What’s the Difference?

By Abby Moe

From the start you could tell that this conference was not going to be like other youth gatherings. The focus was on God, His grace and mercy, and all the great and wonderful things he has done in, with, and through us in baptism, which is where the term “Making Waves” comes from. The focus was not on what I have done to be saved, or what I need to do in my every day life, but instead on what God has done to save me by dying on the cross and rising to life again, and on what God does in, with, and through me in my every day life.

Asa“youth,” I attended the Making Waves Lutheran youth conference held in Duluth, Minnesota July 8-12, 2002. The conference was a lot of fun. We went on a cruise of a part of Lake Superior, saw a comedy show, and even had a dance.

There was also a lot of awesome Christ-centered worship. We attended worship three times a day, morning, afternoon, and night. The worship was described as “high octane” by one of the pastors involved in the conference, considering the number of times we worshiped in a day.

Catechesis was also held everyday, where we were re-taught and re-instructed about some of the teachings and beliefs of the Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod. It was mostly centered around baptism, taking passages both from Scripture as well as Luther’s Small Catechism.

After the worship service and catechesis, we attended sectionals, where we heard more in-depth discussion about different types of issues relevant to today’s Lutheran youth, things like the role of baptism, holy communion, abortion, homosexuality, the LC-MS in the 21st century, etc.

From the start you could tell that this conference was not going to be like other youth gatherings. Every day was opened with a traditional worship service, complete with the Scripture-based liturgy and hymns. Ordained ministers led all worship services, as well as most of the sectionals.

The content of the worship services was exceptional. We sang hymns like “A Mighty Fortress” and “Christ, Mighty Savior” that are filled with good Lutheran doctrine rooted in God’s Word, and share the wonderful news of all that God has done for me, instead of songs like “I Offer My Life” or “Lord I Lift Your Name On High” that are lacking in Scripture-based doctrine, speak only about what we can and need to do for God, and promote the false idea that worship music needs to be fun, upbeat, and catchy in order to catch and grab people’s attention.

At Making Waves, the order of worship, liturgy and prayers were Scripture-based, leaving little room for human error. The only testimony heard was the testimony of the gospel, preached straight from God’s own Word. No stories told by people about themselves, who, by their own sinful human nature tend to make things “me” focused, by saying things like “I accepted Jesus into my heart,” totally ignoring the work that God has done in and through our baptism.

At this youth gathering the focus was on God, His grace and mercy, and all the great and wonderful things he has done in, with, and through us in baptism, which is where the term “Making Waves” comes from. The focus was not on what I have done to be saved, or what I need to do in my every day life, but instead on what God has done to save me by dying on the cross and rising to life again, and on what God does in, with, and through me in my every day life. The focus was on Gospel not Law.

Instead of hitting us over the head with the Great Commission, making us feel like we’re not good enough Christians, or doubt if we even are Christian, the teachings in the Making Waves conference made us realize that God works through us in our every day lives. Leaders of the conference taught us that God calls all of us to do different things, and works through us in anything we do. We can all glorify God in our vocation because God takes everyday people in their everyday lives and works in, with, and through them to administer the gospel and to “disciple all nations.” That is the Great Commission.

This conference was refreshing, reaffirming, and incredibly comforting. So many times as Lutheran youth we have the law “thrown” at us by our peers, by adults, by other youth gatherings, and by the media through things like “WWJD” and contemporary Christian music, telling us that we need to do something to be saved, and sometimes even make us question the validity of our baptism.

That’s exactly the opposite of what the Making Waves conference accomplished. God worked through this conference and its leaders to show to us that there is nothing that we sinful human beings can do on our own, realizing that God brings His salvation to us through baptism and holy communion, with no help on our part. At the Making Waves youth conference they preached Christ and Him crucified.

Abby Moe is a member of St. John Lutheran Church in Rosemount, MN. She is a second semester freshman at Concordia University in River Forest, IL.