Urbana 2003 Christian Student Conference
Every two years Intervarsity Christian Fellowship hosts a Christian student conference between Christmas and New Year's Day. The theme of this year's conference was "Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done," based upon the Lord's prayer in the gospel of Luke. The purpose of the conference is to challenge college students and recent graduates to seek their place in God's mission.
The 2003 conference was really special for us because it presented a great opportunity for us to spread the vision of world missions and Bible translation in particular. Among the 20,000 plus students, a record number (~1000) African American students attended. It was Kevin's first time to attend and we were delighted to have opportunity to present two seminars. The first seminar was entitled, "African American Heritage Churches and Missions." It was mostly attended by young African Americans who wanted to know more about our historical black churches, how they were involved in missions in the past and the challenges that we face today. The second seminar was entitled, "Partnership with the African American Church in Missions." This one was attended mostly by white students who worshipped at African American churches. Both groups were interactive and eager to see God move African American churches to the next level in global missions.
When we were not presenting seminars we planned to interact one-on-one with students at the Wycliffe exhibit but Kevin arrived at the Conference with a high fever and stayed in bed during the first couple of days. We were thankful when the fever broke and he was able to help me set up the computer for the seminar presentation. He felt much better on New Year's Eve so we could attend the closing services with 20,000 students, missionaries, and Intervarsity staff. The ethnic diversity at this conference was truly a reflection of what John the apostle saw in Revelation 7:9. "...I looked and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb… It was awesome to see people from many nations in attendance at the Urbana Christian 2003 Student Conference.
Created on ... March 06, 2005..................................Last edited March 14, 2006