"it will change your life"

This is the first in a series of posts written while I was at the Urbana 09 conference last month.

Urbana 09, Part I

I’m writing tonight from a well-appointed hotel room in the heart of St. Louis, MO. I can see the arch from my window, and my imagination flies to Tom Sawyer whenever I think about the river running below it.

I’m in St. Louis for Urbana, a huge missions conference that takes place here every three years. About 17,000 college-and-twenty-somethings are in town to spend a week learning about Christianity, global missions, justice, evangelism, and all kinds of related issues. There are entire seminar tracks about art and music, domestic poverty, justice, environmentalism, academia, and about fifteen other topics. 2/3 of the countries of the world are represented. Virtually every missions organization has a booth in the exhibition center.

Everyone says Urbana will change your life. I’m not really sure what that means for me, but I’m excited to find out.

The theme for Urbana this year is John 1:14, which happens to be one of my favorite verses of all time.

“God became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only, who came down from the Father full of grace and truth.”

Poetry. Power. Life. And the word “dwelling,” which rocks.

Over the next five days, we’ll be studying John chapters 1-4 in large and small group sessions, hearing expositional sermons on each section, attending seminars, visiting themed lounges for people with varied interests, spending time in prayer rooms, hearing from missionaries and storytellers, exploring missions agencies and opportunities, and meeting with small groups – in my case my two roommates – to spend time discussing and praying about what we’re learning and hearing from God.

That’s the other thing that people say about Urbana – it’s like trying to drink from a fire hydrant.

I’m excited to worship with 17,000 believers. I’m excited to hear about what is going on in the world. I’m excited to be focused outside myself to the greater kingdom of God. And I’m excited about being challenged to participate in the kingdom in ways I’m not quite prepared for.

God became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

It doesn’t get much better than that. And yes, it’s going to change my life.



PS: And yes, I’m excited about all the books that are 25-75% off in the InterVarsity Press bookstore