The Gathering: July 16-23, 2012
Questions?
Contact Jeff Greathouse 842-5649 x 223 or jgreathouse@christthesavior.org
Partnership
We will be partnering with the Indianapolis Youth Coalition. The coalition is a group of ELCA churches in central Indiana. We will be traveling together, staying in the same hotel together. We will also be having 3 pre-gathering events together.
Eligibility
Any teenager going into ninth, tenth, eleventh or twelfth grade or having just graduated from high school at the time of the Gathering is eligible to register as part of a congregational group. All registrants should be members or guests of ELCA congregations.
Why This Year?
The Gatering only occurs every three years. Thus, the next one will not be till 2015. We do not want our high school students to miss out on this opportunity.
The Dates
We will depart late afternoon / early evening July 16th from one of the central-Indiana churches. We will arrive back at the same church early Monday morning the 23rd.
Registration Deadline
We need to have the registration forms into us by Sunday, September 4th, which is Labor Day weekend. We, as a church need to have the forms into the Coalition by the September 8th meeting. So, they can process all the paper work and have it ready to be sent in.
Transportation
We will be traveling there and back on coaches. We will be going with other ELCA churches that are part of the Indianapolis Youth Coalition.
Housing We will be staying in hotels in New Orleans. Our exact hotel will not be known till early February. This year, the Gathering will be attempting to place all churches in the same synod in the same hotels and hotel blocks.
Food
We will be on our own for food. There are hundreds of restaurants in walking distance. There will also be vendors outside of the convention center. We will decide, as a team, how we will do our meals. Sitting down and having one nice NOLA meal a day will make the trip more enjoyable.
Participation
As a team, we will be doing numerous fundraisers (Scripts card, Pancake Breakfast, and Wednesday night meals). We will also have three pre-gathering events with the Coalition (October 30th, January 29th, and April 29th). We will also have six getting ready meetings for our team (one a month: January – June).
Our Schedule
Monday: Late afternoon, we will meet at the church and travel to our “launch site”. We will load the bus and travel through the night to NOLA.
Tuesday: We will arrive in NOLA. We will check into the hotel and have our “free day”. Some of the possibilities include: alligator farm, Mardi-Gras museum, the beach, or a tour of NOLA.
Wednesday: Walk to Jackson Square (Café Du Monde). Explore the city on the way to convention center. Register. Check out the Interactive Center. Walk to the Superdome for the evening session.
Thursday – Saturday: The convention will be broken up into 3 groups of 13,000 individuals. One day, we will focus on Discipleship. One day, we will focus on Peacemaking and one day, we will focus on Justice. Each evening concludes with all 39,000 worshipping and learning in the Superdome.
Sunday: Closing worship service with communion. Load the buses and head home.
Monday: Arrive back early Monday morning.
The Cost
The estimated cost of the trip without fundraisers would be $900. We are expecting this to be significantly lower with our fundraisers. For example, if we raise $ 6,000 and have 20 participants, the cost goes down to $ 600 immediately.
Deposit of $ 150 by September 4th. The exact cost of trip and rest of payment: winter/spring/summer payment will be determined by number of participants and our projected fundraising goals. Individual fundraising will also be available.
Here is a breakdown of the cost.
Registration & Tshirt - $ 325, Hotel per person - $ 200 (5 nights), Coach per person - $ 150, Free Day Activity - $ 25, Food - $ 200 (all meals and vendors)
Pictures & Videos
We showed pictures and videos from the 2009 Gathering. Take a look at these links to get you a feel for them.
Pictures: http://gatheringpics.elca.org/Youth-Gathering-New-Orleans
Videos: http://www.elca.org/Growing-In-Faith/Ministry/Youth-Ministry/Youth-Gathering/2009-Youth-Gathering.aspx