Saturday Questions

It's the last full day of the Gathering!

Q1 - After all the dancing in the #lutherdome, which of the six of you has the best moves?

Q2 - One of tonight's speakers quoted Gandhi's famous "be the change you wish to see in the world." How might you be an agent of change when you get home?

Q3 - Today's highlights?

Look for answers from our NOLA crew in the comments, below.

Questions for Friday

If you haven't already, I encourage new blog readers to check out the previously published posts.

Q1 - Write about your prayer experience earlier today.

Q2 - What experience in NOLA so far do you wish you could share with family and friends in Bozeman/Belgrade?

Q3 - What are you learning about yourself? How has your faith been stretched, grown, challenged this week?

Q4 - This one is for Ian and Kristin: What has most impressed you this week, about the Gathering? About the CtK group? About the work of God in the world?

practice peacemaking

we are in the middle of PRACTICE PEACEMAKING day - hooray!  mostly, we are all just pleased to be dry and comfortable.  after arriving at the convention center (CC), the monsoon sky opened up and has been pouring all day since.  this didn't effect us until we left the CC but at that point the effect was IMMEDIATE and lasted until we got home!

no lie, water was lifting manhole covers off the sidewalk (we almost lost Julian) and running 6 inches deep through streets.  i kept kicking water on everyone but they were so wet they didn't notice!

otherwise, worship this morning was, again, very energetic.  the auditorium had somewhere north of 1500 people, maybe 2000.  as the guy on stage queried states, we found out that MN, WI, PA, and VI were very well represented!  we, as in every person in the seats, also managed to get into an old school shouting contest back and forth:  WE LOVE JESUS YES WE DO, WE LOVE JESUS HOW ABOUT YOU!  imagine.  it was a spectacle.

after worship, we wandered through the peacemaking zones.  we spent some time praying, especially doing visual prayers with Post It notes, drawings, band aids and maps.  we also did some group communication challenges with the Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch.

now, off to get wet, try to grab some pizza, and get to the superdome.  right after we figure out what shoes to wear (all of ours are still soaked).

Wednesday Night Superdome Speaker

One of the speakers at the opening night of the ELCA Youth Gathering was Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber. Pastor Nadia is the founding pastor of House for All Sinners and Saints in Denver, Colorado. She is the author of "Salvation on the Small Screen? 24 Hours of Christian Television" (Seabury 2008) and blogs at www.sarcasticlutheran.com and Jim Wallis' www.Godspolitics.com. Her writings can be found in the Christian Century, The Lutheran magazine and Patheos.com. Nobody really believes she's an ordained pastor in the ELCA. Maybe it's the sleeve tattoos or the fact that she swears like a truck driver. Either way...she's fine with it. Nadia lives in Denver with her family of four where she can be found writing bios in the third person and chasing chickens around the backyard with her kids.

Here's what she had to say:

Questions for Thursday

In case you're just joining us, WELCOME! Each day I'll pose a few questions for the group in New Orleans to answer, which they will do in the comments section, below. Enjoy!

Q1 - What is the best thing you've eaten so far in New Orleans? What are you hoping to try before you head home?

Q2 - We read some of Ian's highlights in the previous post. What were your top three moments today?

Q3 - What's the funniest thing you've heard someone say since you arrived in New Orleans? Who said it?

And, in case you've somehow missed Courtney's original song, "Agape," here it is:

Siesta time, Day 1

Back in the hotel room chowing down some well-earned Arbys after a big morning of PRACTICING DISCIPLESHIP! We gathered with about 250 kids all from the MT synod for a morning of worship and small group learning.

From my perspective, the youth did a great job during worship. I would venture to guess that they displayed more enthusiasm during worship than our congregation really does. Although, you never know what Dave Scrupp would do if Lindean was up front doing actions along with hymnal verses. Heh heh. Also, highlight for us was the fact that I forced Courtney to share her talent with the room by playing her song, Agape, during communion.

This afternoon we will head out for our photo scavenger hunt that ties into our small group topics: Giving, Studying, Praying, Inviting, Worshiping, Encouraging, and Serving. Then on to the Superdome! Tonight is the night we get a chance to be on the floor so the group is very excited about that.

Other random observations:
There is no truly cold water here, not even in the shower.

Minnie is really good at typing on ANY keyboard.

You can't fall over that railing with that wristband. (We all have gold wristbands there are also green and purple. Imagine the attempts made to keep all 38,000 participants sorted and moving in the right direction!)

First Impressions

Usually, when CtK's high school youth go off on a big trip, I send a spiral notebook with them, in which I've written a couple of questions for each day. Since the last thing our group needed was more stuff to pack in their carry-ons, this time around I'll pose a question or two here on the blog, and then the youth (and adults, too, if they want!) will answer them in the comments. And, even if you're not Ian, Kristin, Robert, Courtney, Julian or Minnie, if you want to pipe in, feel free!

Q#1 - What were your first impressions of New Orleans as you rode into town from the airport?

Q#2 - What were your first impressions when you got into the SuperDome tonight for the opening of the Gathering? What was great? What was surprising?

Q#3 - What are you most looking forward to for tomorrow?