The Gathering
High School Youth Gathering for Grades 9-12

July 29 - August 1, 2008
Anaheim, CA Hilton Hotel and Anaheim Convention Center

Theme: WIRED: Live Connected
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge God, and your paths will be made straight” Proverbs 3:5-6

Imagine... Dynamic Speakers, Inspiring Music, Engaging Workshops, Hotel Night Life at its best, Servant Projects, access to fun in Southern California.

Get ready to experience Hotel Nightlife “California Style” where the fun is endless…
Live”wired” concerts featuring Agape & Kendall Payne, WSYG Idol, Battle of the Bands, DJ dances …Karaoke...Coffe House... Inflatables.. Games..Airbrush Tattoo’s... Stackers..Indoor Beach Volleyball.... Improv Comedy Show... and MUCH more. You'll have to see it to believe it!


Descriptions for Mass Gathering Themes

Mass Gathering 1, July 29, pm: How are you Wired?
Psalm 139:13-14b "For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

Do you ever wonder what makes you run? What makes you get out of bed in the morning, go to school, go to practice, do your homework, do your chores, hang out with your friends and family, and get up the next day and do it all over again? Where do you find the energy?

Sometimes it’s really easy to get down on yourself too when the routine gets to be too much. Maybe your grades have started slipping, or your performance level drops, or maybe your parents start bugging you about needing to spend more “quality time” together as a family, or maybe you just don’t care about any of that stuff anymore and just feel like you need a break. Well, the truth is that no one is perfect. No one can juggle all of the responsibilities that teenagers carry without dropping the ball every now and then. Mistakes are a part of life, no matter how hard we try to avoid making them. But then why do we feel so stupid when we do make them?

A mentor of mine once said that it’s not that she has rid herself of her flaws, it’s just that she’s learned to make friends with them. I think what she meant was that she had learned to accept and even love the parts of herself that are less than perfect. God made you the way that you are—flaws and all. Yet, as the psalm-writer says, we are still “fearfully and wonderfully made,” we are formed and created by God to be the people we are and to serve with the gifts that God gave us in the first place.


Mass Gathering 2, July 30, am: Connected to God
John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”

We live in a culture that is centered around the latest technology. When I was in junior high, the coolest thing to do was IM your friends on AOL. That was the latest technology. I would come home every day from school and run straight up to the computer room, turn on the computer, and wait for the dial-up modem. It took forever! I would have to sit there for whole minutes, waiting to hear that beep-beep, followed by those other beeps, and then that really long fuzzy noise (kkkhhhhhh), then my screen would open up and I would wait to hear that greatly anticipated phrase, “you’ve got mail.” Then I would spend hours IMing my friends saying deep, insightful things like, “Hey.” “What are you doing?” “Nothing, what are you doing?” And get this, my parents had to pay for that by the minute! It would have been faster and cheaper just to call them on my awesome red phone that was shaped like a Ferrari. But it wasn’t as cool, because IMing was new, which somehow made it better in my eyes.

Well today we can communicate with people almost instantly with texting. Instead of having to wait for the dial-up modem, we can just take out our cell-phones, write something like, “Hey, what’s up?” and our friends will instantaneously receive our brilliant messages.

Well, you don’t need cell phones, or text messages, or even the old dial-up modems to connect with your Creator. Because we already have a hard-wired, never-failing, deep-rooted connection through Christ. In our passage for today, Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” Like branches on a vine, the very core of who we are is fed by this connection. All that we need is pumped into us by this vine of life. We have an open, crystal clear connection with our Lord all of the time.


Mass Gathering 3, July 30 pm: Your Network
Luke 5:17ff: 17 One day, while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting near by (they had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem); and the power of the Lord was with him to heal.18 Just then some men came, carrying a paralyzed man on a bed. They were trying to bring him in and lay him before Jesus;19 but finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus. 20 When he saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven you."

Who are the most important people in your life? Take a second to think about it. Who do you rely on? Who relies on you? Who are the people you call when you have great news? Who are the people you call when something goes wrong? Who are the people you let see your 2nd grade picture, you know the one where you have the really weird perm, a retainer, and the ugly green sweater vest with puppies on it? (Don’t laugh, I looked cute in that vest!) Those people are your network. Just like a cell phone with in-network calling, God has gifted each of us with an in-network of people, family, friends, and fellow Christians, who support us and love us just the way we are—free of charge. In the church we call that the “body of Christ.”

In the story for today, the paralyzed man is brought to Jesus by his friends—his very persistent friends. These friends, when they see how hard it will be to bring him to Jesus, carry this paralyzed man up to the roof and proceed to lower him down through a hole in the roof to place him at Jesus’ feet. In other words, they are willing to work pretty hard, trusting that Jesus is what their paralyzed friend needs to be healed. It is their faith that Jesus recognizes and it is because of their faith that the paralyzed man walks again. Do you have people in your life who have helped to deliver you to the feet of Jesus? Are there people in your network who need the healing that can only come through faith in Christ? How willing are you to open up your network to others who might be searching for God?


Mass Gathering 4, July 31 am/afternoon: World Wide Web
Gen 9:12-17: 12 God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." 17 God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."

Take a moment to imagine what it must have been like for Noah and his family, after over a month of raining and many more months of floating around in this big boat with all these smelly animals and nothing but crusty old bread to eat, take a moment to imagine what it must have felt like for him take that first step back onto solid ground. It’s probably pretty safe to assume that Noah fell to the ground and kissed, maybe he found some rocks and hugged them, maybe he gave a few tree branches a high five. Imagine how thankful he and everyone on the Ark must have been that day when they were reunited with the earth. And to top it all off, God then made a promise to Noah to never again cover the earth with water. God promised to see the rainbow and remember the covenant that was made with all of creation, every living thing, to protect the world and all that is in it. This is the covenant that God has made with all that lives on this earth.

We live in a pretty amazing world. There are so many different kinds of people with incredible gifts, cultures, and histories. There are so many different species of animals and wildlife. For instance did you know that there are 40,000 different kinds of spiders documented around the world? That’s a lot of spiders, and that’s only the species that we know about. God has given us a truly beautiful and diverse creation, a creation that God has asked us to cherish and respect, a creation that we are in covenant with God to protect. The earth is the true and original World Wide Web. It began with a promise and is sustained with a promise that stems from its Creator. And we get the privilege of living into and sharing that promise through Jesus’ command to love ALL of our neighbors (even the spiders).


Mass Gathering 5, Aug 1 am: Viral Faith
Mark 16:15: And Jesus said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.”

In the world of YouTube anyone can be famous—at least for a minute or two. Videos of skate-boarding bulldogs, kids running through wood fences, and local rock bands dancing on treadmills go from homemade to world famous overnight through the internet. It’s a phenomenon called “viral videos.” These videos, pretty much just through word of mouth, spread like a virus from computer screen to computer screen. Apparently all you need is a goofy idea and a webcam to make yourself a star on YouTube and the news can travel fast.

Well, as Christians we are called to share the news of the gospel like it’s the latest, most amazing viral video. We are called by God to live out the gospel and share our faith with others with the same excitement that we share a viral video. As this passage from Mark says, Jesus calls us like he called the first to disciples to “proclaim to good news to the whole creation.” Not just with our mouths, but also with our hearts, minds, and actions too. This really smart guy named Saint Francis of Assisi once said, “Preach the gospel at all times, when necessary use words.” That’s what being a disciple is all about. This journey of faith began the day you were baptized when God claimed you as God’s own and you were marked with the cross of Christ. You carry that mark of the cross with you all the time, go ahead and share it. Live boldly with viral faith!