Category: News

The latest issue of Higher Things Magazine is now available online! The Fall 2013 Issue is a 2013 From Above Conference retrospective issue.

This issues includes topics:

• Rock Star Pastors?
• Coming down from the Mountain Top
• Scars Forever
• Four pages of photos and memories from the From Above Conferences
• Table of Duties: Husbands and Wives
• and many more!

Also, Higher Things is excited to announce our E-Magazine PDF. You can download the full PDF at the top of the Fall 2013 Issue page. In this E-Magazine PDF, you can click the title of any article in Table of Contents and it will take you directly to that article. To return to the table of contents you can tap on the center of the page. All website URLs and email links will open in your default browser or mail client.

We hope you enjoy this retrospective look at the From Above Conferences and our regular features

November 1-2, 2013

You pick up the Bible, and read about a man walking on water and turning water into wine. Then at school, you learn that science has proven that those things couldn’t have happened. Has science made it impossible to be a Christian?

Come hear some good answers to your questions with Rev. St-Onge, a former engineer and author of Five Things You Can Do to Appreciate Science and Love the Bible. We’ll learn how to separate science from pseudo-science, how good science supports what we read in the Old and the New Testaments, and generally how we can still be faithful Christians in a scientific world.

Pastor St-Onge has been called to serve as a missionary for the LCMS in the Asia Pacific region. He has spoken at several Higher Things events, and previously served as youth pastor at Memorial Lutheran Church in Houston, TX.

When: November 1-2, 2013
Cost: $30 per person
Where: Trinity Lutheran Church – Darmstadt 1401, West Boonville-New Harmony Road, Evansville, Indiana
RSVP: By registering online at www.higherthings.org/retreats
Trinity Lutheran Church – Pastor Steve Kieser / pastor@tldarm.org / (812) 867-5279
or
Sandra Ostapowich at retreats@higherthings.org – Higher Things Retreat Coordinator

Download the information packet here!

Click here to register online!

Higher Things announces the next set of Daily Reflections. These six weeks cover the 15th through 20th weeks after Trinity, September 8 through October 19, 2013. As always, you can download a printable booklet HERE or get them in one of the other formats below.

Printable Booklet (PDF)
“In Line” PDF
Nook and other readers (ePub format)
Amazon Kindle (may require file management software on your kindle device)

In Christ,
Pastor Mark Buetow
buetowmt@higherthings.org
HT Media Services Executive

Rev. Thomas Brown

What does the baby Jesus made out of corn, marriage, dozens of Lutherans from hundreds of miles apart, thousands of motorcycles, and confessional preaching and teaching combined with liturgical services all have in common? What else but a Higher Things Retreat in the Corn Palace City of Mitchell, SD during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally week.

The 2nd Annual South Dakota District Higher Things Confirmation Retreat was held Friday and Saturday, August 9-10, 2013 in Mitchell. The retreat theme was “Sex is for Marriage, Jesus is for Sinners.” Retreat speaker Rev. Mark Buetow (Bethany, DuQuoin, IL) gave fantastic catechesis on what God gives in His gift of marriage, how marriage is a confession of the relationship between Christ and the Church, how we blow it, and how the mercy and forgiveness of Jesus is given for sexual sins, too.

In one breakout session, we heard from Rev. Brian Bucklew of Delmont and Tripp, SD as he taught about his experiences growing up under the law of Pentecostalism and his excitement over encountering the Gospel in Lutheranism. In another session, attendees had a chance to throw any question they could think of at Pastor Buetow. The gloves came off as they pummeled Pastor Buetow with hard-hitting questions such as “did Jesus have to be born of a virgin?” and “what is your favorite horror movie?” At the same time, adult leaders met up over coffee to share frustrations, fears and ideas with each other.

It is an unspeakable privilege to hear these young Lutherans singing the Word of God using our rich Lutheran heritage in hymns and liturgy. “Awesome! I loved every minute of it.” said Marjean Reichert, member at Zion, Mitchell and cook for the retreat meals and snacks.

One tenant of our Faith is that, as we confess in the third article of the creed, “I believe that I cannot believe in Jesus Christ…or come to Him. But the Holy Spirit calls me by the Gospel…” Our Lord promises us in Romans 10:17 and elsewhere that the Holy Spirit works to create Faith through the Word of God. The work of the Holy Spirit was evident following the retreat when one pastor reported that one unbaptized student who attended the retreat announced his desire to receive Baptism as soon as possible. At the time of this writing, that baptism has been scheduled. Awesome, indeed.

Join us next August for the 3rd annual Higher Things Confirmation Retreat in Blackhawk, SD.

Higher Things announces the next set of Daily Reflections, for August 11 through September 9. As always, these daily devotions on God’s Word and the Catechism are full of the Good News of salvation and life in Christ. Download them as a printable booklet or get them in a variety of other formats:

Printable Booklet (PDF)
“In Line” PDF
Nook and other readers (ePub format)
Amazon Kindle (may require file management software on your kindle device)

In Christ,
Pastor Mark Buetow
buetowmt@higherthings.org
HT Media Services Executive

Higher Things is excited to announce that it has expanded its social media presence to Pinterest! You can follow HT on Pinterest at http://pinterest.com/higherthings. If you have suggestions for boards or pins that we should create or anything else that you would like to see on the HT Pinterest please email them to webmaster@higherthings.org.

You can also find Higher Things on:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Instagram
• Tumblr
• Google+

Additionally, HT is regularly adding conference pictures to our Flickr account which you can see at http://flickr.com/higherthings. If you have pictures from the From Above conference please email them to pictures@higherthings.org making a note of which conference they are from in the subject line.

Higher Things utilizes social networks to assist parents, congregations, and pastors in cultivating, encouraging and promoting a distinctively Lutheran identity among their youth and young adults.

In Christ,
Jonathan Kohlmeier
HT Social Media Manager
webmaster@higherthings.org

Higher Things conferences are made of theology, worship and fun. This year we are very excited to have partnered with our host in Tacoma, Pacific Lutheran University to stream live the Closing Divine Service for From Above 2013. Come and celebrate Easter with 400+ youth as they sing the liturgy and pray the prayers of the Church while receiving Christ and Him Crucified in Flesh and Blood.

This Friday at 1:30pm PDT (3:30 CDT, 4:30 EDT) point your web browser to http://stream.higherthings.org to hear and see what Higher Things is all about – the Gospel, in the ears of our youth. Dare to be Lutheran with us this Friday in the Divine Service!

Jonathan Kohlmeier

Tuesday afternoon the Higher Things From Above Conference season will begin with the Opening Divine Service. Hundreds of Lutheran youth will join their voices in singing “Of The Father’s Love Begotten” with those whom they will get to know better throughout this week, but also with the whole company of heaven.

For the conference staff and those who have attended a conference before, it will seem like conferences never stopped. When that first chord of congregational singing hits, all the worship confessing Jesus Christ for you will come back. Those Lutheran youth will light up when they hear new, profound, thoughts that they have never heard put in such a way in plenary and breakout sessions. There will be joyful screams and laughter as people are reunited with old friends and as they make new ones. Free Time will be spent playing frisbee or board games or talking theology. It will be a great week for Lutheran youth. It will be a great week for Lutheranism!

But that same great Lutheran worship, work, and play never stopped, did it? That same worship continued on–week in and week out–in our home congregations. Our pastors continued to teach the same Good News of Jesus in classrooms and bible study. We enjoyed fun with our fellow Lutheran friends in person at youth group, through emails, text messages, and social media.

That same Lutheran worship, theology and fun will continue long after the Closing Divine Service on Friday. Youth, pastors, and chaperones will leave refreshed after their week of daring to be Lutheran. They will go back to their congregations to tell them about what they learned and did at From Above. They will look forward to coming back next year.

Tomorrow the Opening Divine Service will begin right where we left off. It will be like we never stopped and we didn’t! We have been receiving the Lord’s gift this whole time! We have been joined with the whole church as we sing hymns, hear the Word and receive the Supper. Joined with our friends we see once a year at Higher Things conferences and joined with the communion of saints. It’s like every Sunday receiving Jesus’ gifts, just a little bigger and louder!

We’d like to have as many people attend our conferences each summer, even if it’s just for a little while! Come and learn what Higher Things is all about, and join us for a day!

Worship is at the heart of our conferences. The services are familiar to most LCMS Lutherans, since the liturgies and hymns are all taken straight from the Lutheran Service Book. Some of the services like Vespers and Compline might be new, but they are part of the great historic tradition of Lutheran worship. Youth really enjoy participating in these traditions of the church and the multiple services set a rhythm for each day that keeps the focus of the week on faithfully receiving gifts from Christ and Him crucified.

Catechesis (religious instruction) is the other major component of Higher Things conferences. We gather together each day to learn about God’s Word and our faith, and what it means to Dare to be Lutheran and live out our baptismal faith in all that we do. Plenary sessions are led by some of the best teachers we know, who teach us about some aspect of the conference theme. Then there are many opportunities to learn about your own interests and have questions answered on any number of issues during the breakout sessions.

Fun. Oh, we have fun. Not that Worship and Catechesis aren’t fun (in their own interesting way), but it’s good to kick back, let your hair down, and be silly too. Barn dances, magicians, karaoke, hymneoke (HT’s version of what older people would know as a hymn-sing), soccer, volleyball, Ultimate frisbee, talent shows, scavenger hunts, beach parties, fireworks, inflatables, etc. There’s more than enough fun to go around!

And when you join us for a day, you get to participate in all those activities too! So if you have an urge to take an impromptu road trip, want to come and see for yourself what happens, or just couldn’t get away for the entire week to go to a conference, please join us. Email Crysten Sanchez, the conference Registrar at registrar@higherthings.org to let us know you plan to come. Registration for the day is just $50/person. We’d love to see you at one of the conferences this summer!

Your $50 registration fee includes conference materials, a T-shirt, meals for the day and admission to all conference events going on that day – including evening entertainment options. Download a registration form HERE. For the safety of our youth participants all HTFAD participants must pre-register with the registrar.

• June 25-28 at University of Scranton in Scarnton, PA

• July 9-12 at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN
• 
July 16-19 at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA

In Christ,

Sandra Ostapowich

Conference Coordinator

ostapowich@higherthings.org

My first call right out of seminary was to be a Youth Pastor. I was in shock. I went to see Dr. Ronald Feuerhahn, my faculty advisor, and pleaded with him because I didn’t know anything about youth ministry. Not a thing! How could I be a youth pastor? He told me I needed to get involved with a group out of Laramie, Wyoming, called “Higher Things.”

After I took our youth group to Duluth in 2002, I would have crawled across glass to volunteer for Higher Things. In the years since attending that first conference, I think I’ve probably done just about everything but that for HT! I started out writing the first Reflections in 2005, then was invited to serve as a theological editor for Higher Things Magazine, which led to being asked to coordinate Catechesis for the Feast conference. Following that, the Board of Directors asked me to take over Internet Services, serve as a Conference Coordinator, then the Conference Executive, and eventually my peers elected me as the Deputy Executive to represent them to the Board. Oh, and I also co-host HT-Radio and HTV.

So when my dear friend Pastor Cwirla asked me to consider becoming the President of Higher Things, I thought he was joking. I had to re-read the email three times. Higher Things has had some amazing presidents and vice presidents in its history. Who doesn’t respect pastors like Klemet Preus, Marcus Zill, Brent Kuhlman, and Bill Cwirla?

I’m not those guys. I’m not even in the same league.

But then I remembered that it’s not about me. It’s about Jesus for me. In the church, we say that the Office seeks the man, rather than the man seeking the Office. We simply do the job given to us by the Lord, for the time He gives us to do it.

So ride this crazy roller-coaster with me for the next year and we’ll see where the Lord takes us! In just a couple of months, He’s going to gather youth at our 2013 conferences to hear the Gospel, sing the liturgy and hymns of the Church, be catechized, and have fun. Retreats will bring our conferences to junior youth throughout the United States and Canada. Our magazine, website, Reflections, radio, and HT-Video will pepper the internet with Jesus Christ and Him crucified for young people. We’ve even started writing Vacation Bible School programs so little ones can Dare to be Lutheran too.

I’m deeply humbled to be the President of such a great organization. We’ve based everything in Higher Things on the premise that the best way to have young people remain Lutheran is to teach them good Lutheranism. We don’t teach them to be evangelicals and then expect them to still be Lutheran. No, we pass on the faith that was put into us and we challenge them to be even better Lutherans than we have been.

Now, let’s dare some young people to be Lutheran…and have a blast while we do it!

In Christ,

Rev. George Borghardt
President
Higher Things