Our youth, Pastor Nick, Mary Walls and Paul Harrington recently traveled to New Orleans for the ELCA Youth Gathering, a truly life-changing event. There are many pictures from their trip on the Abiding Grace Youth Facebook page (thanks, Mary!) which show our youth serving, worshiping, learning and having fun.






This year's theme was “citizens with the saints” and was drawn from Ephesians 2:14–20, paraphrased here:


The theme blended the rich faith history, diverse cultures and arts of New Orleans with the communion of saints that is present whenever and wherever God’s people gather!


The Youth Gathering evening programs were streamed. To view the recordings please click here.

Always give yourself fully to the work of the  Lord.  1 Corinthians 15:58   

On Saturday, May 5, 2012, 95 disciples came together in service to the world through 10 separate projects for the 2012 Great Day of Service. As Pastor Nick said on the following Sunday: ‘service is love—we love those from the past (buried in Hood Cemetery), from the present (elderly through MCCC and children), and from the future (campers coming to Briarwood). We helped those we know and those we may never meet (children in Sierra Leone).’

View a video of the day create by Ali Sakakeeny below. It was shown in church on June 3. 


The ten projects for this year's day were

• Briarwood Retreat Center (four projects): three new gateways, an entrance sign, two flower beds and an interpretive nature trail (Click here for a thank-you from Briarwood)
• Mid-Cities Care Corps (three different homes): fence repair and major lawn work
• Hood Cemetery: the first of many workdays to perform upkeep and repair
• Women In Stitches: making shorts and dresses for children in Sierra Leone
• Children's Service Camp: service to the church, Feed Our Kids and Cook Children's Hospital

Some service projects were part of scouting for a number of our youth: Ali, Rachel and Sarah Sakakeeny for their Girl Scout Gold Award projects and Connor McTaggert for his Citizenship Badge for Boy Scouts.

Thanks to Terri and Chip Sakakeeny for organizing the day! Also thanks to our team leaders: Ali, Rachel and Sarah Sakakeeny, Phil Hart, Bill Gaffney, Donn Renwick, Susie Henning, Pat Mingus and Connor and Marcy McTaggert. And thanks to all that served!

Trinity Days speaker Diana Butler Bass told her audience on September 29 that we are living in a time of "massive cultural change." Individuals have less confidence in their clergy than they did a decade ago. Fewer people attend worship. Many under age 40 did not attend church as a child. 

"This is our time, genuinely different and genuinely challenging," she said. "We have to figure out how to lead in times like these."

Some of Trinity’s more recent graduates have faced today’s challenges head on. They are guided by God and innovative  ideas—not big salaries or numbers in the pews. They are defined by vision and fortitude—not  years of experience. They have taken what they learned in seminary and proven themselves genuinely different leaders in genuinely challenging times. What follows are a few of their stories.

To read the article click here. If the site won't allow the article to open, you need to hit View for the "Fall 2011" issue. The article begins on Page 6.