Why the Youth Gathering matters

OK, I admit it, I was not in favor of doing the 2015 ELCA Youth Gathering in Detroit.

Gasp! I know, I know.

The main reason we did the Gathering is because Sam was about ready to beat me if we didn't and because we wanted to keep our commitment to doing things with the rest of the county (and they were pretty set on the Youth Gathering). Still, I had my reservations: Can we really justify spending more money for a glorified party than we do for boots-on-the-ground mission trips? Will the youth really get more out of this than they do from service?

Well, I'm happy to say that I was 100% completely wrong. And here's why:

Our group with Bishop Larry

#1- The energy is catchy
 By the end of most mission trips we're all so exhausted that we go home and have to completely decompress for several days. Well, that might happen with this trip, too, but I feel different after this one and I think others do, too. There's a kind of emotional high that carries beyond the music and the speakers and the 30,000 people in one place. It's electric but, more importantly, catchy. It's hard to come away from this feeling anything but inspired to figure out what we can do back home to rise up together again.

Which brings me to...
#2- It leaves things open-ended
As it turns out, my wife's mission trip next week needed a spot filled when I got back home, so I sent word to all our youth on the off-chance that any of them would want that spot. This was mere hours after getting off the bus from Detroit. No way, I thought, that any would take us up on the offer. An hour later I had heard from three of them. All wanted it. All wanted to go and serve in South Dakota with barely a chance to catch their collective breaths from this week. The Gathering primed them for service. It didn't discourage it and it didn't leave us so taxed that it would feel like a burden. It inspired us to greater service.

And lastly...
#3- It's about Jesus
I should probably learn to never doubt something that has God at its very core. When Pr. Steve Jerbi,  in his Friday evening talk about racism and the loss of a young black boy in his congregation, crescendoed a rousing refrain of "We claim Jesus," it became obvious that this Youth Gathering offered a narrative that is too often absent from our public discourse. Speaker after speaker inspired, yes, but offered a word deeply rooted in the good news of Jesus Christ. This was more than experiential; more than visceral; more than Skillet concerts, inspiring speakers, and Agape rapping; more even than 30,000 people and an experience of togetherness too often absent from our lives as Christians. This was incarnational, Christ-centered; this was Jesus-heavy, Gospel-heavy, promise-heavy. And Jesus-centered time will always be fruitful.

So, I confess I was wrong. This was worth it. Very worth it. It left me a better person. And I hope it did the same for you.