Another crowd of young Lutherans-Eight hundred and three-enveloped St. Louis University this past week for one of the three Higher Things conferences this summer.  At our seminary booth this exuberant group had the opportunity, as at the Poconos conference, to decorate their already CTS logo-laden backpacks, sign up for the Amazon.com Gift Card drawing, and take home sundry CTS items, especially our packaged catechism posters.

This round, however, we brought a friend with us. As soon as the youth met him, like frenzied fans, they wanted to take pictures of him and with him. And take pictures they did! Decked out in a “Dare to be Lutheran” t-shirt, Dr. Martin Luther joined us for the festivities- and happily stood by the youth to ham it up for the camera.

Along with Luther, we brought a television that displayed various pictures of Concordia Theological Seminary; and after a few days of snapping shots of the youth at the Higher Things Conference, we put their pictures up on the tv, too. It was quite the active booth; and we-Rev. Cholak and myself, well…were compelled to match their energy!

All in all it was another wonderful conference, filled with great people, youth and adults alike. The chapel at St. Louis University was absolutely magnificent, too. Our very own Kantor Resch accompanied the youth choir on the organ, which only added to the transcendent quality of the the chapel services. It truly lived up to the organization’s name, “Higher Things,” in which the youth could receive and focus on the gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation that God brings to us in His Holy Word and Sacraments through Christ Jesus our Lord. As God faithfully promises to transform our lives in the Gospel, I am confident that this conference aided in bringing the Gospel to the youth and giving them a firm foundation on which to live and see how God works in the world and in their respective home congregations. They learned (and relearned) that through water, bread, wine and Word, God reveals Himself, works faith, and makes us His own in Jesus Christ. What a blessing to behold with so many young people! Amen!