As most of you know, Higher Things had not one, not two, but three amazing Amen Conferences this year. Three Conferences all across the country, from Scranton, PN to St. Louis, MO to Irvine California. I was blessed with being able to attend both the one in Scranton and the one in St. Louis.
Higher Things Conferences are an awesome opportunity for hundreds of youth to join with other Lutherans and hear some amazing catechesis, join together in worship and receive the Body and Blood of Christ, and have tons of fun!
So, I'd just like to take some time and blog space to thank some of the people who made the Amen 2008 Conferences great!
Some of these amazing people are: Sandra Ostapowich (aka. Madre) who was the Conference Coordinator for all three conferences this year.
Pastor Borghardt who is the Conferences Executive and keeps these conferences coming each year. This year he also served as a plenary speaker and delivered some great catechesis (and funny stories here and there too).
His assistant, Lynea. Who does all the things that Borghardt forgets to do. And of course makes sure there is an ample supply of Diet Coke on hand. She also was nice enough to come and pick me up from the Train station in St. Louis!
Sue the Registrar who gets to make sure that everything with regestration runs smoothly!
Gina the housing coordinator. She's the one who gets to make sure that we all have places to sleep after a long conference day! (Look for her next year! She's the Coordinator for the Sola Conferences)
Stan "The Lemon" - He keeps everything running smoothly on the technology end. He taught some sectionals this year this well.
Pr. Buetow was the other catechist this year. Apart from delivering the Gospel to us all, he kept the conference staff laughing and made sure that The Lemon didn't cause trouble.
Landon Reed drove things! He drove a truck from Conference to Conference transporting everything that needed to be moved. He drove a rental car to Walmart.. well eventually we got to Walmart. And he also drove the HT Mobile (the golf cart pictured above with people on it).
All those who helped with Worship at each of the Conferences!
And the CCV's and the CCV managers at each of the conferences. The Staff really appreciates the help that the CCVs give!
I could go on and on, but these are many of the people who really make the Conferences a success!
I love Bach. The name of my Fish is Johann. I asked for the complete works of Bach on CD as a High School Graduation present. Look at him; He even looks awesome!
Today, on the anniversary of his death we commemorate the life and work of Bach. (You can find all these cool commemoration days and more at www.sanctus.org.)
Like Pr. Weedon, I'm gonna steal the snippet from the LCMS website too:
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) is acknowledged as one of the most famous and gifted of all composers past and present in the entire western world. Orphaned at the age of ten, Bach was mostly self-taught in music. His professional life as conductor, performer, composer, teacher, and organ consultant began at the age of 19 in the town of Arnstadt and ended in Leipzig, where for the last 27 years of his life he was responsible for all the music in the city's four Lutheran churches. In addition to his being a superb keyboard artist, the genius and bulk of Bach's vocal and instrumental compositions remain overwhelming. A devout and devoted Lutheran, he is especially honored in Christendom for his lifelong insistence that his music was written primarily for the liturgical life of the church to glorify God and edify his people.
We are coming to the close of the third day of Amen - Poconos. It brings one question to mind. What do you get when you mix 3 worship services a day, some amazing catechesis, tons of fun, and one too many cans of Diet Coke?
You get the Higher Things Webmaster, Conference Executive and Internet Service Executive singing Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody during Karaoke!
And of course there was head banging at the guitar solo!
I love Bach. The name of my Fish is Johann. I asked for the complete works of Bach on CD as a High School Graduation present. Look at him; He even looks awesome!
