Seven youths attend Detroit conference

From left: Gabe Cocking, Chandra and Alexis Maki, Cydney Selk, Kiah Miller, Sarah Whelchel, Tim Cornelius, Jamie Misner, Diane Miller and Rex Rutledge pose at the Arts & Scraps warehouse in Detroit where they helped to assemble craft kits for kids as a service project.

Small town met the big city when seven youth from Peace Lutheran Church in Colfax and Trinity Lutheran Church in Endicott flew to Detroit for a conference.

Accompanied by chaperones Jamie Misner of Endicott, Diane Miller of Colfax and Rex Rutledge of Pullman, they participated in the five-day Rise Up Together conference with about 30,000 other youth and chaperones from across the country. The conference is a "ministry of the churchwide organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to, with and for high school-aged youth and their adult leaders," according to the ELCA website.

Misner said the event was a great opportunity for the youth to see faith in action.

"My hope was for them to see, coming from a small town, the ELCA Lutherans that are out there and the amount of difference they can make when they come together," she said.

Over the course of the five-day event, the youth participated in several events, ranging from Bible studies and service projects to rock climbing, zip-lining and worship services.

Misner said each night of the conference featured a two-hour worship and devotional with a concert. Musical performances featured such Christian bands as Agape and Skillet as well as singer songwriter Rachel Kertz. American activist Marian Wright Edelman also spoke.

"There were some really good groups that were out there," Misner said.

The seven youth participating were Gabe Cocking of Farmington; Tim Cornelius, Kiah Miller and Chandra and Alexis Maki of Colfax; Sarah Whelchel of Diamond, and Cydney Selk of Endicott. Misner said it was great for them to experience a bigger city.

"It's kind of fun to have youth from a small town head to Detroit and see that they can make a difference," she said. "We were just immersed in Detroit. A lot of them had maybe never been on public transit before."

Several service projects throughout the week gave all participants the opportunity to see a need and do something about it. Misner said service projects included cleaning up a park or neighborhood, fixing park benches, volunteering for non-profits building house frames, donating blood, stuffing backpacks with school supplies and more.

"There was a total ton of variety," she said.

The group also volunteered at Arts & Scraps, a non-profit organization that uses recycled materials to help children create art.

"We worked in the warehouse making craft kits to send to kids," Misner said.

Misner also said the trip wasn't all about work. They took some time to take in some local sites and have some additional fun. One way was by taking in a Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers baseball game at Comerica Park.

"It wasn't all work," she said. "We had some fun, too."

Misner is hoping that the youth will be able to see that they can make a difference in their communities here just as they did in Detroit.

"When most people think of Detroit they don't think of a nice place to be. The hope was that we could come in and make a positive impact on a city that could use a little boost," she said. "I hope they know they can make a difference here and apply it. I think they saw there's also a need in our communities."