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ELCA Youth Gathering Blog

Reflections on Service

Thousands of young Lutherans are doing good in the New Orleans community.  Here’s what a few of them had to say after their time serving New Orleanians (namely, working up a dripping sweat doing manual labor for hours on a...

Saving Nola

A popular bumper sticker in New Orleans.

Pretty good job

A note of thanks from U.S. President Barack Obama was read to Lutheran teens at the New Orleans Superdome tonight by the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Obama praised the youth for their volunteer work this...

ServantLife: Making a Difference

Friday was the second day of the ServantLife events–JJJ youth going out into the New Orleans community to help out in countless different ways.  Ms. Pitts, a resident of the Lower 9th Ward, spoke with me yesterday about the impact...

Gratitude

This afternoon, I was handed the following letter from the St. Bernard Parish President.  (St. Bernard Parish, just southest of New Orleans, still displays the devastating effects of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.) Dear Orange-Shirt Brigade (Youth Volunteers), I wanted to take...

Free hugs…?

The Youth Gathering has given rise to a number of traditions.  For example, every prayer session, from the Dome on down to ServantLife blessings, begins with “The Lord be with you,” “And also with you.”  But not all of the...