Category: News

At Dare to be Lutheran, you told us that you wanted to know more about Higher Things.  Evaluation after evaluation was filled with , “Teach us to do youth ministry the HT-way.”  Our response:  “Higher Things University (HT-U).” This select track of sectionals at The Feast is designed specifically for pastors, youth counselors, DCE’s, lay leaders, and anyone interested in learning more about doing faithful Lutheran youth and college ministry.

At The Feast you will have the opportunity to learn more about Christian writing, doing youth ministry, starting campus ministry, running lock-ins and retreats, utilizing the internet, as well as getting involved with volunteering for development for Higher Things.   And as you would expect from HT, all these sectionals will be done the “Dare-to-be-Lutheran” way – centered on the delivery of Christ crucified to young people.

We have had so many questions about these topics, we decided to highlight some of these sectionals on the website.  The magazine has already highlighted the Writer’s Workshop.  In the coming days, you will hear about the following topics:

HT-U:  Youth Ministry Unplugged
HT-U:  Retreats, Lock-ins, and the Web
HT-U:  Development
HT-U:  How to Start  A Campus Ministry (Just Add Water)

We are very excited to be offering these training sectionals!  We’ll see you at the Feast!

In Christ,

Rev. George F. Borghardt III
The Feast – Catechesis Chair

Meet the Lemons!  Congrats to Stan and Sara!  We love you guys!

Check out the sermon here…

In Christ,

Rev. George F. Borghardt III
Internet Services Executive

Are you a young Lutheran who enjoys the written word? Have you ever thought of writing for Higher Things magazine but just didn’t know where to start or what to write about? Do you sometimes even think it would be neat to be a full-time writer for the Church one day?

If writing is your thing, then be sure to attend the new three-session in-depth sectional at The Feast. Professional writer and editor Julie Stiegemeyer, along with editor Adriane Dorr, who both work for Higher Things magazine will teach you the basics of writing and editing. They’ll help you better understand what it takes to be a Christian writer as well as what Higher Things is looking for in its authors. In other words, they’ll explain what it takes to be a successful author and give you some helpful pointers to get you started.

Because this workshop will be broken up into three different parts, you will have a chance to do some hands-on editing of your own writing with the help of these editors! Before the conference, you’ll need to send a sample of something you’ve written that you’re interested in cleaning up and getting ready to submit for publication. To send in your writing or get more information, e-mail the writing guru herself at jstiegemeyer@higherthings.org. Get your pens and paper, and meet a couple of the editors of Higher Things magazine at The Feast!

Dear everyone,

The waiting list period for The Feast has officially concluded.

We have simply reached the point where we have allowed all the groups in that we possibly can. We also don’t want anyone to be left hanging any longer.

In short, the table is now officially set. Though we regret that it couldn’t have been even more, we were pleased to be able to allow some 10-11 additional groups in to The Feast over the last couple of months.

We are thankful that so many of you chose to take advantage of the “Last Shall be First” offer. Whether you did or not, we hope to see you at a “FOR YOU” conference in 2007 in either Minneapolis, MN or Asheville, NC.

Thanks for your patience and understanding as we have worked through this waiting list process together.

Pastor Zill
The Feast, Conference Coordinator

We’ve seen conference attendees sitting around with pencils and pens, frantically deciding which sectionals to go to. 

“This one!” 

“No, this one!” 

“Oh, I wish I could go to both!” 

This year, Team Feast decided to release the Breakaway Sectionals extra early so that you would have more time to decide exactly which ones you’d like to attend.

Happy picking!

Higher Things Internet Services is very pleased to introduce our new Discussion Content Manager, Kelly Klages.  Kelly, known as “Augsburg” on the Forums, has been given the task of monitoring all the content in the forums and the blogs on the Higher Things website.  Want to join in on the discussion? Check out our Forums and Blogs!

Kelly is wife of Pastor Alex Klages who serves two LC-C congregations in southern Manitoba — Trinity Lutheran in Winkler and Zion Lutheran in Morden.

We are very excited to have Augsburg on our team!

In Christ,

Rev. George F. Borghardt III
Internet Services Executive
Higher Things, Inc

Dear Everyone,

Hello! My name is Erika Preus and I am the new Development Coordinator for Higher Things. You may have seen me roaming around the last few Higher Things conferences wearing one of those stylish, over-sized, butter colored volunteer shirts. Now, I’m here to stay!

I have some great ideas to share with Higher Things and am excited to help it grow. There are really some exciting things coming soon to Higher Things. I hope everyone is ready for THE FEAST in July and the two “FOR YOU” conferences in 2007. Get ready for some awesome weekend retreats that will be started this year, we know you are all anxious for some more great catechesis. The magazine is going to be available very soon not only in print, but also online. And B.A.M.B.I. is just going to be wild! And for you college students, check out the Higher Things website to find a local chapter of Christ on Campus with some great retreats.

If you have any good ideas on how Higher Things can grow, or if you know of any other congregations that need to know about Higher Things, send me an email to ecpreus@higherthings.org. Or, if you have any spare pennies that you find in your couch cushions that you would like to donate to Higher Things, send them my way.

See you all at the Feast!

Erika

We have had loads of requests for information on the August Higher Things Retreat in Texas.

Here is the link to the news annoucement…

There is still some space left for groups to this event.  For information please email Landon Reed, our new Retreat Executive.

In Christ,

Rev. George F. Borghardt  III
Internet Services Exec.
Higher Things, Inc.

One of our favorite IS volunteers has been the Rev. Ryan T. Fouts, who was ordained Sunday at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Sugar Loaf, IL.  Some HTers present at his ordination:  Stan Lemon (crucifer), Pastor Borghardt, Pastor Keseman, and Sandra Ostapowich.

For more pictures check out Pastor Fouts’ blog.  For the ordination sermon, check out Pastor Borghardt’s blog.  Way to go, Pastor Fouts, we are all very proud of you.

It’s not too late to join us in Pittsburgh, PA for our Fourth Annual Christ on Campus Staff Conference being held June 6-8 at First Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church.

You can register in person, however if you are planning to come but haven’t made any contact with us, please reply or e-mail me at zill@higherthings.org so that we know you are coming.

Detailed information as well as downloadable registration forms and flyers are available at:
http://higherthings.org/campus/events/staffconference.html

Please also see our ad on the back of the last issue of Higher Things (Spring 2006)!

Registration for the conference is $69. Again, registration costs have been waived for recently assigned seminary vicars and candidates.

In addition to the information provided at the url above, we can also tell you that the hotel of choice is as follows:

Comfort Inn & Suites
2898 Banksville Rd.,
Pittsburgh, PA, US, 15216
Phone: (412) 343-3000

Single $59.99; Double; $69.99; plenty of rooms available. Tip: Call the hotel directly and ask for the corporate rate.

Engaged in campus ministry? Want to be?

Whether you want to learn more about campus ministry done Higher Things style, or just want to spend some quality time in the City of Champions, we look forward to seeing you in Pittsburgh!

Rev. Marcus T. Zill
Christ on Campus Executive