Over the course of four weeks in June and July, more than 45 youth and adults from the IDE participated in TWELVE, the 2012 Higher Things conferences. Higher Things is an RSO of the LCMS and has been putting on conferences, publishing a magazine and daring youth to be Lutheran for 12 years.
Last summer's conferences were held in Winston-Salem, NC at Wake Forest University; Maryville, MO at Northwest Missouri State University; Irvine, CA at Concordia University; and St. Catharines, ON at Brock University/St. Catharines Seminary. Over 1900 people worshipped, worked and played together while learning about the church here and triumphant. The Lord does twelves, or so we heard. Twelve tribes of Israel; twelve apostles; and twelve by twelve by a thousand in Revelation. When the Lord does twelve, the Lord saves.
We also worshipped four times a day with the historic church in the services of Matins, Vespers, Evening Prayer and Compline. As if that couldn't get better, we communed with the church triumphant during a Divine Service to both open and close the conference.
All of the work we did earned us a little free time to play. There were bouncy houses, comedians, scavenger hunts, square dances, trips to the Pacific Ocean and Niagara Falls, and more. No one knows how to have a good time better than Lutheran youth!
The conferences for 2013 will be under the theme of From Above. They will be in Scranton, PA at the University of Scranton; West Lafayette, IN at Purdue University; and Tacoma, WA at Pacific Lutheran University. Check out fromabove2013.org for more information. Registration opens November 1st!
Crysten Sanchez
Director of Family Life Ministry
St. Paul Lutheran Church
Mount Vernon, Iowa
319-895-8772
Cell - 319-389-0105
