2009 Youth Gathering: Day 2

We made it to New Orleans, and the Youth Gathering activities have officially begun!

Before we get to today’s video, I wanted to make you all aware that the big evening events happening in the Superdome are being live streamed over the internet, so you can watch what’s happening here in the comfort of your own home! Just click here and you’ll be taken to the live stream page, which has information on when the stream will commence.

Thanks for all your comments yesterday… The youth love them! Enjoy the video and please leave more comments!

Oh, and don’t forget to keep up with our Twitter feed…

2009 Youth Gathering: Day 1

Day one is officially in the books! All told, we traveled 717 miles from St. Mark to our hotel in Memphis, Tennessee.

The highlight of the day was without a doubt the meal we ate together at Corky’s Ribs & BBQ. It was our first true taste of southern cuisine, complete with BBQ pork, hushpuppies, and real sweet tea. The group got their fill and are now resting up in preparation for our first day in New Orleans and the beginning of the 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering!

Enjoy today’s video, and please feel free to leave a comment when you’re finished!:

And finally, a reminder to keep tabs on our Twitter account throughout the week, and if you’d like a general idea of what we’re doing and when we’re doing it, check out the Youth Gathering’s daily schedule by clicking here.

How to share in our Youth Gathering experience

Under twelve hours until our 24 students and 6 adults depart for New Orleans, LA for the ELCA Youth Gathering! Although you won’t be physically with us as we participate in Jesus, Justice, Jazz, we want to provide ways for you to share in our experiences. Here’s how you can:

Scripture and prayer

All of our youth and adults have been provided with journals to help us digest and reflect upon our time in the “Big Easy”. We’re given a small piece of scripture every day to use as a springboard for our thoughts and reflections. You’ll find the scripture schedule below; I heartily encourage you to join in our scripture reading AND to pray with and for our students and leaders (and the rest of the 37,000 youth and leaders in New Orleans this week!).

Tuesday: Psalm 25:4-5

Wednesday: Mark 8:27-29

Thursday: Philippians 2:1-8

Friday: Micah 6:8

Saturday: Proverbs 14:31

Sunday: John 6:5-13

Blog and email updates

If you’re reading this, you’re in the right spot! There will be a new post here every day of our journey, beginning Wednesday with quick, written updates and videos. Two things you need to know:

(1) At the bottom of every post, there’s a link with the phrase “Leave a comment” or “[Insert # here] comments”. Click this link to leave the group a message. We gather as a group every evening to read all of the previous days’ comments out loud. You have no idea how much they’re appreciated!

(2) If you wish, you can receive these updates via email! You’ll receive an email every morning with the newest post, and you can even forward it to your friends and family. Click this link to sign up for email updates.

Twitter

Several of our leaders and at least three of our high school seniors will be sending frequent updates to St. Mark Youth Ministry’s very own Twitter account. This is a great way for you to follow along with our journey in real-time throughout the days and evenings this week.

You don’t need a Twitter account to see the updates, so don’t worry if you don’t “get” Twitter. You don’t need to! Just click this link, bookmark the page, and check back often!

YouTube

You’ll have no problem watching all of our videos right here on this blog, but if you’re interested, St. Mark Youth Ministries has its own YouTube page. Check it out!

Flickr

Since the beginning of time, any pictures of our youth ministry events have made their way to our Flickr page. We may be too consumed with video filming/editing/uploading to bother with the hundreds of pictures we’ll no doubt be taking, but you can check the SMYouth Flickr account periodically (just in case) by clicking here.

Guys’ baseball trip hits a home run!

The ELCA Youth Gathering might be getting all the attention this summer, but those involved with St. Mark Youth Ministries have been busy with other activities as well!

During the second week of July, St. Mark Youth Ministries staff and leaders enjoyed two days of baseball in Chicago with four of our awesome high school guys. We saw a Cubs/Braves game at Wrigley Field and a White Sox/Indians game at U.S. Cellular the next day, all while managing to squeeze in a trip to the Sears Tower!

Check out the video highlights below:

Summer with Eikon!

Another year of school is in the books, but that doesn’t mean that the St. Mark high school ministry is in hibernation until the fall! Here’s what’ll be happening this summer:

Summer Book Study

This summer, we’ll be reading and discussing a book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. We will be gathering every week to hang out and discuss what we’ve read.

Meetings will be every Thursday at 1:00pm in the St. Mark youth lounge, beginning June 11th and ending August 13th. We will not meet on July 23 because of the National Youth Gathering.

Students will be responsible for acquiring their own copy of the book, which retails for $13.99, and can be purchased from most bookstores, including Border’s, Barnes & Noble, Parable, and Family Christian Books.

Please let me know if you plan on participating by contacting me at jake@stmarkwdm.org or (515) 210-3510.

House Parties

If summer is good for anything, it’s parties! Three times throughout the summer, all high school students are invited to attend house parties hosted by families of high school students. There will be food and beverages, and we’ll be playing games and just hanging out with one another. Listed below are the dates of the house parties:

• Sunday, June 21, 7 – 10pm at the Seemann’s
• Sunday, July 12, 7 – 10pm at the Nelson’s
• Sunday, August 16, 7 – 10pm at the Madsen’s

Coffee Tuesdays with Andrew

Every Tuesday afternoon from 2 – 4pm our new intern Andrew Karrmann will be camped out at Scooter’s Coffeehouse on 63rd and Grand. You’re encouraged to stop in at any time to enjoy conversation over coffee, tea, or smoothie (they’re the best). If it’s Tuesday afternoon, Andrew will be there… and we hope you will be too!

We look forward to seeing you around this summer!

Introducing our summer intern!

As the youth ministry at St. Mark grows, we’re constantly looking for ways to develop the ministry and to equip others for service. Accordingly, we recently hired St. Mark member (and former youth) Andrew Karrmann as a summer youth ministry intern. I’m excited about the possibilities before us, and I’d like Andrew to share some background on himself below.

My name is Andrew Karrmann, and I just started a new and exciting part of my life. I recently changed my major from Mechanical Engineering to Classics and Religious Studies in my quest to become a youth minister. What better place for me to begin my journey than the place where I spent a large part of my childhood, St. Mark Lutheran Church, as a Youth Ministry Intern.

I’ve been a member of St. Mark since birth. I was baptized, received my first Bible, took my first communion, and was confirmed at St. Mark. While I was attending St. Mark, I was very active in the youth group. I went on four summer trips with the youth group, including the 2006 ELCA Youth Gathering in San Antonio, Texas. Apart from the youth group, I was a member of the Choir, Band, Bell Choir, and was the High School Representative for Church Council. I participated in every church musical and most of the Vacation Bible Schools during my time at St. Mark.

Outside of St. Mark I attended Theodore Roosevelt High School on the west side of Des Moines. There I participated in Band, Jazz Band, Choir, and Show Choir. I was also a varsity letter winner in wrestling and baseball, and participated in cross country and football. Currently I am a student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where I am a member of the Club Baseball team. I was also recently elected to the position of Philanthropy Chair for the Gamma Beta chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha.

I look forward to the next few months when I will get the chance to grow in faith, share Jesus Christ, and serve others alongside the youth of St. Mark Lutheran Church.