Six months ago today waves of more than 20,000 men and women converged on the Edward Jones Dome and The America’s Center in St. Louis for InterVarsity’s Urbana 06 Student Missions Convention. It was the first Urbana convention held outside of Urbana, Illinois, in 60 years. Following an intense five day Urbana 06 missions immersion, the 20,000 returned to their homes, their campuses, and their careers, stirred to respond to the Urbana theme, “Live a life worthy of the calling.”
The five days of Urbana 06 were like a pebble in the pond that sent out ripples which will be felt across the globe for months and years to come. Or, as Urbana director Jim Tebbe put it in this week’s Urbana Next Steps Email, “We worked hard and gave you a five-day convention, but the real story is yours — what you do with the calling you have received.”
The Urbana Next Steps Email has a link to MSearch, Urbana’s online service that connects those who are interested in pursing missions with people and organizations that offer service opportunities and training in cross-cultural ministry. There are also links to audio and video of the Urbana 06 plenary sessions, the Urbana 06 photo gallery, and the personal stories of some of the Urbana 06 participants who have written about the affect Urbana 06 has had on their lives.
In an article that’s included in the Next Steps Email, InterVarsity’s Global Projects Director, Scott Bessenecker, offers some scriptural counsel for those who are wrestling with the dimensions of the calling they experienced at Urbana 06. In his article, Put on your Bridal Gown, Scott answers the question, “What should you be doing if you’re not pursuing a ‘call’ to overseas missionary service?”
The Email also includes a recap of the Urbana 06 workshop that pastor and author Rick Warren offered for mission-minded pastors, Called to Lead A Missional Church. “It takes unselfish people to grow a church,” he told the pastors. “It is only when you start sharing with others that a church becomes a missional church. Churches often fail this goal, instead opting to choose to be cool or hip rather than effective.”
You can also find out more about some of the unusual stories behind Urbana 06 attendees, such as Ovey Okara, a PhD. student in molecular biology from Nigeria; Samuel Varghese, a pastor who traveled 30 hours from India to St. Louis to attend Urbana 06; and Maria Messina, who was introduced to InterVarsity and Urbana as a student at the University of California-Santa Cruz and is now a missionary with Servant Partners at a Los Angeles church.
There’s also a summary of Kevin Blue’s Urbana 06 workshop, Justice 201. Kevin is internship director of Servant Partners, an international holistic church planting organization. “If we desire true transformation, it must be centered on the King,” he said. “We need people who live above the powers and principalities.”
In the six months since Urbana 06 some attendees have made giant strides towards responding to God’s call. Others are just getting started. The story of Urbana 06 did not end at midnight on December 31st. It continues on. And on.
