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The ELCA Youth Gathering is a national convention held every three years in a different American city attended by high-school-age youth of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The years before 2009 the gathering would last two weeks, with certain churches coming one week, the others going the second week. The gathering lasts around 5 days and each day is focused on a form a of service. Each convention has a central theme to it. These themes are focused on a certain scripture from the bible. .

2009, New Orleans
During July 37,000 Lutheran Youth and their Chaperons attended a gathering in New Orleans to help with post-katrina problems in the city and surrounding suburbs. "This was the biggest convention since Katrina" says bestofneworleans.com. The theme for this gathering in New Orleans was "Jesus, Justice, Jazz." The bible theme for this convention was Philippians 2: 1-8. . Usually, the host city is chosen immediate after the last gathering, but organizers were not able to pick New Orleans three years in advance because the organizers did not know if New Orleans what capable of holding such gathering. Organizers saw the city and decided to use New Orleans after requests to use other cities were denied. Unlike the 2006 gathering which was split into two groups, the 2009 Gathering would be one week. The difference in people in 20,000 each week, to 36,000 in one week. This is roughly 1/6th of New Orleans's population. The days were split in two, the mornings were focused on either "Jesus," "Justice," or "Jazz." On the day focused on "Jesus" the youth would search their spiritual lives. On the day focused on "Justice" the youth learn about the stories and experiences the native New Orleans people had. On the day focused on "Jazz" the youth would do community work ranging from help rebuilding to teaching kids to read