Anaheim 07

The 2007 national Mennonite Brethren youth convention took its theme “Everywhere” on the road Monday morning when everyone boarded 18 rented school buses plus vans and chartered buses. They traveled to ministry sites, churches and agencies in the greater Los Angeles area for a combination tour and spiritual formation experience that organizers called Tourformation.

“It was a monumental task, getting over 1,000 people out to various sites,” says Wendell Loewen, the co-chair who oversaw the project. Just getting everyone on the right bus was a process that kept him awake the night before, said Loewen at the youth worker’s meeting Monday morning. And it turned out that transportation “hiccups,” as one organizer called them, were the day’s biggest challenge. So it’s no wonder that more than one Tourformation team member celebrated the fact that 1,075 people left the Hilton that morning and the same number returned.

Youth groups remained intact for Tourformation. This enabled sponsors and other adult volunteers to keep track of students and to help teens reflect on their experiences. Unexpectedly spending two-hours in LA traffic was for many a new experience. Everyone brought along lunch money. In some cases, an inexpensive lunch was brought in and at other locations participants purchased their meal at local restaurants.

The ministry sites were varied and when taken together illustrate the racial and socio-economic diversity of LA. Referring to this diversity, World Impact missionary David Gutierrez said, “If we reach LA, we reach the world.”

Just cleaning up trash proved to be a dramatically different experience for two groups. A Nebraska group picked up trash along posh Sunset Beach under the supervision of a smartly dressed state park ranger. More than one passerby thanked them for their work. Meanwhile, a casually dressed ministry staff member cautioned an Oklahoma group to hide any sort of repulsion they may feel as they cleaned up a backyard in inner city Watts. Unseen neighbors would be watching their reactions, she warned.

Tourformation assignments were announced after groups arrived at the convention. Two-thirds of the attendees—a total of 680 students and sponsors—went into Los Angeles where they were hosted by World Vision, World Impact and the Union Rescue Mission on Skid Row. The Oasis, a ministry to at-risk children and teens in Hollywood, hosted 50 MB guests. That left about 300 students and sponsors who spread out among various Orange County sites including a soup kitchen, homeless shelter, senior center, two food banks, several youth centers, an orange grove and a beach.

Securing good ministry sites and accommodating size requests of the host sites was a priority, says Loewen. Keeping transportation costs within the budget were also considered when selecting sites. Two Orange County sites cancelled the day before the event and had to be quickly replaced.

“All of our sites had good ministry and service potential,” says Loewen in a post-convention e-mail interview. “Students were disappointed by the more service/labor sites, but these work sites were thrilled to get some much needed help.”

The volunteer coordinator at World Impact had this to say about the students that did a variety of labor-type jobs. “We had a great time! We got so much work accomplished in the short amount of time they were here. Our missionaries were very impressed with how hard the different youth groups worked and the servant hear they displayed while with us. They were very energetic, fun to work with and sought to keep busy...always asking, "What can I do next?" Never once did we hear anyone complain. It was such a blessing to have them come because many of the work projects we had them help us with were things that needed to be done. For many of those projects, we just didn't have the manpower to accomplish them. Having them come and serve our ministry was a huge blessing to our missionary body!”

Since Anaheim ’07 planning team members had limited connections with faith-based agencies in the LA area, they relied on two key volunteers. DOOR staff members Glenn Balzer and Heidi Aspinwall did much of the legwork for Tourformation, provided orientation for participants, oversaw loading the buses and stayed in contact with group leaders while they were on-site. DOOR, which recently opened a site in Hollywood, is an urban educational ministry. Balzer, a former Mennonite Brethren pastor, and Loewen agree that pulling off something as complex as Tourformation was possible thanks to the DOOR staff.

Before sending students out the doors, Balzer provided a brief orientation, a condensed version of the material he shared with sponsors earlier in the convention. Among other things, he warned participants to avoid wearing gang colors—red, blue and purple—and that meant the Anaheim ’07 backpacks stayed at the hotel.

Taking photos of group members was OK but one should always ask before taking photos of strangers, said Balzer. Tabor College and Fresno Pacific University student interns, called Ground Level Leaders, accompanied each group. Sponsors were given phone numbers to call in case of an emergency. Many youth groups split into smaller groups once they arrived at their ministry site, so students came away with a variety of experiences.

When asked what he hoped participants took away from their Tourformation experience Balzer said, “An appreciation for what God is doing in the city and a willingness to explore God’s calling in a new way.” Given the responses of Leader student reporters, it appears that Balzer’s hopes were realized. Student reporter stories are posted online.

—CF