What would it be like if thousands of people eager to hear about God's mission in the world took over your city for five days? What would that look like? I will venture to guess that it might look a lot like what we in St. Louis experienced during Urbana 09. There really is no accurate way to describe the thrill of watching as the downtown area began to fill with the 16,000 people, mostly students, ready to hear and respond to God's call to join His work in our neighborhoods, both local and global.
Experiencing Urbana from the staff perspective was something new for me. A lot of my energy went into my teaching role during the morning Bible studies and I absolutely loved it! It was an incredible privilege to serve with my assistants, all of whom are InterVarsity alumni. I also appreciated that the participants in our study were a diverse group of U.S. and Canadian college students, InterVarsity staff from around the country, InterVarsity alumni, and even a few folks from the Pastor and Church Leader Track. We had a lot of fun together digging into the first four chapters of John's Gospel. It was such an honor to serve as a teacher.
Stepping back from my job assignment and getting to hear how God was moving through other elements of the conference was equally exciting! Over 300 conference attendees (and even several stadium workers employed by the convention center) responded to an altar call on December 30. 2000 students committed to serving in long-term, cross-cultural ministry. A few thousand more committed themselves to short-term assignments. The stories of responses made in the light of the calls issued will continue to be lived out in the coming years. The kingdom will advance as a result of many saying "yes" to God's invitation to them at Urbana 09!
And in the midst of all of the excitement I found that God had some specific invitations for me, too. Even as I write about them they don't strike me as exciting or as alluring as trekking off to a distant land for the sake of the gospel and yet they are infused with so much gospel truth! I heard the invitation to forgive as I have been forgiven. I heard the invitation to love extravagantly. I heard the invitation to faithfully point the way to Jesus again and again.
I hope I never get over being amazed at how He knows exactly what we need.
Experiencing Urbana from the staff perspective was something new for me. A lot of my energy went into my teaching role during the morning Bible studies and I absolutely loved it! It was an incredible privilege to serve with my assistants, all of whom are InterVarsity alumni. I also appreciated that the participants in our study were a diverse group of U.S. and Canadian college students, InterVarsity staff from around the country, InterVarsity alumni, and even a few folks from the Pastor and Church Leader Track. We had a lot of fun together digging into the first four chapters of John's Gospel. It was such an honor to serve as a teacher.
Stepping back from my job assignment and getting to hear how God was moving through other elements of the conference was equally exciting! Over 300 conference attendees (and even several stadium workers employed by the convention center) responded to an altar call on December 30. 2000 students committed to serving in long-term, cross-cultural ministry. A few thousand more committed themselves to short-term assignments. The stories of responses made in the light of the calls issued will continue to be lived out in the coming years. The kingdom will advance as a result of many saying "yes" to God's invitation to them at Urbana 09!
And in the midst of all of the excitement I found that God had some specific invitations for me, too. Even as I write about them they don't strike me as exciting or as alluring as trekking off to a distant land for the sake of the gospel and yet they are infused with so much gospel truth! I heard the invitation to forgive as I have been forgiven. I heard the invitation to love extravagantly. I heard the invitation to faithfully point the way to Jesus again and again.
I hope I never get over being amazed at how He knows exactly what we need.
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