This is a special double entry from the writers of the theme song for the Gathering! Check out the video for the theme song!

– Judi Tyler

I have been learning to write songs and hymns in the past few years. I often get catchy “ear worms” in my head and I start humming them as I drive to and from my job. I like to take theological thoughts (sometimes even from a sermon!) and put them to music that is pegajoso, sticky in Spanish.

I have been thinking a lot about the 2018 Gathering theme, “This Changes Everything,” and how to put it to music. I had parts of a song, but I knew I needed help. One year ago, I met James Kocian through the Arizona Songwriters Association. James is a song coach and music maker who lives in Wisconsin. When I shared my thoughts with James, I said, “In my head, I hear drums but I cannot play drums at all.” James said, “I am a drummer!” We talked about the Gathering, the theme, who would attend, and their home communities. James worked on the song with his amazing musical and technical skills.

One of my favorite parts of the song is the bridge:

It’s by grace.
We are saved.
We belong to Jesus.

That is what I hold on to when life is overwhelming; belonging to God tells me who I am and whose I am. This belonging changes everything.

Looking forward to making music all together in Houston in 2018!

Judi Tyler is a pediatric medical social worker and is a deaconess from the Lutheran Deaconess Association (LDA) diaconate.

– James Kocian

I’ve been a songwriter and producer for a while. Through a mutual friend in Nashville, I was connected to Judi Tyler to offer song coaching and critique. In one of our sessions, she told me about the theme song contest for the Gathering. I absolutely loved the vision for the Gathering. I thought that the title, “This Changes Everything,” was perfect.

In creating the lyrics, I was thinking about not just my own experiences with God, but also the experiences of teens attending the Gathering. I was thinking about the teenage years and how they are often chaotic.

I hoped to capture God’s unchanging and steady nature, no matter how chaotic and challenging our lives can often be.

I wanted the mood of the song to match the enthusiasm of the moment. For the music and melody, I envisioned a stadium full of energetic and passionate youth singing along to the refrain of the chorus. Adding a lot of “ohs,” “heys,” and other modern responses in a drum and guitar driven arrangement seemed to complete the vision and present the song in the way I had hoped.

I am privileged and honored that the song I wrote with Judi was selected. I look forward to experiencing the amazing Gathering in 2018!

– Aubrey Thonvold

I know firsthand just how magical and life changing the Youth Gathering can be.  I went to my first Gathering back in the 90s when I was a freshman in high school.  It was powerful to be with over 30,000 peers experiencing the life of the church on such a massive scale. It was just as powerful as a youth leader when I brought a youth group ten years later.  However, it is in my current role as the Executive Director of ReconcilingWorks that I look forward to the Gathering with a different level of excitement.

The holy work of ensuring lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people and their families are named, seen, and cared for in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is transformative.  As a lesbian, there have been times in my life where church did not always feel like a safe place for me.

The role that ReconcilingWorks has at the Gathering is to create a space where LGBTQ youth and adults can be fully themselves and celebrate the beautiful diversity in which we are all made.

I am looking forward to the Gathering in Houston so we can celebrate and affirm the many ways the LGBTQ community helps to make the ELCA its best.   No one should ever wonder if the church is a safe place for them.

Make sure and stop by the ReconcilingWorks booth . . . just look for the rainbows!

– Iain Chester

My first experience of the ELCA Youth Gathering was less than two years ago in Detroit. I learned quickly that a Gathering is unique and that there is nothing quite like worshiping in an NFL stadium filled with 30,000 people. As children’s rights activist Marian Wright Edelman walked out on to the stage during worship, she summed it up perfectly saying, “You are incredible.”

My role at the ELCA Youth Gathering was to help with ELCA World Hunger’s Walk for Water. This interactive experience invites participants to learn more about access to clean water by following the story of someone who does not have easy access to clean water. Participants can feel what it is like to collect water by carrying a five-gallon jug of water (about 41.5 pounds when full).

Looking out at the crowd, Marian Wright Edelman challenged us saying, “With your energy we are going to transform America and make it understand that God did not make two classes of children.”

Since the Gathering, many congregations, youth groups, and high schools across the ELCA have hosted their own localized versions of ELCA World Hunger’s Walk for Water. I believe that this experience, taken home by so many who came to the Gathering, has been a small part of the transformation Wright Edelman spoke about.

Congregations and youth groups have also been part of transformation through giving. Many who attended the 2015 ELCA Youth Gathering brought gifts to support ELCA World Hunger’s Walk for Water. To date, over $1 million has been raised to support ELCA World Hunger water-related projects. This transformation all began at the Gathering and will continue to provide clean drinking water like spring boxes and boreholes, support for irrigation systems, education about sanitation in rural villages, and so much more.

God did not make two classes of children, some with access to clean water and others without.

As we look toward Houston and the 2018 ELCA Youth Gathering, I am excited to see the ways in which God will transform us, our world, and our understanding of one another.

– Tom Hoegel

My name is Tom Hoegel and I have the privilege and honor of serving youth and families at Bethel Lutheran Church in Cupertino, CA.  Over 30 years ago, I took my Bethel youth to the Denver National Youth Gathering and began my journey serving on the Mass Gathering Team. In St. Louis in 2000, I formed the Tech & Talent Team to coordinate talent for the event, as well as to act as the connector between volunteers and hired techs.  It has been a delight serving God through this work at the Gatherings

One of my greatest passions has always been to lift up youth musicians.  In 2009, we saw that seed begin to germinate with two talented college age bands that help launch our Immersion Day events.  In 2012 and 2015, that desire blossomed into over 60 youth bands leading Synod Day events throughout the Gathering.

Houston promises to build on this great momentum as youth really are the church of today!

When I’m not serving the Gathering, I enjoy spending time with my grown daughters, attending concerts, working out, playing bass, tearing down and building stuff, and motorcycle and convertible rides in the California hills.  I look forward to seeing you in Houston. 🙂

– Tony Acompando

I am Tony Acompanado, a member of the Mass Gathering Team for the 2018 Youth Gathering in Houston. I am humbled and super excited for the opportunity to be returning for a third cycle to serve on this amazing team.

I attended my first Youth Gathering in 2006 in San Antonio as a youth director and participant; I still recall so many wonderful moments that my youth and I experienced throughout that Gathering.

In Detroit in 2015, I had the incredible opportunity to speak on the main stage, and this once in a lifetime experience offered me a truly unique perspective of the Gathering.

Being invited to share God’s message of hope and redemption within the larger Gathering community continues to be an amazing and unforgettable experience that has impacted my life in so many different ways.

That same year, I also watched my eldest daughter experience her first Gathering. Seeing the work of the Holy Spirit in her life because of the Gathering has been so incredible.

As I look ahead to 2018 in Houston, I am filled with excitement because my eldest son will be attending his first Gathering, and I can’t help but wonder about all the amazing people he will meet, the transformative experiences of God’s love that he will encounter, and the sense of mission that will return home with him.

It has been an amazing gift to experience the Gathering through these diverse perspectives with each one offering me a unique encounter of many ways the Gathering impacts people’s lives. As you look ahead to Houston next summer, I pray that you are filled with tremendous wonder and excitement for all the ways that you may encounter God while you experience all that the Gathering has to offer.  It is my hope that you will immerse yourselves in new experiences and share in the stories of the amazing people you will meet along your journey. I trust that you will experience God’s transformative love throughout the Gathering, no matter where you find yourself.  I cannot wait to see you in Houston!

– Julie Stecker

As our world worried about what would happen when the calendar changed from 1999 to 2000, I was smack dab in the middle of my junior high experience, worrying about what role I’d get in the school play, whether my outfit was cute enough, and if I’d accumulated enough gel pens for the popular girls to deem me a valuable asset to their friend group. I was always worried about what I could do to make people like me more, to have greater worth in the eyes of my peers.

This deeply affected the way I viewed my relationship with God. It must be transactional, I thought, since this was how I understood relationships. If I was “good,” then God would bless me with friends, good grades, and the cool stuff I wanted. If I was “bad,” God would take all of that away as punishment. I tried to be the best at everything, just so I wouldn’t chance falling out of God’s favor. This was exhausting. And, I learned along the way, that’s not how God’s love works.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” You have been saved. This is not your own doing. This is the good news that changes everything, friends. Long, long ago, before we were even thought of, God saved us. We didn’t (and still don’t!) have to do anything to earn it. Yes, we “do” things like serving our neighbors and trying to live a compassionate, grace-filled life in response to this great gift. But just as surely as we will mess up, God will be there with grace, love, and mercy, reminding us that Jesus has already done the work of saving us. Nothing can change that, but God’s love can absolutely change us – from people who work to earn God’s love to people who work to show God’s love. I can’t wait to see how we show God’s love in Houston in 2018!

Julie Stecker is currently the Director of Communications at the Delaware-Maryland Synod.