More than 7500 participants committed themselves to long term or short-term missions involvement, by filling out commitment cards at InterVarsity’s Urbana 09 Student Missions Conference. The conference was held December 27-31 at the Edward Jones Dome and The America’s Center in St. Louis.
On the next-to-last night of the conference, participants were asked to fill out cards recording several commitments. A total of 60 indicated first time decisions to follow Christ.
Urbana director Jim Tebbe was pleasantly surprised by the 2610 commitments to long term missions service . “That’s considerably more than any other of the three Urbanas that I’ve been a part of,” he said. “For the size of the conference, smaller than its two predecessors, that’s very significant.” About 16,000 participants registered for Urbana 09.
Reports from the missions groups participating in Urbana 09 as exhibitors also indicated an increased intentionality among students. “The exhibitors are very happy,” Jim said. “The students seemed to them to be very serious and the conversations that they had were very significant.”
At the same time, students were encouraged not to focus on just the long term and forget the short term.
“Sharing the gospel with your fellow students back on campus may be the most important thing you do in your entire life,” said Alec Hill, the president of InterVarsity.
Speaking on New Years Eve, the final night of the conference, Alec offered examples of one-on-one student witness on five campuses across the country that have eventually resulted in thousands of lives being change by the gospel, all over the world. “Please don’t think that you can defer being a missional Christian until after college,” he said.
Videos of Urbana speakers and additional presentations can be viewed online at the Urbana 09 webpage.
InterVarsity’s Urbana Student Missions Conferences have been held approximately every three years since the first conference in Toronto in 1946. The conference is sponsored by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA and Inter-Varsity Canada.
