At least 20,000 Urbana 06 attendees have sat in on plenary sessions this week, and were fed spiritually through song and praise and dance − all for the cause of Christ.
Most will leave Monday with the desire to carry the flame from St. Louis and keep it burning back home.
Many attendees said they have had life-changing moments listening to the work being done in Africa, the slums, the urban core of this host city, and speakers like Brenda Salter McNeil, Ajith Fernando, Saul Cruz and Bono.
Robert Printz, a junior at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, met Dave, a homeless man, on the corner of Fourth and Market, while walking to a seminar with two friends, Tina Forstrom and Maureen Calderon, on Friday afternoon.
Keeping his head down, Dave asked for change.
“He was pretty disengaged,” said Printz. “We walked past, but after 20 feet, we went back.”
After the students asked if he was hungry, Dave asked if the students could buy him a meal. Calderon bought food from a Chinese restaurant while Printz and Forstrom talked to him.
“I tried to go deeper,” said Printz. “I asked if he had a purpose.” The students, who volunteer with The OtherSide, a homeless outreach ministry in Milwaukee, still felt awkward in the situation. However, Printz considers the conversation to be what Urbana director Jim Tebbe referred to as a “knees-wet” experience in the first plenary session on Wednesday night.
“I’ll remember Dave,” said Printz. “I’ll remember my own discomfort in the situation.”
Other students’ memories will be shaped by the discomfort of hunger after the corn-soy meal typically fed to those in Africa who suffer from AIDS and starvation. Ian Fung, a student from Cornell University, said, “Eating the porridge last night [Friday] was definitely a knees-wet moment.”
Katie Archibald-Woodward, senior at Willamette University in Oregon, said she will take home the lessons learned in an Ephesians Bible Study on Saturday morning. The study focused on removing greed and immorality.
“I was convicted by the way that I buy products – such as coffee, comfort food, and clothing – to bring me comfort that only God can supply. I thought back on what I had. What I have is enough right now.
“I’ve learned even to be careful about language such as ‘I need this’ and ‘I have nothing to wear,’’’ she said. “I don’t need these temporary pleasures to satisfy me. Christ lives in me; he satisfies.”
Taking lessons back to familiar environments can be a challenge. Or a calling.
Jayne Jang, a student at Georgetown, said she wished that her non-Christian friends could have attended: “The sadness turned into conviction to go back and share with them.”
“The real follow-up happens in community,” said Paul Grant, editor of urbana.org. “It’s important to take Urbana home to parents, pastors and siblings – people who know you and invest in your spiritual being. Urbana is great, but there are 22,000 people, so it’s hard to get too personal.”
InterVarsity Communications Director Scott Wilson echoes the importance of community. God created us for relationships, he said, and through interaction with others, Christians can be challenged and encouraged in their faith.
“From Genesis onward, we see that God never designed us to live alone,” Wilson said. He recommends delegates get involved with other people who share their ideas and beliefs and can help them grow.
Other ways Urbana staff assist delegates after the convention is through www.urbana.org. Living out lessons from Urbana will be a process unique to every participant.
As she is about to go home, Jang takes strength from a phrase from Brenda Salter McNeil’s presentation on Thursday.
“Whatever God wants, that’s what I want, and I want to say yes every step of the way,”
Rachel Kolander is a student at Wisconsin Lutheran College. Tessa Schweigert is a student at Boise State University. Jamie Gentner, a student at Biola University, also contributed to this story. They were three of the 22 students from across the country who made up the staff of the daily newspaper of the Urbana convention in a project co-sponsored by InterVarsity and World Journalism Institute. Each issue of the newspaper is posted online at www.urbana.org. Photo of Bucknell senior Tabitha Smith is by James Farlow.
