Prefab walls for Habitat for Humanity
Hair donation for children
much fun just sharing the love of Christ with each other,” he said. “When the bands start and you look up and see [33,000] people doing the same thing you’re doing, the faith strengthens you. It’s an amazing feeling.” Copeland said he had goose bumps throughout the dome speeches and performances. Rachel Hansard, 16, of Coral Springs, Fla., experienced a similar feeling, saying she was impressed with the crowd during the speeches. “It was nice to see that when the speakers came up it would get silent because everyone was listening,” she said. Another popular activity was service projects. These included painting buildings, teaching children reading and writing, landscaping and helping in soup kitchens. Copeland said his activity was life-changing. His group traveled to a homeless shelter in the warehouse district of New Orleans. They listened to one of the shelter’s direc- tors describe her experience during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. “She saw terrible things, atrocities that happened. It was heartbreaking to hear,” Copeland said. “But the strength in her voice and the change that God provided in her life showed me that I always need to trust in God. That’s what the theme is for me here. It’s change, but it’s also trusting and loving like Jesus.” Hansard’s congregation spent the day with children from New Orleans, helping them with their studies and holding a face-painting party. “I was surprised how happy they were just to have something different,” she said. Copeland and Hansard agreed that if they could change one thing about the Youth Gathering, it would be to do more than one service project.
Ciulla said the projects encouraged young people to help out more in their hometowns.
Walking the labyrinth
yoga and a prayer labyrinth, as well as an interactive fun and learning area with sports, games, refreshments and informational activities.
Each night congregational groups, wearing differently colored and designed shirts, meandered to the Superdome. The stadium was the venue for more than 15 speakers and more than 10 performing artists. Youth heard emotional, powerful tales from speakers including Andrena Ingram, a pastor in Philadelphia, and Nadia Bolz-Weber, a pastor in Denver, about their journeys from constant life-changing hardships to lives of advocacy and faith. The headline musical performer was Grammy award-winning Christian rock band Switchfoot.
The time in the Superdome proved to be the favorite for many participants, including Joshua Copeland, 17, of Concord, N.C. “There’s everybody dancing and having so
16 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
Gathering participants said they felt proud to lend a helping hand to a city in need, but according to one long- time local business, hosting the gathering in New Orleans helps in more ways than the physical rebuilding process. “In the summertime, especially in the late summer, it gets really hot so [many] people don’t travel to New Orleans. They tend to come when it’s cooler,” said Cedric Meyer, salesman and fifth generation of a family owned hat store called Meyer The Hatter. “Having the foot traffic in the city is not only good for businesses but … good for the city itself to know it’s not completely dead.” The gathering was based around change and strength- ening faith, two things that hopefully go hand in hand. With the Lutheran throng lending a hand to New Orleans, making it a hub of activity for the week, change took place physically, mentally and spiritually. In three years the Youth Gathering will be held in Detroit, and if those who attend the next one have anything to say about it, change will likely happen again.
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