Over 120 Hmong American college students and recent graduates, mostly from the Upper Midwest, participated in InterVarsity’s fourth annual Hmong Christian Collegiate Conference (HC3) from October 3-5, 2008. The conference has grown steadily over the last few years and we were excited to hold it for the first time at the Bishop O’Connor Center and in Madison, WI. This year’s conference theme was based on Isaiah 61:11 and God making his “righteousness and praise spring up before all nations” – specifically among Hmong Americans and beyond. HC3’s vision is “to inspire and equip Hmong American college student to follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, to become a new generation of servant leaders in their local churches and to transform their campuses, communities and the world.”

Dr. Peter Cha, former Asian American InterVarsity staff now at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, delivered a series of expositions during the main sessions on the call to follow Christ. David Andrianoff, an InterVarsity alumnus and former relief worker and missionary in Southeast Asia with the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) and son of the first missionaries to bring the Gospel to the Hmong people in Laos, also gave a series of talks sharing on how his life experience related to the conference theme. Worship was led by a team from First Hmong Alliance Church of Aurora, IL and University of Illinois-Chicago Hmong American InterVarsity alumnus Johann Yang.

For the first time since its inception, the conference split into multiple tracks. “Day by Day,” the lordship track, was led by Wisconsin Southeast Area Director Joshua Bilhorn and InterVarsity alumnus and Hmong C&MA Pastor Cheng Her. “The Edge” track for seekers, which saw one new believer come to Christ and many more make decisions to pursue exploration through local churches or InterVarsity chapters, was led by Urbana/NSC staff Kathy Moua. UW-Madison CSM Calvin Chen led “Campus Kingdom Leaders,” a track on ethnic-identity, campus leadership, and evangelism. Due to extremely positive feedback, HC3 will continue and expand its track-based approach in upcoming years.

One of our goals for the conference is to achieve greater recognition and trust within the Hmong American Christian community. After his introduction, David Adrianoff immediately declared, “no ministry has impacted my life more than InterVarsity.” Please join the HC3 team in praising God for successfully transitioning to a track-based conference held at a full-service conference center in Madison and praying for continued impact and vision through InterVarsity work among Hmong Americans in Madison, Whitewater, Milwaukee, and beyond.