What does it take to host nearly 20,000 Urbana participants for five days between Christmas and New Years? The answer: a lot of highly organized staff and volunteers. Urbana director Jim Tebbe and Urbana team members hosted around 50 staff from the convention center, local hotels, and the Convention and Visitor’s Commission, at a reception at The America’s Center in St. Louis on Wednesday, May 23, 2007. They felt it was important to express InterVarsity’s appreciation for the critical role they played in the success of Urbana 06, InterVarsity’s 21st Student Missions Convention. Without the dedicated partnership of hundreds of St. Louis-area hospitality professionals, Urbana 06 would not have been such a success.
The Urbana 06 convention last December was the first InterVarsity Student Missions Convention held away from the campus of the University of Illinois since 1946. Throughout the planning process the Urbana 06 team was welcomed and assisted by St. Louis-based staff who helped Urbana to smoothly transition from a campus environment to its new downtown venue.
Urbana 06 was not simply another conference. One of its prime objectives was to motivate students to participate in cross-cultural missions. Testimonies from students who made life-changing decisions at Urbana 06 were cited in the brief thank-you program. Copies of the InterVarsity Press book i>Finding God in the Questions by Dr. Timothy Johnson were offered to each reception attendee.
Although the reception was not elaborate, “in numerous individual conversations, we were told again and again that this was the first time something like this had ever been done and how much it was appreciated,” Jim said. It was a very emotional event for some who attended, as some of the Urbana team had formed close friendships with many people they worked with in St. Louis. “I continue to marvel at how Urbana is still being used even long after the event,” he added.
Many whose lives were affected by attending Urbana stay connected through the website, urbana.org. In a poll asking about “the most compelling challenge from Urbana 06,” one third of respondents have answered “align my life with God’s calling for me.” Another one third have answered “interdependency & reciprocity in the global church.” Audio and video reports from Urbana 06 are available for listening and viewing at urbana.org.
