I just returned from the FOR YOU Higher Things conference in MN. It was an awesome conference. I learned so much, as did all 1191 attendees. The worship was incomparable to anything else on the planet. Nearly 1200 Lutherans singing the liturgy and such hymns as “At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing” and “Salvation Unto Us Has Come” is truly magnificent. What follows is a brief account of the conference as experienced by me.
Day 1: Tuesday
I had arrived on Monday, so I woke up in my dorm room Tuesday morning. In the morning, I helped with various things until Divine Service. All of the services were held in the Ted Mann Concert Center, an auditorium with two levels of balconies. The pastors and staff of HT did a beautiful job turning this concert center into a fitting place of worship. I met up with Paul and Andrew Gehlbach, and their mom (who are all really cool) shortly before the service. We then proceeded to what would become our usual seats: On the right side of the concert hall, on the second-floor balcony, close to the altar. We sat in this same group of seats for all but two services.
Divine Service was wonderful. Words cannot convey the sheer beauty and the sheer awesomeness of 1200 Lutherans singing hymns and the liturgy, and being served communion by eleven pastors (8 pastors serving communion, 2 pastors carrying chalices to be refilled, and 1 pastor refilling chalices). The very thought of contemporary worship seems vulgar in comparison to the beauty of the Divine Service.
Paul, Andrew, and I then went to the first of three classes of our in-depth sectional: “Ancient Regurgitations: Countering the Cults,” taught by Rev. Scott Stiegemeyer. Rev. Stiegemeyer gave a wonderful presentation on Mormonism. Unfortunately, I was unable to take many notes because the lights were turned off so that everybody could see the PowerPoint presentation.
Everybody was divided into either Red group or Blue group, since the dining hall couldn’t handle all of us at once. The Gehlbachs and I were in blue group, so we went to eat dinner while the red group went to their first breakaway session. The food was quite good for cafeteria food. I believe it was this night that they served lasagna (though I may be wrong). The lasagna was quite good.
After dinner, we went to Breakaway A. We all attended “Can a Christian be a Soldier,” by Rev. Rob Jarvis, a great guy who did an excellent job leading the CCVs (and a group of runners at 6:15 every morning). I didn’t take notes at this sectional. Rev. Jarvis taught vocation: Fighting for his country is the vocation of a soldier, and it is not part of his vocation for him to decide whether the cause for which he is fighting is just, since he may not know as many facts about the war as those who give him his orders.
We then went to Plenary 1, taught by Rev. Todd Wilken, host of Issues Etc. Rev. Wilken’s main point was that anybody can die on a cross. Death by crucifixion is not significant in and of itself. What is significant is that Jesus died FOR YOU. Look up the word “for” in the dictionary. Only one of the numerous definitions listed should be used in the phrase “FOR YOU.” That definition, Rev. Wilken said, was “in the place of.” Christ died “In the place of you.” He died “FOR YOU.”
We next went to evening prayer. It was as beautiful as the Divine Service. Everything I said about the Divine Service pretty much applies to this service as well, and indeed, to all the services. They were all beautiful, and all remarkable.
After this beautiful service, The Gehlbachs and I met up with the other MHers outside of the concert hall. Zeke Bartlett (a really cool kid) was there, as were Maggie Rhein, Anna & Erik Horner, Christopher Harman, and a couple other people whose names escape me at the moment. We also bumped into Alex (Chief of Sinners on the HT forums).
I had known that Alex was coming to this conference, but I hadn’t expected to meet him. I am really glad that I did meet him. He is such a cool kid. He wrote a liturgical hymn for a creative writing assignment for school. How cool is that? He is confessional to the core and is determined to be a pastor. I can’t wait to hear him preach once he is ordained. He will be a jewel among confessional pastors.
We all hung out in the concert building until it had to be locked. We then went across the street to Middlebrook Hall, the dorm where most conference people were staying. We hung out there and had a ton of fun. The Gehlbachs, Alex, and I were staying in Centennial Hall, which was about a 15-25 minute walk from Middlebrook. Fortunately, my group leader had a car and a parking pass for both locations, so she drove us all to Centennial. Paul, Andrew, and I each had a room with only one bed. Paul and Andrew were directly across the hall from me. We got to bed around midnight, and slept the sweet sleep of the conference attendee.