Reflections!

Alissa in the "dance off". Go girl!

Hi everyone! I wanted to take some time to share with you some of my reflections of the 2012 National Youth Gathering in New Orleans. First of all I would like to thank all of the youth who "Showed Up" and fully participated in all of the activities the leaders had planned for the week. I know it was a very busy and packed schedule but I pray each of the youth saw God in many of the places, events, and faces of the people while we served there. I also would like to thank the parents of the youth who have raised some nice young Christian youth. It was my pleasure to serve with them the entire week. I pray each of the parents will see a more faithful child in their homes as long as they live there. All of this could not have happened without the sacrifice of 4 adult leaders who accompanied Pastor and I. Stefanie, Suzi, Margi, and Alex all did a tremendous job of encouraging the youth to be open to what God had in store for them. Finally, I would like to thank God for all of the provisions he gave to this team of people. From the generosity of our congregational members, to the travel planning of Diane Lowe, to Him being obviously present at each activity and every moment. Thank You Lord for you being our Savior!

Youth with the House Band

The first reflection I have to share today is the reaction of the youth to the larger church and the other 33,309 youth who worshipped with us during the week. Many of the youth were overwhelmed by the openness and acceptance of everyone attending. Seeing the youth openly high-five and talk with other youth they had never meet before was awesome. The youth repeatedly told it is was so nice just to be able to be theirselves and not worry about having to put on a mask of who they thought they should be. I hope God taught them the lesson of being accepted for who THEY are and to be able to accept others for who they are. The pressures of living up to other people expectations of who they "should be" is very difficult for the youth of today. This pressure comes from parents, peers, friends, church members, and others and can be overwhelming. I pray this experience will help them cope with this pressure and give them the ability to help others overcome the pressures of being a perfect person.

Keep coming back to this Blog as I will continue to share thoughts, stories, and reflections as they come to me.

The Final Full Day!



Our Northern Illinois Synod T-Shirts worn on our Discipleship day!

What an incredible ride it has been! We practiced peacemaking, justice, and today...discipleship. Today we worshipped with 600 of our friends from the Northern Illinois Synod. What a great worship we all experienced followed with small group experience with other youth and adult leaders from throughout our region. A great lunch at Popeye's followed by our last sightseeing trip around the city.

Then the finale of the entire 5 day experience...the much anticipated concert by SWITCHFOOT. And what a show they put on. An hour of robust Christian/Rock music. The youth said it was the highlight of the day. A few of our kids also made the big screen in the arena as the youth danced in the aisles. The team also got a chance to again perform as part of the Mass Cast dance routine in front of 35,000 people. This experience was even better than the one we did on Wednesday! The nerves of being in front of that many people was gone so all the youth enjoyed the second performance even more. I am sure they will remember this experience for the rest of their lives!

The 2012 FLY Youth Gathering Team

The youth and adult leaders have put all of their effort into the week and exhaustion has finally caught up with everyone, although the halls were still being occupied by the youth not wanting this experience to end. But lights out did come at midnight and the youth are now resting for their final experience of serving communion to a large group of people in the SuperDome.

Please keep the youth in your prayers as they rest for the final day and travel most of the afternoon and evening. We are scheduled to arrive back in Geneseo tomorrow night at 10:30.

Thanks to everyone for the support you have shown these youth. Your investment into their lives is a worthy cause. Thank You!

The Floor of the Dome!

Saturday update

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update on all the goings on down here in New Orleans! We have gotten a lot of rain over the past few days, but that has not dampened the mood or spirit of the youth. Things are going well and the pace of the activities is more than I expected. So, my posts have not been a frequent as I had hoped.

Yesterday I had a nice post that for some reason did not post to the blog. Of well....yesterday was our Justice day and we helped some children at a local YMCA with a VBS type program. All of the youth enjoyed spending time with these children.

The dome event was again amazing. Check out a couple of the pictures here and at the Youth Gathering website.

Today is our Discipleship day and we are really looking forward to everything the day has to offer.

Please keep these youth in your prayers as the week winds down and patience becomes frayed.

Practicing Peacemaking

Today we participated in the Practicing Peacemaking portion of the gathering. We started wi a worship service at 9:00 am then got to go to the Interaction Center where the youth got to practice the art of peacemaking. Many opportunities were presented as options for the youth to try. From sports to, blood giving, to building walls for Habitat for Humanity. Now we are getting prepared to go back to the dome. I will post pictures and the dome details later tonight. Keep us in your prayers.

Opening night was...simply AMAZING!

WOW! I had been told a number of times how until you actually experience a Youth Gathering Dome event I just would not understand the energy and excitement the youth encounter. Well the experience, energy, and excitement was simply amazing! All of the youth were enjoying everything the Opening Night Dome event had to offer.

Our youth enjoying a zip line

But before the excitement of the Opening Night the youth and leaders enjoyed a full day. The day started off by getting registered at the Convention Center and getting a sneak peak at the Interaction Zones. The Interaction Zones are where the youth can ride a zip line, climb a rope wall, playing soccer against other congregation, and much much more. Before we knew it, it was time to start heading to the dome for our rehearsal for the stage show that we were part of. Stopped at a great little restaurant called Mothers for some Po Boy sandwiches. Once again a lot of the kids tried some stuff that was a little different than the school menu's a GHS.

At 1:00 pm we arrived at the dome and started the process of getting prepped for the rehearsal. After what seemed like a long time and a little practice we were on the floor of the Superdome looking up at 80,000 empty seats. It was a that moment most of the youth realized that this was going to be even bigger than what they had envisioned. After learning our dance moves for the night and at least 2 revisions we all seemed ready and excited for the night to come.

The Superdome...an amazing facility

We went out to Champions Square and enjoyed a quick dinner then back to the dome to get staged for the show. Suddenly, thousands of youth starting pouring into the dome to get the best seats for the nights activities. Before you knew it there were conga lines of 100's of youth from across the nation dancing to the pre-event music. I was amazed at the instant energy the floor of the dome. We were blessed with some amazing speakers and musicians and then  the big moment. It was our chance to give praise to God with our dancing skills. All of the youth thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I will share more about that experience later in the week.

Now we were ready to leave the dome and get into our Community Life events. We all were planning on going to see the Peder Eide concert in our hotel. Just before we were released into the NOLA night we were told we were going to be held for a few minutes to let some severe weather clear the area. 45 minutes later we were released into a still rainy night. With a 30 minute walk ahead of us we just gritted our teeth and tried to enjoy the soaking we all got. The night ended with our small groups and bed checks at midnight. A long day was over but it was oh so AMAZING!

We have a couple youth struggling with some colds so please pray for these youth to have their colds go away and that all youth get plenty of sleep. A not so busy day ahead tomorrow.

Day 1 in NOLA

Statue of Andrew Jackson in Jackson Square

 We we made it! 22 youth and 6 adult leaders have made a successful trip from Geneseo to New Orleans! After an very early start (4:00 am) the group left FLC at 4:30, made it to Chicago-Midway for an 9:10 flight, arrived in New Orleans ahead of schedule, found our 3 shuttles buses for the New Orleans Marriott, checked into our rooms (well most of us did, sorry Emily G. and her 3 friends) all by 12:30 pm. After giving the youth some time to settle into their rooms we headed off for some sightseeing.

We first visited the French Quarter and Jackson Square. The temps felt pretty warm (I would guess around 90 degrees) with a lot of sunshine. After some sightseeing and shopping we headed off for a great meal at the Gumbo Shoppe right in the middle of the French Quarter. It was a great setting for the groups first Cajun meal. We all had the chance to enjoy some alligator, BBQ'd shrimp, and crab cakes for our appetizers. I was pleasantly surprised to see many of the kids try these dishes along with ordering some dishes they may have never had before in Illinois. Real Cajun food has a lot more spice than what these corn feed Illinoisans typically eat. But after some great conversation and hearing the personal story of our waitress Babette (a survivor of Katrina) we were ready to move on to Cafe Du Monde for some beignets. I think everyone at least tried a sample of these delicious treats but I am afraid it was just too much food for the group. Maybe we will make a return visit another time.

Enjoying some fine Cajun food and some grilled cheese

By this time the kids  (and adults) were about to drop. So we took the scenic route down the river walk we finally got back to our hotel and we finally got Emily and her friends their room. Some of the group is now enjoying the swimming pool and others enjoying a cool shower. We have a 10:00 small group meeting and then lights out at 11:00 pm.

Tomorrow will be another long day as we will move towards the convention center at 8:00 am to get registered for the Gathering and then lunch and off to practice for the BIG MASS CAST event to open the Gathering for the nearly 35,000 youth. Make sure you go ELCA.org to see the live streaming video starting at 7:00 pm. Look for our group on the main stage!

Please keep the youth and leaders in your prayers. I think our biggest concern at this point is keeping the kids hydrated! It is pretty humid down here but we all knew that coming down here.

So, in a quick summary...we are off to a great start and all the kids seem to be doing fine. Days are very busy but the pace is something the kids will enjoy. That reminds me of the last prayer request I have...please pray for the leaders to have the stamina to keep up with these energetic youth!

Thanks to everyone reading this blog. Feel free to make comments below and I (Tim Oloffson) will pass on these remarks to the youth!