“There’s nothing else like the Urbana Missions event,” said the Rev. George Stulac, Senior Pastor of Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Louis. “There really is nothing quite like the Urbana experience,” agreed professor Michael McClymond, chair of the Department of Historical Theology at St. Louis University.
Both men were speakers at a December 15th breakfast at the Missouri Athletic Club to formally celebrate the beginning of a partnership between InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and the Christian community of the St. Louis area, in preparation for the Urbana Student Mission convention that will be held in St. Louis, December 27-31, 2006. About 250 pastors and religious leaders from a great variety of denominations attended.
Both men said that their involvement with InterVarsity during college, and their attendance at an Urbana convention, were formative experiences in their lives. “I’m going to do everything I can to urge the people of my church to be involved in Urbana,” said pastor Stulac.
“Your attendance this morning is a huge confidence builder in the decision that we made,” said Alec Hill, president of InterVarsity. He said one of the biggest concerns about the relocation of the Urbana Convention from the campus of the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana to the America’s Center and Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis was the volunteers needed to make the event operate smoothly. InterVarsity will be relying on the Christian community to supply 2,000 to 3,000 volunteers for Urbana 06.
Jim Tebbe, InterVarsity’s vice president for Missions and the director of Urbana, noted that 2006 would be the 200th anniversary of the Haystack Prayer Meeting, a major impetus for mobilizing American Christians in world missions. “It’s all about students,” he said, noting that the Urbana conventions which began in 1946 were an ideological successor to the Haystack Prayer Meeting.
“Decisions that are made at Urbana change lives,” he said. “We’ve seen that in case after case, time after time.”
Speaking at another gathering later in the day, featuring city leaders and representatives of the city’s hospitality industry, Jim Tebbe said, “We would like to do something that establishes a relationship that’s a blessing to you.” President Alec Hill and other speakers stressed that InterVarsity was not coming to St. Louis just to put on a convention but to continue being a part of the St. Louis Christian community, as it has been with its campus ministry for the last 50 years.
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay paid tribute to the important contribution that churches and faith based groups make to the vibrancy of community life.
“You’re going to bring a lot of attention to St. Louis,” he told the InterVarsity leaders. “We’re excited to have you here and we support your efforts.”
Harold Hendrick, a pastor and KSIV radio program host, said “God has honored St. Louis by bringing Urbana here.” The Rev. Michael Jones, pastor of Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church, said “We have at least 1,000 young people in our church and we want to see them here.”
Also present for the day’s activities was Geri Rodman, president of InterVarsity Canada. “We have an interest in seeing our students shaped with a long lasting faith that walks the talk,” she said. “We’re thrilled to be coming to St. Louis.”
InterVarsity expects from 25,000 to 30,000 attendees at the Urbana Student Mission Convention at the end of 2006. Registration for Urbana 06 will open soon.
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Listen to the breakfast
