Jonathan and I began to talk, and I asked him how he began to grow interested in God. I asked him when he was saved. As he began sharing his story, I realized that there was no actual commitment time, but a growing curiosity and love for God.
People are questioning the basics of the Christian faith. The Da Vinci Code is extremely popular as both a book and a film. What is our response? Is The Da Vinci Code fact or fiction?
Jim Tebbe, InterVarsity's vice president of missions and director of Urbana, believes that part of the reason for the early interest in Urbana 06 is the current student generation's concern for justice and making the world a better place.
Christy Klippel, the campus staff member at Purdue-Calumet, does conversational evangelism on campus every Tuesday afternoon. Recently, she started a conversation with a student who was sitting at the table sponsored by the Social Justice Club in the university commons and ended up with an invitation to speak to a whole classroom full of students.
Paul wanted the Philippians to be a vibrant church, growing in the Lord and declaring his Word. "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ" (Phil 1:9-10). Bill and Beth McConnell wanted the same thing for the Brazilian Christians with whom they worked. God used InterVarsity to prepare Bill and Beth for their work in Brazil.
Last year, all 800 students in the Governor's residence hall at the University at Buffalo woke up on the Tuesday after Easter to find colored plastic Easter eggs outside their doors. Inside each egg was a piece of candy, a Scripture verse, and an invitation to an InterVarsity sponsored game night.
A small contingent attending InterVarsity's Urbana 06 Student Missions Convention next December in St. Louis will be from Christian groups outside the U.S. that are planning their own student missions conventions.