Registration is open for four Higher Things youth conferences next summer — June 26-29 at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.; July 3-6 at Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, Mo.; July 10-13 at Concordia University, Irvine, Calif.; and July 17-20 at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.
The theme for all four conferences is “Twelve” — calling to mind the significance of that number in scriptural references and to celebrate the 12th anniversary of 
“The theological part of the ‘Twelve’ theme is amazingly wonderful,” said Higher Things Conference Coordinator Sandra Ostapowich. “It’s a good number from the Scripture; it’s all over the place. God likes twelves.”
Ostapowich continued that what makes next year’s conference theme “special to Higher Things is that 2012 will be our 12th year of doing Higher Things Conferences. It’s our 12th birthday.”
“The Lord has to have twelves,” added Higher Things Conference Executive Rev. George Borghardt. “He doesn’t stop at 11. He always goes 12. Think of the tribes in the Old Testament, the apostles in the New Testament and the 144,000 in Revelation [Rev. 7:4-8, which mentions 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes]. Twelve is a huge number in the Scriptures.”
“Everything we do at Higher Things is about Christ, daring young people to be Lutheran and teaching them to receive Christ in His Word and Sacraments,” said Borghardt. “Twelve is the perfect theme for 2012 because it was the Lord’s number first.”
All four conferences begin on Tuesday afternoons and end the following Friday afternoons. They will have similar schedules, including specific times for worship, Bible study and entertainment.
“Our all-inclusive conferences are both a great value and a great opportunity,” said Higher Things President Rev. William Cwirla. “They allow the kids to spend four days together on a college campus, hang out together, make lots of friends and be immersed in great Lutheran teaching and worship. We dare the young adults of our churches to be genuinely Lutheran, and they have a great time rising to that challenge. That has been our satisfaction over these past 12 years.”
To register and for more information about the four 2012 Higher Things conferences, visit www.twelveht.org. Registration is open for each conference until Feb. 29 or until maximum-capacity registration is reached.
Through Dec. 31, an early-bird per-participant registration fee applies for next year’s Higher Things conferences — $300 for the three in the U.S. and $335 for the one in Canada. Between Jan. 1 and Feb. 29, the fees are $325 and $360; and beginning March 1, they are $350 and $375.
Posted Nov. 16, 2011
