May the fruit we bear be Christ/ May the harvest be ripe./ Oh the fruit won’t fall so far from the tree,/Abide in you, abide in me./ And the Father is glorified,/May the fruit we bear be Christ.
“I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. …You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide …” –John 15:1-5; 16a–
“I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” –John 4:35b–
At 5:30 am, Friday morning, my alarm went off across the room. Groggily, I got out of bed and turned it off. I then proceeded to the shower, trying not to disturb my roomates. When I was through showering, I dressed in orange and headed to breakfast. Whent the doors opened, the line looked like a giant snake, for everyone had decided to be responsible and make sure they got some food. As I glanced up and down to figure out how long I would have to wait, I spotted Lyndsey and tried to figure out where she was sitting. We had planned to meet at 6 or 6:30 to discuss the day’s events and to get to know one another better. Once finished with breakfast, we headed over to the convention center to meet up with the rest of our team.
We went through another devotion, highs and lows, and broke off into groups and did some more of the Pre-Gathering Bible Study. Upon returning to Room 208, we received our T-Shirts! They were bright orange, with blue text in the upper left corner of the chest. Once the morning session had ended we all proceeded down to La Louisianne where we met the Community Life Builders (Older versions of YAVs), and ate a fabulous lunch of cajun cuisine (thankfully, without crawfish – I’m allergic). At my table I met a pastor from Wisconsin and two YAVS from Concordia-Nebraska. They were highly energetic and enthusiastically advertised the school once I shared I was interested in professional church work. While in line to get my food, I spotted Dr. Craig Oldenburg, director of Mt. Cross Lutheran camp in California. I met Dr. Oldenburg at the 2010 LCMS Youth Ministry Symposium and I participated in one of his exercises as “Truth”. If you haven’t met this guy, he is one of the most awesome, passionate men you will ever meet and does his job well. We caught up a little bit and then I stepped back in line. When the devotion began, I left early to take care of a few things back home.
Quietly, I stepped through the door of La Louisianne Ballroom. I had to run back to the hotel. Once through, a shocking sight appeared before my eyes: A sea of lime green backpacks attached to hundreds of high school students. The invasion had begun! The realization hit me like a car hitting a wall: It’s already here! NYG has started! Though no mass events had taken place, no sessions had been attended, the fact that there were hundreds of lime green back packs sitting in the convention center with buses pulling in outside showed that ready or not, the gathering had begun! Others in Team OSCAR had similar experiences as they flew in on Thursday. Their planes were littered with teenagers in colored shirts proudly representing their churches, excited to be going to an event which many had heard about and dreamed of attending for a long time. The Spirit was moving and it was time to get ready to harvest.
Why do I say harvest? Because many of these kids had questions. Many of these kids came from broken homes. Many of these kids felt shame. Many of these kids only believed what they believed because their parents believed it. They came because God called them there to learn what they believed. By learning what they believed, questions would be answered, hearts would be healed and faith would become authentic and real. It was our task as YAVs to help serve these youth and reflect Christ’s light through our actions and words. There was no way around it. These kids would be looking at us. We wore bright orange shirts, so it was time to wake up and look around and get ready to bring in the crops.
After that, I felt and saw the Spirit move in all sorts of ways. Our team continued to mesh and gel. There was not a single person I could see who was off in their own world or personalities that really conflicted. Not only that, but as we were heading to our Usher captain training at the Superdome, no one became upset when we got lost. I personally was anxious, because I was the one who told everyone to go to gate G. Instead, we had a great time, met some of the security guards, and eventually found ourselves in the right spot at lower gate A. We then were able to meet two more awesome leaders, Randy and Linda Stroming. I felt that they cared about us as if we were their own children, and it helped foster unity and excitement about, well, being an usher.
Let’s pause for a moment and consider this: Who wants to do the job of usher? People yell at you, contradict you, and practically ignore you. You become the one who is lame. You become the boring guy always saying “Keep the aisles clear! Walk! Hey, could you scoot into the middle so we can keep some seats for those on the outside?” You are the obstacle in the way of people’s fun. But you have a necessary role. You are there for people’s safety. Without the usher, those who come in late would spend a large amount of time looking for a place to sit and probably disturbing the experience of other guests at an event. Without the usher, no one would know where to go to get their communion at the Tuesday night worship service. So, while not the most glamorous job, usher is a necessary job, and it is vital to maintaining an enjoyable time for everyone involved – kind of like the law. While it doesn’t save you, it shows your sin and points you to the Gospel. This is where it was a blessing to have the people on my team be as flexible and fun as they were. We showed everyone what the fruit of Christ was: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We kept cool heads and I know through our actions God harvested many souls. I must say it again, God is awesome.
So after usher training, we hiked back to the convention center for Staff Worship. This was our last time together as just staff. While we were singing, I felt the chills that only the Holy Spirit can give. The waiting was finally over. NYG 2010 was about to begin. Until next time. God’s peace be with you.
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