While most students deepened their tans this summer, junior Kathy Perry and senior Victoria Scott deepened their faith at the National Lutheran Church of Missouri Synod Youth Gathering along with 26 other teens from their church, Chapel of the Cross Lutheran. This year, the gathering took place in San Antonio, TX and more than 2,500 teens attended.

“My goal for the trip was to become closer in my Lutheran faith,” Perry said. “I feel like it’s gotten stronger. I got a lot closer knowing that I’m not alone in the things that I’m dealing with.”

From July 1-5, Lutheran teens from all over the nation prayed, worshipped, sang, and served the community. During the week, teens were able to deepen their relationship with God by participating in breakout sessions, listening to speakers, and attending event sponsored concerts.

“This trip provided opportunities for our kids to grow in their relationship with Christ, their relationships with each other, and their relationships with the adults,” youth director of CCL Andrew Nelson said.

The National Youth Gathering also gave the teens the chance to showcase their talents. During the first official day of the gathering, Perry and Scott learned and practiced a dance for a flash mob that they performed at the first mass event.

“The mass events were just wonderful,” Perry said. “The people who spoke were strong enough to tell all of us their stories and how the found Jesus. It was emotional and strong.”

The teens also had opportunities to do service work. Usually on off-site excursions, teens did light construction work. Perry and Scott opted to package food to be sent to starving people around the globe.

“After seeing how much food we were packing, I realized a lot of people don’t have what I have,” Scott said. “I would like to do more public service work in St. Louis.”

Teens had the chance to help other organizations too. Participants could run in the Gathering 5K Run/Walk sponsored by the Lutheran Malaria Initiative or make quilts to donate to third world countries.

“Hopefully the shared experience will build a sense of service,” Nelson said. “ When they come home, I’m hoping they’ll want to continue.”