ELCA NEWS SERVICE July 31, 2009 Lutheran Youth Organization Convention Develops Leadership 09-173-FI HATTIESBURG, Miss. (ELCA) -- Prayer, worship and fun were prominent as more than 200 delegates of the youth organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) met in convention July 26-30 at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM). "Open Eyes, Open Mind, Open Heart" was the theme as leaders of the Lutheran Youth Organization (LYO) engaged in the business of their organization and in leadership development. The LYO is an organization of nearly 100,000 high-school age members of ELCA congregations across the United States and Caribbean. Nathaniel Viets-VanLear, LYO president, Chicago, chaired the convention. Delegates elected Nicolette Faison, Elmont, N.Y., to succeed Viets-VanLear. The LYO meets in convention every three years, and in 2006 it asked the LYO board to "develop a process to explore, study and critically examine the identity, purpose, core values and structure of the LYO, bringing a report and recommendation to the 2009 LYO Convention." Delegates received a committee report and established a restructuring committee "to complete this process by developing and assisting in the implementation of all recommended and approved changes." The process will include drafting reports on mission and purpose in 2009 and on ministries and structures in 2010. The convention asked the restructuring committee to reconsider a recommendation limiting those elected to the LYO board to people entering the 10th and 11th grades. Delegates said 14 year olds should be eligible, as well as others entering 9th and 12th grades. In another resolution, the convention asked that the committee become a standing committee of the LYO and "remain intact throughout the restructuring of LYO to evaluate changes as they happen." Delegates adopted other resolutions to limit the use of disposable water bottles, promote service opportunities among youth across the church, support a peaceful end to the violent acts in Darfur, "raise awareness and to advocate for the issues of poverty in the United States," and urge ELCA congregations to provide safe places where young people can engage in open conversations about unhealthy behaviors. The convention "implored" youth across the ELCA to involve themselves in synod assemblies. Congregations of the ELCA are organized into 65 synods, which meet in assemblies annually. Delegates passed a resolution supporting adoption of a proposed social statement on human sexuality that the ELCA Churchwide Assembly will consider when it meets Aug. 17-23 in Minneapolis. The convention urged ELCA congregations to consider including a statement in their mission statement or other church documents to welcome all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or "questioning" people. As part of its leadership development program, an afternoon of the convention was devoted to delegates understanding Hattiesburg's contribution to the U.S. civil rights movement. Hattiesburg hosted the largest "Freedom School" in Mississippi in the summer of 1964. More than 3,000 volunteers served 650 to 675 students in communicating the racial injustices of the time when the civil rights movement was in its infancy. A sample of the 831 photographs Herbert E. Randall Jr. took in 1964 was set up on easels around the convention hall. Delegates heard from several scholars of 45 years earlier, including Clarence Magee, president of the NAACP chapter in Forest County, Miss. Some of the delegates took a bus tour of Freedom School sites in the area. Others learned and wrote freedom songs, and watched documentaries on the civil rights movement and the murder of Emmett Till. Till was an African American teenager murdered in Mississippi in 1955, after reportedly whistling at a white woman. His murder is considered a leading event in the civil rights movement. Delegates also learned U.S. history and the significance of debate in the civil rights movement. In another element of leadership development, delegates attended workshops about the ELCA strategy on HIV and AIDS, the ELCA Book of Faith initiative, biblical storytelling, the Lutheran Volunteer Corps, Israel and Palestine, Lutherans in the South, conflict resolution, disaster response and preparedness, deaconesses, and welcoming people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. --- Information about the Lutheran Youth Organization is at http://www.ELCA.org/lyo on the ELCA Web site. For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog