Here I Am to Worship, Here I am to Bow Down

Today was the last full day of the National Youth Gathering. The feeling throughout the whole center was the most upbeat of the week. Everyone seemed to be trying to absorb as much as they could before tomorrow. In tonight's mass event, a pastor delivered an amazing sermon before the entire gathering had communion. It was probably the most powerful speech for me personally from this week. I am so surprised about how fast this event has gone by, and it will definitely be upsetting to leave in the morning.

Kathryn Minock

Today was the last day of the gathering, and it was sad to know that we would all be leaving tomorrow. We had to wake up early for Bible Study at 9 am, and the activities began at 12. We were in the big convention center today where Mass Event is held, so there were lots of things to do. There were concerts and treks, trampolines, rock walls, crafts, and many other activities. Tonight's Mass Event was more traditional with a sermon, Bible readings, and Communion. There was also an emotional re-enactment of Christ's crucifixion, and it was very realistic. We all ate dinner together for the last time in the hotel. I will be very sad tomorrow when it is time to leave.

Melanie Weismuller

The last day of the gathering went really well. The Bible Study gave us an early start and it was my favorite among the three throughout the week. We explored the theme of "Chosen with Christ" today, which was really special because it pulled the other themes together. We had many things to do today including treks, concerts, and a variety of activities found in the live-it section. The Mass Event at the end of the day stood out because it had many of the features of a traditional church service. The communion, hymns we sang, and bible readings made it this way. I will definatly miss being here and will be very sad when it is time to leave.

Lauren Motley

Amazing Love

Worship has been incredible, from the music, to the preaching to media and dance. The power of the music, the visuals, the media and the interpretive dancers are all combine for a wonderful worship experience. Very powerful!

What's On Your Card?

The theme verse for last night was from I Peter 1:14-15, "As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who has called you is holy, so be holy in all you do."

A popular song "Dirty Little Secret" showed clips of individuals holding up a card with their dirty secrets in print (a little like confession)! It was a reminder to all of us that we've all fallen short of God's expectation and desire for us. We all have our dirty little secrets. In Christ, those secrets are taken to the cross and our "cards" are wiped clean. Whats on our cards? "ABSOLUTELY NOTHING." We'll go into our communion service this evening (our last evening) celebrating the God who knows our secrets, has dealt with them, and still calls us a CHOSEN nation and royal priesthood.

Hey, today was awesome. we went to bible study in the morning, after a questionable night's sleep. We went to the north south building and got to see the sights, which included a blow up laser tag arena and an area to build sheds. I gave blood (yeah, not so much fun), and then we went to mass event. They offered salsa dancing lessons in the evening, but I decided to pass for fear of showing off my famous coordination. (by the way, hey aunt Kristi!) good times all around, and sleep will probably evade us for a few more hours. and, as always, we met more new people from new states. The people from Texas and Minnesota are way too excited for their own good.
Tyler Zorn

Hey, this is the other Tyler and I wanted to say it was a wonderful day filled with life changing opportunities and events. I woke up and didn't get a shower for thinking that a few more extra minutes of sleep was more important than smelling good. Then we went to morning service followed by a track with a man named Craig something and he was really good and talked about sex, drugs, and porn and how he knows the famous porn star Ron Jeremy that has slept with five thousand women (wow!). Then we ate lunch, which was delicious, and were offered a chance to dance salsa which I also didn't take for fear of filling my phone up with some new female friends. Its night now and we just had another little bible study and now were kind of going to bed after we stay up a few more hours and talk about our day.

-->Tyler Phillips

Chosen to the World

Today's theme reminded us we are CHOSEN to the world. God continues to save sinful people through the witness of his CHOSEN people. You are His ambassador to proclaim the hope that you have as one who has been CHOSEN (I Peter 3:15). God has work for you to do, and He reaches out to those in need through you with His love and compassion. Hundreds of service projects are going on each day throughout the city - in order to demonstrate to Orlando the love of God in Christ Jesus. Only 15,000 spaces were available for those projects, and our group in this case was NOT CHOSEN to do one of them. God used us still, in the awesome service and mission projects that were done IN the Orange County Convention Center. Here are some of those projects in which our youth were able to participate.

Hey this is Janelle and today I got to participate in making a blanket at the Live It Project. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to do more. The blankets we made today are going to the Katrina foundation along with some other things that were there to participate in. Another one was making sheds and boxing up Bibles. This convention is a lot of fun and I am glad that I was CHOSEN to come here and help my relationship become stronger with God and other people. I am learning a lot and the service events, Hear Its, and Concerts are a blast. I hope everyone is having a great time and I can't wait to come home and tell everyone that I know all about it.

Chosen Volunteers Include Trinity Members

The LCMS Youth Gathering could not happen without dedicated volunteers. God uses them in powerful ways, and the Gathering is blessed by their presence. We are very thankful to all of those who served in this capacity, but especially to our own Nanette Attkisson who served as a Community Life Leader, and Hannah Ronning who served as a Young Adult volunteer. Here they are hard at work - and maybe a little play.

Thy Strong Word Did Cleave the Darkness

Each morning we spend time in the Word with great Bible study leaders. Rev. Vic Belton led our study I Peter yesterday with around 1/3 of the whole group. Today we broke it into smaller studies of about 2500 people each. Powerful preachers with a powerful text provide a powerful look at the meaning of our being Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Young people are also giving testimonies about what our text means in their lives.

Parents if any of you are checking out the fun we are having in Orlando. Please leave comments that we can share amongst the group. Several of the youth participants have been posting entries. Your comments would really inspire those youth. Thanks!!

Sunday - A Day of Hope

Tonight we learned the meaning of hope...it was pretty neat. The music is really swell and the speakers are fantastic. There are a lot of people here and it is very hot except when it rains.-Andrew Ronning

The Jesus painter was amazing, he painted a giant picture of Jesus in 20 minutes, he also told gave us an awesome speech. He did 2 sand pictures for us at the mass event 20 seconds each. I met tons of nice people and its been nice out today.
Nathan Pouzou

The "hear it" thing was really fun especially the one called "Questions you can't ask your mama." The sand art at the mass event was pretty amazing. I have met a lot of people and played DDR. I was surprised they had it. It was pretty cool and I've been playing that in my spare time. I guess today has been a pretty fun day.
Jon Lucas

The Opening Service

Today was really fun...we all got to sleep in this morning so that was nice...then the day was pretty much spent resting and meeting other teens from other youth groups and state. The opening service was really cool. There was great music...and it was great to see thousands of people participating. There were some good messages at the service. Well this is just the beginning and we have a lot more fun ahead of us.
by: Kaleigh miller

We got to sleep in late today and enjoyed playing cards, listening to music, and talking amongst ourselves. Although the pool party was canceled due to lightning I still enjoyed hanging out with my friends and playing cards. Some of the kids colored their backpacks making unique designs that were appealing. The service was very interesting and I liked seeing the "Skit Guys" Eddie and Chris because they had a great sense of humor and I enjoyed their jokes. The music also that was played was very enjoyable and there were multiple instruments such as 2 keyboardist many vocalists and plenty of other sounds other than guitars as well. Hopefully I will be in for more of an unexpected treat than I have already experienced on this awesome trip.

by: Carl Dageforde

Today was our "store up your energy and get as much sleep as you can day," because all the other days we are expected to get limited sleep. We woke up, went to Golden Corral and then came back and caught up with our group and did the whole bonding thing. Tonight we went over to the Orange County Convention Center and participated in the grand opening night celebration. The singing was exceptional and the "Skit Guys" were humorous and entertaining. The whole service was intended to get you in the mood for the week and get us pumped for activities we were about to experience. The service ended and we went back to our hotel to a huge dance and our massive pool. We have already been meeting many people and i hope more are to come.
by: Joe Ireland

If you're a parent reading this - Your youth ROCK! They've been great at being on time, helpful, courteous and all around Awesome! Today was our local recreation day at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, with dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe The rain held off - so humidity only got up to around 90% - a breeze!

Groups are swarming in with tee-shirts from every state and a couple dozen countries as well. Beige backpacks are being distributed and by tomorrow night we'll LOOK like the LCMS National Youth Gahthering. Cant wait for it all to begin! Please be in prayer for the youth and adults who are here - as well as all who will be witnessed to by their presence. God is doing a mighty thing here. It kind of exciting that we won't now EXACTLY what, until the other side of eternity!

Arrival in Orlando

Today, Thursday July 26th we arrived in Orlando. We had a very pleasant flight. All 23 youth participants, 5 adult leaders and 2 gathering staff members are safely here in Orlando. We had a very busy day just moving the luggage youth participants and with one van running and many trips. We are very tired. At least this blogger is. We are having fun. Today we ended with everyone that is a table for 28 having dinner at the "House Of Blues" in the Disney Village Marketplace. It was alot of fun and amazing how they could accomodate so many people at once. There are many people here for vacation. Many other youths have also arrived and more should be here soon. Please see attached photos taken during this first day of arrival.