Planning on attending the 2012 ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans?! Awesome! You will be among 38,000 youth and adults from across the country coming together to practice justice, discipleship and peacemaking through large group gatherings, service, worship and learning opportunities and so much more! We are here to help you get ready and completely psyched for this amazing experience, so read on:

Get Ready

Registration for the Gathering opens on Sunday, October 9 at 2 pm, and is done online! So gather your registration info for your group and you can enter that info online ahead of time so that on October 9, you only need to click on that Submit button and you're done. As for travelling to the Gathering, that's up to you how you want to get there, but there are several churches interested in sharing transportation. Let us know if your group would be interested in "cooperative travel" or if you already have travel plans and would like to share your bus/plane/train/helicopters...whatever!

Get Trained

Did you know the ELCA has launched the "Practice Discipleship: the ELCA Youth Ministry Training Project?!" It's a series of in-person seminars, online webinars and national youth worker gatherings to not only prepare you for the Gathering, but to train you in your ministry right here at home, right now! The Fall 2011 phase of the in-person seminars are happening at King of Kings, Liverpool on October 15, and as a part of the Youth Worker Training Event at Lake Chautauqua Lutheran Center on October 28-29. We'll add other dates if there is interest in areas we haven't covered yet. The online webinars are a series of 7 workshops happening on Sunday afternoons this fall and winter, and will repeat in 2012.

Get Gear...or better yet...design it!

You can go to www.oldlutheran.org now to shop online for advance Gathering "bling!" We are also having a contest to design a Synod t-shirt to wear at the Gathering! Here's how it works: Submit a design that incorporates some Upstate New York element(s), plays on the 2012 Gathering theme, and would be able to be printed in a single color. Submit design entries by December 31, 2011 to: 2012 Gathering T-shirt Designs, c/o NFCLYO, 55 Pleasant Ave., Lancaster, NY 14086 or to rick@nfclyo.org. The winning entry will be selected by January 15, and by February 1 we hope to have the final t-shirt ready to go for ordering for your group.

Get in Touch

There's a ton of resources to get info and be in touch with others about the 2012 Gathering!

On the Web: www.elca.org/gathering (the official Gathering website) Facebook: ELCA Youth Gathering page (official Facebook Gathering page)

Twitter: @elcagathering, or #cwts12 And...there's Synod-wide ways to stay connected with local people going...GREAT way to find out about travel opportunities!

Facebook: Upstate NY Synod National Youth Gathering 2012 Attendees group Upstate NY Synod National Youth Gathering (Adult Youth Leaders) group

Feel free to get in touch with either of us as well for all things Gathering:

Rick Mollenkopf-Grill, Synod Coordinator (for Gathering info and questions): (716) 465-1321 or rick@nfclyo.org

Pastor Justin Johnson, Synod Coach (for Training info and questions): (585) 243-4490 or sttimpastor@yahoo.com

Blessings and prayers as you prepare for next summer in New Orleans!

Submitted by Rick Mollenkopf-Grill