Urbana09

Happy New Year Everyone,

As I write, we're in the middle of yet another blizzard here in Iowa (ugh). It's seemingly increasingly likely that we won't see the ground again until March, but such is life in the Midwest. :)

Another part of winter for IV staff workers is the Urbana student missions convention, which gathers about 20,000 students and staff from around the world every three years to St. Louis to focus on God's mission in the earth and our part in it. Because my fall was so busy, I was given the year off, but there is still much good to report!

First, I'm proud to share that one of my staff, Sherami Hinders, was invited to speak in the main convention hall on the last night in front of 16,000 folks!! She did an incredible job, and it was a rich privilege to see one of my staff honor God in such a profound way! I've pasted the video here for you all to enjoy!

Testimony: Sherami Hinders from Urbana 09 on Vimeo.

Yesterday, I got an email from a fellow staff worker and dear friend named Fred Wagner. Fred has given his life to college students around the world, and was known affectionately during my time as a student at Central as "the living legend". He led my first trip to Mongolia, and he's been a rich blessing to my life. His email gave profound testimony to God's work at Urbana (300-400 students became Christians, and 4,500 pledged to invite a non-Christian friend to study the life of Jesus through John 1-4--unbelievable stuff!), so rather than try to reproduce it for myself, I asked his permission to share some excerpts, which he graciously granted. I've embedded a number of the talks he mentions in his report for your enjoyment! Here are a few highlights from the conference:

Dear Partners,

I doubt that any of you included the St. Louis water department in your prayers for Urbana, but, on the human side, the fate of the convention lay in their hands.

After a rousing first day a water main just outside entrance A of the Edward Jones Dome stadium burst. For the nearly 17,000 delegates the only obvious effect was longer exiting and entering lines via one less doorway. For the 24 hour prayer team it was a call to arms after learning that the water main serviced the entire sprinkler system in the stadium and the fire marshal decreed that "unless the pipes can be repaired within 10 hours I will have to close the stadium."

"Prayer is an act of spiritual defiance of what is, in response to what God has promised. The shape of the future will be determined by those who can survey all its possibilities and by faith grasp one as possible. History belongs to the intercessors, those who believe the future into being."

Sundar Krishnan, a pastor from Ontario, Canada proclaimed those words in what to me represented the meatiest address at Urbana….two days after faithful intercessors defied the broken pipe and believed that God wanted the Urbana Missions Conference to continue.

Pray Big and Pray Bold: Sunder Krishnan from Urbana 09 on Vimeo.

If you have time for two webcasts then click on the address by Oscar Munriu, pastor of Nairobi Chapel in Kenya. "He dwelled among us" was the theme of Urbana 22, words from John 1:14, and Oscar unpacked the meaning of Jesus’ incarnation with a scorching comparison to the ways we do mission today. In 1910, 80% of Christendom was Caucasian. Today, 60% is non-white and we who have come to ascribe Divine sanction on our ways of doing mission need to hear from our African brethren if we ever hope to experience true partnership with the Church in developing nations.

Money and Power: Oscar Muriu from Urbana 09 on Vimeo.

York Moore grew up in Detroit, met Jesus as an atheist philosophy major at the U of M and now serves as a national evangelist for InterVarsity. He was chosen to exposit John 3:1-21 on the third morning and he aimed his address at those who had not yet experienced new birth. (You might wonder why they would attend a missions conference. It is a part of the growing trend of spiritual journeying that first leads unsaved people to connect with a body of believers before they connect with Jesus). York spoke succinctly and powerfully and then asked those prepared to embrace Jesus to stand to their feet. Angels must have partied at the sight of between 300 and 400 on their feet….including some of the stadium workers who served as ushers. Later York asked those who stood to walk out to another room for ‘follow-up’ and 250 did so.

Altar Call: York Moore from Urbana 09 on Vimeo.

There were other measurable evidences of God’s Spirit at work. Jim Tebbe challenged students to give sacrificially to an offering for God’s work outside of the US (and outside of IVCF). Students responded with an offering of nearly $900,000. For this Urbana the Missionary Decision Card was redesigned from a long list of commitments to just six; but, as always, there was a commitment entry to "join in God’s cross-cultural mission long term," and 2,500 students marked that category. In response to what has proven to be the most effective evangelistic tool throughout InterVarsity’s long history, there was a new entry, "I will invite a non-follower of Jesus to study John 1-4 with me." Over 4,500 students pledged to that step of action and I suspect that that number will easily double because on the last night, one day after the commitment service, IV president, Alec Hill, put the cookies on the bottom shelf.

"Don’t think you can defer being a missional Christian until after graduation. If you try, I guarantee that your passion will atrophy, your vision will blur, and your fire will burn low. God is less concerned with the commitments you made this week than your obedience right now….Let’s talk about your neighborhood….Sharing the Good News with a fellow student may be the most significant action you will ever take."

Alec then profiled four examples of IV students who shared Jesus with a fellow student and then revealed the long-term, ripple effect including the story of NYC pastor Tim Keller who 40 years ago was an obnoxious frosh (his words) at Bucknell and the IVers put up with all his questions and loved him into active faith.

Missions on Your Campus: Alec Hill from Urbana 09 on Vimeo.