The 2012 Youth Gathering is upon us! Twenty-four high school students and five adult leaders will be departing for New Orleans, Louisiana on Tuesday, July 17 from Bethlehem Lutheran Church. We travel together with a group of fifteen from Geneva Lutheran Church as we share together in the mission and purpose of the Gathering to be "Citizens with the Saints."

Please check this blog each day for pictures and reactions from our high school students as they share their experiences here. The theme for the 2012 Youth Gathering can be summed up in the Sunday, July 22 text from Ephesians 2:14-20 (paraphrased here):

"Jesus is our peace. In his life and death on the cross, Jesus broke down the dividing walls so that we are no longer strangers and outsiders, but we are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God. The foundation of God's house was built of the apostles and prophets, and Jesus, the cornerstone, holds it all together."

Please hold these 35,000 student and adult disciples in your thoughts and prayers as they journey together to be "Citizens with the Saints" in the city of New Orleans.

--Aaron Shoppa, Director of Youth Ministries