InterVarsity’s Urbana 06 Student Missions Convention, December 27-31, 2006, in St. Louis, was a large, multi-faceted, event that transcends simple description. With this article we offer you a variety of perspectives.
Two nights before he was scheduled to deliver a plenary address at Urbana 06, Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren was invited by ABC News to be a guest on Good Morning America. On the morning of December 29, in a live satellite hook-up from a church on the campus of St. Louis University, Rick Warren fielded several questions about spiritual trends in America. Then, to wrap up, news anchor Bill Weir queried, “What’s your spiritual message for 2007?”
“Number one,” Warren said, “turn to God and give your life purpose.” He paused for a second, and then mentioned a large group of men and women who had come to St. Louis as a part of that specific mission.
“Right now in St. Louis, I’m with 22,000 young people at InterVarsity’s Urbana conference, young men and women who are committing their lives to Christ and to serving humanity in an unbelievable way. I call them the Reformation generation. I see a trend of growing spirituality.”
Urbana director Jim Tebbe summed up Urbana 06 a little differently at a concluding news conference. “There’s a seriousness of purpose here that surprised me,” he said. He offered the example of the corn/soy porridge that was served for the evening meal on December 29. The purpose of the porridge was to help attendees identify with the millions of people who experience hunger as part of their daily life, especially AIDS victims. The convention center staff was certain that college students would not eat it but Tebbe said that there was less food wasted at that meal than at any other dinner during Urbana.
The significance of Urbana 06 will be worked out in the individual life of each Urbana attendee. One of this Urbana’s effects will be a growing number of similar missions conventions in dozens of countries in the years ahead. Attendance in the Urbana director’s track, for those planning similar conferences in other countries over the next three years, topped three dozen.
Urbana 06 attendees brought with them a spirited devotion to God that was expressed enthusiastically during worship times. Some of them shot video of the Urbana worship with their cell phones or their cameras and posted it to YouTube. (Go to www.youtube.com and search on Urbana.)
Videos were also posted on YouTube to orient participants in Urbana’s Slum Commmunities of the Developing World track, led by Scott Bessenecker, director of InterVarsity’s Global Projects (search on Bessenecker). Five hundred Urbana attendees experienced Urbana in community with each other, operating with special rules to help them identify with the poor and oppressed of the developing world. The rules included no showers for the five days of Urbana.
Streaming audio and video of each day’s sessions, along with a gallery of daily photos, can be accessed at www.urbana.org. Sessions include a serial drama, dance performances, compelling testimonies, Twentyonehundred videos, the inspiring Bible expositions of Ajith Fernando, and the unconventional announcements created by Urbana emcee Greg Jao.
Each issue of the daily newspaper of the convention, with articles written by a volunteer staff of journalism students from around the country, is also posted at www.urbana.org. Articles include the unique stories of some of the attendees, as well as stories from the Urbana 06 Exhibition Hall, where 270 missions organizations and seminaries had booths.
Daily Urbana 06 news releases and stories are posted at www.intervarsity.org, describing the contributions made by plenary speakers such as Oscar Muriu, Brenda Salter McNeil, Rick Warren, Lisa Espineli Chinn, Ray Bakke, Saul Cruz and Jim Tebbe, as well as special guest speakers Kay Warren, Princess Zulu, and Bono who were a part of the extended session focusing on AIDS. Another release covers the Open for Business track, which awarded cash prizes in a contest for missional business plans. Links to news coverage of Urbana by other media can be found at InterVarsity in the News.
At the staff banquet before Urbana 06, Jim Tebbe compared InterVarsity’s Urbana preparations to the work of the prophet Elijah in I Kings 18. Elijah built an altar to God on Mt. Carmel, stacked it with firewood, and then stood back to watch God light the fire. “We’ve been dragging in firewood,” he said. “Now, Lord send your Spirit.” The goal was that people who came to Urbana 06 with a sense of expectancy would not be disappointed. The early evidence is that they were not.
