– Ed Kay

I never fully appreciated the size and scope of the ELCA Youth Gathering until I sat on the floor of the bare New Orleans Convention Center, counting out thin pieces of cardboard that would be used for what was to be the first Synod Day in a Gathering cycle in 2012. In 2015, it was thousands of “Jesus is Good News!” tattoos and prayer journals.

And in 2018, there will be loads of new supplies that will be sorted and delivered to the ballrooms and meeting spaces around Houston as our Synods gather for their day together. But what really makes the Synod Day an integral part of the Gathering experience is not the truckloads of supplies or the work of planning teams near and far.

The power of the Synod Day is the creation of a unique community of Christ, gathering around Word and Meal, honest sharing and beautiful music, and deep conversation with holy moments.

Unlike many other aspects of the Gathering, the Synod Day is when you’re with the people you’re closest with, geographically at least. Your bishop is with you. The musicians are talent from your own churches and youth groups. The testimonies are from young people from your own cities and towns. This is a community that forms with people from your own neighborhoods, even though you may be hundreds or thousands of miles from where you call home. But, in a way, it too is a kind of home as well.

The Synod Day is more than the couple of hours you’ll spend together in a Houston hotel ballroom—it is the beginning of new friendships and the renewal of long-standing ones. It is the community who will bring the story of Jesus back from Houston into your own communities and neighborhoods.

– 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!

– David Hunstad

In 1973, I was a junior in high school and I had an experience that indeed “changed everything.” I went to the All Lutheran Youth Gathering in Houston, Texas. I came from a small town in Wisconsin and my dad was our pastor and youth leader. Until I sat in the Houston Astrodome with Lutheran youth from all over the country, I thought the church, this faith that I was a part of, was kind of a family thing.

I remember to this day the reverberation of the Lord’s Prayer filling the largest room in the world. I remember watching as some of my dad’s friends ran the sound system and made announcements on the stage.

The joy and excitement of that space opened my eyes to the vast reaches of God’s grace, love, and mercy.

That moment in time changed the course of my life. I made it my mission to participate, attend, organize, and implement similar transformational events for future generations of high school youth. The Christmas gift that was most exciting for me was when my parents paid my way to a Gathering in Minneapolis. When I was in college, I would find a youth group that needed help going to a Gathering. As a youth director, I worked tirelessly to make sure our youth could attend local, regional, and Churchwide Gatherings.

The mission of Old Lutheran is to provide unique products and services that help our customers express their Lutheran identity.

I believe that the ELCA Youth Gathering is an event that helps shape that identity, and I consider it a privilege to be a partner.

I get a thrill knowing that my life’s journey of participating and organizing has led to a business that continues to help express the identity of this event before, during, and after we all gather in Houston.

– Natalie Zielinski

Once you experience the Youth Gathering, you keep wanting to come back.

I was lucky enough to attend the past two Gatherings. They were both were life-changing experiences for me. The Gathering helped me find my faith at a time where I was struggling. When I went to my first Gathering in New Orleans, I was getting ready to be a freshman in high school. I spent the past year battling an illness no one could figure out, and I was being bullied for having to use crutches and a wheelchair to get around. I was depressed and felt very alone, and I needed something to help me feel like I belonged.

Everyone I knew talked about amazing experiences at a Gathering and how it had changed their lives. I just hoped maybe it would change my life, too. It ended up having a bigger impact on my life than I ever imagined. When we got there the first night, I was amazed at the sheer number of youth that were surrounding me. Just standing in the sea of youth was such a powerful experience all on its own.

After hearing people like Nadia Bolz-Weber, Shane Claiborne, Leymah Gbowee, and so many others speak throughout the week, I had an “aha moment.” I heard all of the different stories and struggles other people faced and I started to not feel so alone.

The Gathering made me realize that I wasn’t the only one who felt out of place and didn’t know where to go. I realized I was part of a bigger story.

The Gathering made me realize that God has a plan for me, even if I don’t understand or know all of the plan.

I wouldn’t be the same person I am today if I hadn’t been to a Gathering.

– Theodore Kooistra

After a long day of working, I refilled my water bottle but was forced to empty it at the door of the stadium. This was one of the many things I vividly remember from my trip to Detroit.  That day, my group worked in a neighborhood to clean up trash. Countless areas in Detroit didn’t have city garbage disposal. So few people occupied spaces per block, that along with the cost of gas, waste companies would lose money driving out to pick up trash. Small and isolated neighborhoods also meant that sending police units to patrol the streets wasn’t efficient either. This set the stage for disorderly and dirty neighborhoods.

Each inhabited house had bags upon bags of garbage just sitting at the curb. All of the bags were in various stages of decay, with some bags even housing bees. Residing under the garbage were jungles of grasses, with weeds sprouting from the cracked sidewalks. Glass was all over the place.

When we learned that many people didn’t have running water because they couldn’t afford the bill, we immediately opened our bottles to share.

We learned later that day that often it was much easier to just leave a house abandoned than to file for bankruptcy. Those abandoned and unoccupied houses were falling apart. Often, houses were missing copper pipes as they were sold for money. These were only some of the looming complications that the people in our neighborhood explained.

Everyone tirelessly worked so we were exhausted, but enthused with what was accomplished.  Now you can imagine why my breath got caught in my throat while my water washed over the pavement.

However, being at the Gathering filled up the cups of those living in Detroit.

This is one of the transformational stories that overflowed me with love, reminding me of why I attended the Gathering.

– Rev. Priscilla Paris-Austin

I traveled by train halfway across the country to attend the Youth Gathering in New Orleans with four youth. Months of preparation and anticipation were finally being made manifest as we rose early that first full day for our Justice Day. Our task was to pick up trash in a neighborhood still recovering after Hurricane Katrina, but the dumpsters from the city had not yet arrived. We met with leaders of the partner organization who explained that it was not unusual for folks to say they were coming to help in this area… and then not show up. The city then developed a habit of waiting to provide resources until the evidence proved they could be useful. Our presence, despite the planning, was a surprise!

After surveying the area and spending some time with leaders, our Servant Companion gathered us back on the bus for reflection. When faced with the decision of calling it a day or walking the neighborhood, I completely understood the massive number of hands on the bus that rose to end the day… until I turned to look at my youth. All of them were opting to stay. They wanted to meet the people, or at least try. It was a moment that made this veteran youth leader weep with pride. 

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

While the majority vote meant that our day was done, my youth were transformed in that moment. They recognized that while they didn’t get their hands dirty, the difference they made was not of their own doing, but it was a gift of God. They were a gift of God just by showing up.  This knowledge, it changes EVERYTHING.  

Rev. Priscilla Paris-Austin serves as the pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Seattle, WA.