Bethel Connection: Youth Article for June 2009 Issue

Here's the text of what appeared in the June 2009 Issue of the Bethel Connection (monthly newsletter):

Counting Down to the Youth Gathering...

The school year is coming to a close and the high school students are ramping up for the national gathering in late July.

The 2009 Gathering, whose theme is "Jesus, Justice and Jazz," focuses on how God calls on us to help in redeeming the world.  In that vein, this is the first time that the Gathering is subcontracting all the buses specifically for local transportation to service events.  At previous gatherings, there were optional service opportunities; this year each participant will spend one of their three full Gathering days at a service project as part of rebuilding New Orleans from the damage of Hurricane Katrina.  One of the other two days will focus on Learning, and the other day will be in the Interaction Center.  All three days (Learning Day, Interaction Center Day, Servant Day) build upon each other, making for a very focused Gathering experience.

In addition to the Gathering programming, the St. Louis-area youth groups have planned some extra stuff:  on the way down we'll be visiting the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis (usually closed on Tuesdays but they'll open for 90 minutes just for us).  Also there will be a half-day trip to a Mississippi Beach to see some of the Katrina-ravaged coastline that still hasn't be rebuilt.  And we'll have one special dinner at Mulatte's, a local restaurant with authentic Cajun cuisine with live music and dancing.

The Bethel participants are:   Miriam Bohlmann Kunz, Scott Floerke, Daniel Gross, Amy Lee, David Owen, Carson Pryor, Haley Pryor, Genevieve Schmoeker, Karl Webster, Lilly Webster;  adult counselors are Pastor Rebecca Boardman, Pastor Todd Koch and Sherman Lee.

Look for more news about the Gathering in future Bethel Connections.  The Youth Group will also keep its website (http://bethel-ucity-youth.blogspot.com/, also available as a link from the Bethel Church home page) updated with news and planning.

In the meantime, here's one other special link, specifically for receiving donations to be used in New Orleans to buy supplies for the service projects.  Rather than have youth groups transport tools and equipment from their home cities, these donations help New Orleans rebuild their businesses:  http://archive.elca.org/scriptlib/DS/giving/youthgiving_gift.asp.  And you can use that link to explore other information at the Gathering's official web site.