Urbana 12

Bible Studies Across the Country

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 21:07:45 +0000

January 25, 2013

Gordon Govier

Bible Studies Across the Country

Thousands of Bible studies are breaking out across the country, following commitments made at Urbana 12, ��Ƶ’s Student Missions Conference, held December 27-31, 2012, in St. Louis.

At Urbana 12, attendees were invited to commit to lead an Evangelistic Bible Study (EBS) with a friend and 8, 153 responded by filling out a commitment card and by taking an Evangelistic Bible Study Guide. The Bible studies (also known as GIGs—Groups Investigating God in ��Ƶ parlance) are focused on passages from the Gospel of Luke.

Follow-up

��Ƶ staff were sent an email this week to help them follow-up with students in their chapters who had made the EBS commitment. They were encouraged to offer additional training in leading a Bible study for anyone who was interested. ��Ƶ is offering a free Evangelistic Bible Study Guide called "Come to the Party," which extends the invitation theme of Urbana 12.

The 8,153 who made the EBS commitment represented about half of the 16,000 Urbana 12 attendees. (All 50 states were represented at Urbana.) Over half of them, 4,372, were students. Training resources are available on ��Ƶ’s Evangelism website, and a Facebook group has been created for those leading the Bible studies to share their stories.

On the Facebook page one student told of sending handwritten Bible study invitations to all 27 girls in her hall. Another student has invited the entire drumline of his school’s band, while another is inviting her sorority sisters.

Bible Minded

“In a week when the Barna organization has highlighted the most Bible-Minded and least Bible-Minded cities in the U.S., and classes have resumed on college campuses across the country, it’s exciting to know that thousands of college students are leading many of their friends into new relationships with God through Bible study,” said ��Ƶ Evangelism Director Terry Erickson.

During Urbana 12 attendees participated in Bible studies focusing on portions of the Gospel of Luke. They also heard teaching from the Gospel of Luke by expositor Calisto Odede, Senior Pastor of Nairobi Pentecostal Church. Bible study has been an ��Ƶ distinctive throughout its more than 70-year history in the U.S., and remains so. ��Ƶ's Bible Studies webpage had 2300 hits just in the past month.

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Bible Study

"The Lord Met Us"

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 17:17:38 +0000

News

January 11, 2013

Alec Hill, President of ��Ƶ

"The Lord Met Us"

All I can say is “wow.”

The Lord met us in so many ways over five days in St. Louis. He met us through Scripture, speakers, and seminars. He met us through prayer, worship, and drama. He met us through tracks, worship, and lounges.

At times, I felt like I was experiencing a foretaste of heaven. So much joy. So much rich fellowship. So much exaltation of Jesus.

The highlight of my week was speaking to the Student Leadership Track. Being with 525 campus leaders was so thrilling that I could barely contain myself! It gives me great hope for the future. I was also deeply moved by the AIDS Caregiver Kit assembly. Thanks to the staff who allowed me to go through the assembly line eight times.

While we can’t fully comprehend the extent of the Spirit’s work among us, my sense is that this was a very special Urbana. I suspect that twenty years from now, Urbana 12 participants will be spreading the Kingdom of God all over the globe – proclaiming the Good News, healing infirmities, fighting injustice, and discipling new believers.

Many deep commitments were made at Urbana 12:

To serve at least two years in missions – 4,224 (2,676 in 2009)
To lead an evangelistic Bible study – 6,434 (5,034 in 2009)
To follow Jesus for the first time or to make a recommitment – 96 & 3740

In addition, I praise God the sheer amount of resources mobilized: 32,000 AIDS caregiver kits, $800,000+ in offering, and social enterprises launched.

The comments of three exhibitors spoke volumes to me:

“I need to say this: BEST. URBANA. EVER.”
“Quality of students is the highest I’ve ever seen in all the four Urbanas I’ve been to.”
“Our high-quality conversations in this one Urbana surpassed the TOTAL of the previous two Urbanas combined!”

This conference is also likely to have an unexpectedly profound impact on our board of trustees for the next decade. Five prospective trustees attended and each was deeply touched. What a fabulous orientation!

Special thanks to the Urbana Leadership Team, with special kudos for Tom Lin (Urbana Director), Nikki Toyama-Szeto (Program Director), and Rob Knight (Urbana Operations Director). And thanks to all staff for recruiting, praying, teaching, and leading. Finally, a personal shout-out to Dora Yiu who assisted me all week.

A few of my favorite photos:

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AIDS Caregiver Kits Assembly

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 15:59:03 +0000

Press Room

December 29, 2012

AIDS Caregiver Kits Assembly

For Immediate Release

(St. Louis, MO)—Volunteer Caregivers who care for thousands living with HIV and AIDS in Swaziland and other African countries will receive Caregiver Kits assembled by 16,000 attendees at Urbana 12. Urbana 12 is ��Ƶ Christian Fellowship’s triennial Student Missions Conference, held at the Edward Jones Dome, December 27-31, 2012.

The kits include medical and hygiene items for the compassionate care of people living with HIV and AIDS in a part of the world that has borne the brunt of what has been called the largest humanitarian crisis of all time, and where access to basic health care is greatly limited. “The Caregiver Kits provide practical materials which bring dignity and comfort to those living with AIDS,” said Steve Haas, Vice President of World Vision, which is partnering with ��Ƶ on the project.

Over the past year World Vision saw 25,000 Caregiver kits assembled. During this one Saturday night at Urbana 12, another 32,000 kits were added to that total. Each Urbana attendee packed two kits and enclosed notes of encouragement and blessing for the kit recipient.

Items in the Caregiver Kits include antibacterial soap, antifungal cream, petroleum jelly, gauze pads, washcloths, and water purification sachets. The wholesale cost for the supplies in each kit totals over $20. After moving through the assembly line, each attendee took their assembled kits to a shipping container in the arena in which it is being shipped to Africa.

“Today’s college students are service oriented and volunteer oriented,” said Nikki Toyama-Szeto, Urbana’s Program Director. “At Urbana 12 we are challenging them to move beyond charity to identification with the needy. We hope that the Caregiver project will help them to understand that the gospel message needs to be both demonstrated and proclaimed in order to be effective.”

��Ƶ’s Urbana Student Missions Conference has been held every three years since 2006 in the Edward Jones Dome and the Americas Center in St. Louis. Before that it was held on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Urbana attendance since 1946—when ��Ƶ’s first missions conference was held in Toronto—totals more than 250,000.

��Ƶ Christian Fellowship is a campus ministry which has worked with students and faculty on U.S. campuses for more than 72 years. ��Ƶ has almost 900 chapters active on 576 U.S. colleges and universities, from the Ivy League to community colleges.

For more information:
Gordon Govier
��Ƶ Christian Fellowship
608-443-3688(o)
ggovier@intervarsity.org

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Urbana 12

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Students Find What They Seek at Urbana

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 19:56:28 +0000

Press Room

December 12, 2012

Students Find What They Seek at Urbana

For Immediate Release

(Madison, WI) --- Students who attend college to find meaning and purpose in life will sharpen their focus by attending ��Ƶ’s Urbana Student Missions Conference, which is held every three years between Christmas and New Years Day. Urbana 12 will be held December 27-31 at the America’s Center and Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.

Today’s students may differ from students of earlier years by the number of online classes they’ve taken, by their proficiency in social media, and perhaps by their level of concern over the amount of educational loan debt they’re carrying. But students still seek a career that will make a difference in today’s world. Providing answers for that search is what Urbana 12 is all about.

“Our vision is to catalyze students towards God’s global mission,” said Tom Lin, ��Ƶ’s Urbana Director and Vice President for Missions. “Over the years, God has uniquely used Urbana to help students to discern God’s calling for their lives.”

Three years ago at Urbana 09, a total of 4,990 attendees committed to follow God in short-term service of one week to two years. A total of 2,676 committed to follow God in long-term service, two years or longer.

At Urbana 12 students will be challenged by plenary speakers such as:

David Platt, pastor of the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama, and author of the book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream.
Chai Ling, author of Heart for Freedom, and founder of All Girls Allowed, a campaign to end the human rights violations caused by China’s One-Child Policy.
Terry LeBlanc, director of My People International, plus founding chair and current director of the North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies.
Ziel Machado, Free Methodist pastor from São Paulo, Brazil, and academic director of Servos de Cristo Theological Seminary.
Calisto Odede, senior pastor, Nairobi Pentecostal Church.

Beyond the plenary sessions there will be a huge array of tracks and seminars relating to missions, evangelism, and making a positive change in the world. Dozens of leading experts in these fields will be sharing their experiences at Urbana 12. This Urbana will also host many firsts, including a unique evening session that will move participants out of their seats to become active with missions issues, as well as a Launch Lab to try out missions innovations.

��Ƶ’s Urbana Student Missions Conference has been held every three years since 2006 at the America’s Center and Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. Before that it was held on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Urbana attendance since 1946—when ��Ƶ’s first missions conference was held in Toronto—totals more than 250,000.

��Ƶ Christian Fellowship has worked with students and faculty on U.S. campuses for more than 72 years, and has almost 900 chapters active at 576 U.S. colleges and universities.

For more information:
Gordon Govier
608-443-3688
ggovier@intervarsity.org

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Urbana 12

Missions

Urbana Through the Decades

AD-16225 — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 17:33:48 +0000

News

November 8, 2012

Alec Hill, President of ��Ƶ

Urbana Through the Decades

Along with 18,000 soon-to-be friends, I am excitingly gearing up for Urbana 12, ��Ƶ's triennial student missions conference that will be held in St. Louis, December 27-31, 2012.

Since 1946, ��Ƶ has hosted 22 student mission conferences, involving over a quarter of a million students. Yes, that’s 250,000+ Urbana alumni.

Billy Graham once observed that half of American missionaries can trace their vocational call — at least in part — to Urbana. Leaders of the Union of Evangelical Students of India (our sister student movement) estimate that two-thirds of North American missionaries now serving in India have been influenced by Urbana. And executives of Interserve, a leading mission agency, write that “close to 80% of our current field workers and candidates have attended an Urbana conference.”

One doesn't need to be a student to attend Urbana 12, although we focus on students. Any adult who is interested in acquiring a global perspective on how God is at work in the world, and how they can get involved, is welcome to attend.

To provide a historical perspective, I want to pay tribute to Urbana alumni from the past seven decades. While their stories represent only a fraction of the greater impact of the Conference, they do give a snapshot of Urbana’s amazing influence in the church and the world.

2000s — Nate Henn
Nate’s call to serve the disenfranchised became deeply rooted at Urbana. Soon thereafter, he volunteered to care for boy soldiers in Uganda. A former rugby player from the University of Delaware, the boys nicknamed him “Oteka,” meaning “the strong one.”

After a stint back in the United States to recruit more volunteers, he returned to Uganda in the summer of 2010. While watching the World Cup on TV with several of the boys at a restaurant, an al Qaeda affiliate exploded a bomb that killed him and several others. He was 25 years old.

His parents write: “Nate’s legacy is the pursuit of peace and a future for the children of Uganda. We glow with pride at the man he was, and while we mourn today, we will celebrate him forever.”

1990s — Michael Luo
Post Urbana, Michael followed God’s call into journalism, first with the Los Angeles Times and then with Newsday. At age 25, he became the youngest writer on the Associated Press’ staff, receiving the prestigious George Polk Award for Criminal Justice Reporting for articles that resulted in the freeing of three mentally retarded defendants.

Two years later, he became a features writer for the New York Times. Michael has covered political campaigns, Iraqi Christians, Medicare fraud, Hurricane Katrina, and many other subjects. Suffice to say, the media desperately needs more writers with his maturity and spiritual depth. Of all his articles, my favorite describes a fellow ��Ƶ alumnus, basketball player Jeremy Lin.

1980s – Brenda Salter McNeil
Recently recognized as one of Christianity Today’s “50 Women to Watch,” Brenda is a strong voice for racial reconciliation. For ��Ƶ staff who have known her for many years – as a student leader, campus staff worker, and Director of our Chicago Urban Project — it is a great joy to see her growing influence upon the church and American culture.

Brenda currently serves as a professor at Seattle Pacific University and is the author of two ��Ƶ Press books – A Credible Witness: Reflections on Power, Evangelism and Race and The Heart of Racial Justice: How Soul Change Leads to Social Change (co-authored with Rick Richardson).

1970s — Tim Keller
Tim is one of the most mature voices in American Christianity today. His church, Redeemer Presbyterian of New York City, is a remarkable urban congregation. His books, several of which have landed on New York Times Best Seller Lists, are highly influential. His global impact is extensive.

Tim became a Christian while at Bucknell University, due to the ministry of ��Ƶ Christian Fellowship, with which he later served as a staff member. Urbana also contributed to his commitments to evangelism, social justice, and God’s global purposes.

1950s — Barbara Boyd
Barbara attended 15 Urbanas, first as a student and later as an ��Ƶ staff member. Urbana’s emphasis upon expository preaching enhanced her love of Bible study. In 1964, she developed the Bible and Life Discipleship Training Program.

At its height, the Bible and Life program was used in every region of ��Ƶ/USA and most provinces of Inter-Varsity Canada. Over the past five decades, more than 100,000 students have been trained through Bible and Life. In addition, the program is currently being used in 26 sister student movements (within IFES) around the world.

The curricula focuses on the basics of Lordship, quiet time, evangelism, inductive Bible study, and how to disciple others. The values and practices of the program form the foundation for many of the multi-track weekend ��Ƶ training programs today.

What a legacy! Barbara is 90 years old and living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

1940s – Dave Howard
Now in his 80s, Dave is one of my favorite people. Energetic, Kingdom-focused, and global, he retains his commitment card from the very first Urbana in 1946 (shown below). Actually, since ��Ƶ’s first missionary conference was held in Toronto, Dave’s experience predates the move to Champaign-Urbana, Illinois two years later.

Over his long and fruitful missionary career, Dave served as a missionary to Costa Rica and Colombia, directed two Urbanas, and was president of both Latin America Mission and the World Evangelical Fellowship. He is quick to say that the 1946 Toronto conference deeply impacted the course of his life. He continues to advise and encourage Tom Lin, ��Ƶ’s Vice President of Missions and Director of Urbana 12.

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All Saints Day – Urbana 12 is Just 57 Days Away

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 19:01:19 +0000

Press Room

October 31, 2012

All Saints Day – Urbana 12 is Just 57 Days Away

For Immediate Release

All Saints Day, November 1^st, is the Christian holiday that commemorates those who throughout history have faithfully responded to God’s invitation to join his global mission. ��Ƶ’s Urbana Student Missions Conference renews that invitation every three years in a dynamic way for each college generation. Urbana 12, ��Ƶ’s Twenty-third triennial conference, will be held in St. Louis, MO, December 27-31, 2012.

“One of my favorite Urbana memories is singing ‘For All the Saints,’” says Urbana Program Director Nikki Toyama-Szeto. “It reminds us that those who have gone before us wrestled with Gods call. But they were faithful to respond, and God was with them.”

Urbana 12 will be similar to previous Urbana conferences in some basic ways:

The invitation to people to say yes to Jesus for the first time (for those who haven’t done so).
A call to this generation to give their lives fully to Jesus, and the invitation to cross cultural missional living.
A commitment to the full expression of the family of God, by men and women of many cultures.
A commitment to indigenity, learning from our global sisters and brothers how God is at work in their culture.

But each Urbana is different. The unique focus of Urbana 12 reflects the uniqueness of today’s college generation.

“Today’s college generation loves the world,” Nikki says. “They are service oriented and volunteer oriented. At Urbana 12 we will challenge them through Bible studies in the Gospel of Luke to move beyond charity to identification with the needy. We will challenge them that both demonstration and proclamation are needed for the gospel to be effective.”

Urbana 12 will offer more experiential activities to a generation that is more experientially oriented.

The Launch Lab offers innovators a chance to receive coaching from consultants for their ideas.
A Join-In conference-wide hands-on learning experience.
An Arts Lounge for artists to process their Urbana experience artistically.
An Exhibit Hall featuring more than 260 missions organizations and seminaries.
��Ƶ’s hands-on Manuscript Bible Study is a part of each day’s beginning.

“As the saints of previous generations have discovered, following Jesus is not a soft endeavor,” says Nikki. “He invites us to drop our nets into the deep, to take a step outside of the boat. And when we respond, He gives us incredible opportunities to advance His kingdom in new and exciting ways. There’s nothing else like it.”

For more information on Urbana 12 go to http://urbana.org/urbana-12. The next Urbana 12 registration pricing deadline is November 12, 2012.

Media Contact:
Gordon Govier
ggovier@intervarsity.org
608-443-3688

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Urbana 12

Urbana Campus Tour

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 19:55:28 +0000

Press Room

September 14, 2012

Urbana Campus Tour

For Immediate Release

(Madison, WI) -- ��Ƶ’s Urbana Student Missions Conference is not just another conference. Urbana is one of the longest running evangelical missions conferences in the U.S., used by God to send thousands of missionaries across the globe, and challenging hundreds of thousands of Christians to live missionally in the fields to which God has called them.

Urbana’s unique heritage will become more widely known this fall as ��Ƶ takes the Urbana experience on tour, visiting a dozen campuses from Boston to San Diego to introduce the themes of Urbana. These tour events will preview Urbana 12, ��Ƶ’s twenty-third student missions conference, which will be held December 27-31, 2012, at the America’s Center in St. Louis.

“Urbana is about connecting students with God’s global mission,” said Urbana Director Tom Lin. “Hundreds of thousands of students have responded to God’s mission in a multitude of ways since the first ��Ƶ missions conference in 1946. Today’s students are just as committed to changing their world and it’s still just as important to introduce them to God’s global mission.”

Lin will be speaking at the first Urbana: On Campus event on Friday, September 21, 2012, at his alma mater, Harvard University, along with Jim Martin of International Justice Mission. Speakers at other Urbana: On Campus events include ��Ƶ President Alec Hill, other ��Ƶ staff, and guest missionaries.

The Urbana: On Campus schedule:

Harvard University - September 21
Rutgers University - September 21
James Madison University - September 28
California Polytechnic State University - September 28
University of California Santa Barbara - October 5
Southern Illinois University Carbondale - October 11
Northwestern University - October 12
University of Toronto - October 12
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign - October 19
University of California San Diego - October 24
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill - October 25
Duke University - October 26

More information about Urbana: On Campus at https://urbana.org/urbana-12/urbana-campus.
Information about Urbana 12 at https://urbana.org/urbana-12.

Contact:
Bethany Horvath
Urbana Communications Director
608/443-4546
Bhorvath@intervarsity.org

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Urbana Scope – One Year Away

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:06:39 +0000

News

December 27, 2011

Gordon Govier

Urbana Scope – One Year Away

Paul Borthwick was 19 years old, attending his first Urbana Student Missions Conference, when he realized that God spoke with an accent. Listening to the Bible exposition of London pastor John R.W. Stott, Borthwick heard the gospel message explained for the first time from other than an American cultural perspective.

Getting a global perspective on how God is at work in the world, and responding to God’s global invitation, is what ��Ƶ’s Urbana Student Missions Conference is all about. The next Urbana conference begins one year from today at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.

A Global Sneak Peek

Because Paul is a missions consultant who travels the globe and also teaches at Gordon College in Massachusetts, he can offer a global sneak peak. He did that recently with ��Ƶ employees, before meeting with the rest of ��Ƶ’s Urbana leadership team to help plan the Urbana 12 conference.

"Somewhere between 1985 and 1987 the Bible believing church became predominantly non-white, non-western," Paul said. “Our faith is being molded by, and is molding, the cultures of the world. It challenges all of us when we're interacting globally to suspend some of our theological judgments to listen and try to understand how somebody else from another land is hearing the scriptures, maybe for the first time."

When Christians in other parts of the world consider American perspectives on the gospel they sometimes see naïve optimism, according to Paul. And that’s not necessarily a negative assessment. One group told him, "We need American zeal.”

Paul shared five observations about our globalized society and Christianity.

The world is young, restless, and uncertain. More than 50 percent of the world’s population is under the age of 25. "It's one of the reasons why your work in student ministry is so significant,” Paul said. “Because that is still the most moldable age, where people shape their world view and decide not only what kind of world they want to enter but what kind of world they want to help create." However, many of the world’s young people live in situations with little hope. “The church is the place where there is a message of hope” he added.
The Christian faith is non-white, non-western, and non-wealthy. "One of the great challenges we face in North American mobilization is the downsizing of our expectations and our American sense of entitlements,” Paul said. "Our faith also has to go hand and hand with poverty alleviation because the grim reality is a large number of the places where the gospel is growing the fastest are also the poorest."
The church is globalized, technologized, and lonely. “We are more connected than ever and our relationships are more superficial than ever,” Paul said.
We're living in a world of faiths in conflict. Paul noted that when he taught in Nigeria in September he discovered that every student he talked with knew someone who had been killed in the ongoing conflicts between Muslims and Christians in that country.
We live in a world of migrations and urbanization. “World religions used to be some exotic thing in other part of the world. Now, migration means we have a Hindu neighbor, a Buddhist coworker and a Muslim doctor,” Paul said. He added that African Christians are now planting churches in the U.S. and Europe. "The Redeemed Christian Church of God in Nigeria already has 500 churches across North America," he said.

Over the past century the Christian church has grown tenfold or greater in Africa. "On a global scale we are living in the fruits of the labors and sacrifices of the last 200 years of people who gave their lives to spread the gospel," Paul said. "In the 1880's there was scarcely a Christian in Korea. Now Korea is the second largest missionary sending country in the world."

More Perspectives

You can hear or download his complete talk here. At Urbana 09, Paul shared a similar overview, called Around the World in 60 Minutes. The world is shrinking and changing with increasing rapidity. There will be even more to share a year from now at Urbana 12 in St. Louis. More perspectives on Urbana 12 one year away will be shared this week on the ��Ƶ blog at www.intervarsity.org/blog.

Although ��Ƶ is primarily a US-focused campus ministry, world missions has always been one of our priorities. This is expressed through our triennial Urbana conferences, as well as through the relationships we maintain with the 155-plus campus ministries in other countries that make up the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. Those missions connections are growing stronger as we find ourselves in an increasingly globalized world.

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