetings from the Mass Gathering Team. My name is Chris, and I have the honor of leading the team that creates and shapes the mass gathering sessions each night and worship on Sunday morning. With my own eyes, I have seen the transforming power and work of God through the ELCA Youth Gathering.

The depth and breadth of ministry offered at the Gathering invites participants to engage the promise and grace of God on their own terms, yet in the same breath, defies their imaginations.

As a high school student, I experienced my own Youth Gathering under the banner, “Called to Freedom.” As a pastor, I was invited to accept the challenge of going behind the scenes to serve God as a participant on a planning team. Few experiences of God’s wonder compare with the sheer energy and awe of the Youth Gathering.

Leading the Mass Gathering Team, I have the privilege of working with some of the most gifted and dedicated people in our church. People from all over the church send ideas to the Mass Gathering Team for consideration and development towards an expression on the main stage during an evening session. The best part the Gathering is being able to imagine anything and everything to the glory of God, and then watching the Holy Spirit shape the actual moments that define each night we gather together.

Opening night at the Gathering is always a mix of excitement, exhaustion, anticipation, and trust in our God that all will be as God plans it to be. We are already counting down the days to June 2018.

Come and join us. Come see what God is up to in Houston!

– Bishop Tracie Bartholomew

Rise Up! A fitting theme for the first Gathering I attended as bishop of the New Jersey Synod. This had been a theme in New Jersey following Superstorm Sandy, which leveled homes and businesses across our state. Rise Up was not a command to get your act together, but rather a promise that God in Christ lifts you from the depths of despair so you can soar with the wind of the Holy Spirit.

I engaged this Gathering in a few ways:

First, we supported a team who led Gathering participants in an experience of diversity. LoveStruck explored with Gathering participants how we live in a richly diverse world. I was proud to claim this team and admired their commitment to provide such a valuable experience. Certainly through their leadership, we were able to Rise Up and be the church God is calling us to be.

Second, I gathered on our Synod Day with over 500 New Jersians to sing, pray, study, and worship together. It was an inspiring time listening to testimony from high school students unafraid to claim their Christian identity and to share with their peers the power of God at work in their lives. It was a day for me to remember again just how powerful the Holy Spirit can be. Having this day at the beginning of the Gathering allowed us to connect in more meaningful ways through the week—especially when we scattered throughout Detroit for service. We were able to Rise Up together as the church in New Jersey!

Finally, I engaged the Gathering as a bishop of this church, which meant a lot of spontaneous selfies with random people, high-fives, being a target for clothespins, and otherwise feeling “on display.” There is nothing that compares to the fun (and silliness) of being on floor-level every night with colleagues singing and dancing. We certainly celebrated the many ways we Rise Up as God’s people.

Rev. Tracie L. Bartholomew serves as bishop of the New Jersey Synod.

– Kim Adams

I am Kim Adams, and I am the Transportation Team Leader for the 2018 Youth Gathering in Houston. I have served the on the Transportation Team since the 2003 Gathering and this will be my third cycle as Team Leader. I am very excited to journey with you all through the city of Houston and at the Gathering.

I attended the Gathering as a high schooler, and I truly believe that vocation found me there. I also attended the Gathering as an adult leader with a youth group. There, I had the privilege of accompanying youth as they encountered the ELCA in exciting and meaningful ways. I believe that the Gathering is an integral place for faith development—it absolutely was for me as a youth and it still is today.

I live in Grand Forks, ND with my husband, Dave, and our five children: Jensen, Kylie, Caleb, Jonas, and Nate. I am passionate about loving and serving. I live out this passion where I currently serve as the Young Adult & Family Ministry Coordinator at Calvary Lutheran. In my free time (whenever that is), I enjoy movies, cooking, traveling, spending time with family and friends, and a great cup of decaf coffee.

– Drew Ingram

I remember the Confirmation lesson the week I was cut from the basketball team. I was telling myself that I was not good enough at basketball or at anything. The Confirmation lesson title was, “G.O.G.G.: The Gift Of God’s Grace.” We read Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

I heard, understood, and resonated with the truth that no matter what I told myself, God loved me; that love was a gift not because of anything I had done or failed to do.

In the time that followed that moment, all I wanted to do was share this love. Of course, there have been times where I lost this focus and drive. This is why I give thanks to God for the church that shows and tells me the good news of God’s grace and love as we study scripture, remember our baptisms, confess where we have fallen short and hear God’s forgiveness, and come to the table where everyone receives Christ’s body and blood in bread and wine.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

This reality does change everything. It means each and every one of us are set free from the things that turn us in on ourselves. We are free to share God’s love with others. God’s grace and the faithfulness of Christ empower us to remind people that they are loved just as they are, not because they have earned it.

Where you are now, and in Houston in 2018, you are set free to share God’s love with everyone you encounter. Share a meal with someone who is hungry. Listen to someone’s story. Tell them they are loved.

Rev. Drew Ingram is pastor at Spirit in the Hills Lutheran in Spicewood, Texas

– Pastor David Lose

The world is changing – okay, major, major understatement. The world is changing like it has never changed before! Yeah, that’s more like it.

Think about it: The way we communicate. The way we create meaning. The way we craft our identity. The way we innovate and work and share ourselves and our lives. Just about all of it is changing, which means the church needs to change as well, particularly if it is to have a future in reaching out to the emerging generations.

By “church” I mean congregations, camps, synods, seminaries—all of it. For a very long time church institutions like these could count on a certain level of support from the culture—kind of a tacit commitment to encourage people to go to church—but that has pretty much vanished. Not that the culture is hostile to faith; more that it’s indifferent. Which means our congregations (and camps and all the rest) cannot afford to see themselves as “spiritual destinations,” waiting for the crowds to show up on Sunday, but instead need to be “spiritual training centers,” where people come to learn more about their faith and leave confident they can practice and share it.

This kind of change is risky. It can make people nervous, even mad. And you might fail. After all, no one quite knows the best way to be church in this new world just yet. But it’s worth the risk. We can take those risks because of the promise that we are saved not by getting it right or by having all the answers, but by grace.

When we set out to unite two seminaries that have been separated for a century and a half, that indeed made some people nervous (and some mad). But you know what—it also made some people excited, hopeful, and feel brave enough themselves to take a risk. Grace changes everything, and one of the things it changes is us—we are free to risk and experiment and live into a future that is unknown but still fashioned and held by God.

The Rev. Dr. David J. Lose currently serves as the president of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP).