FRIDAY 12/28/12
- 0630 - Woke up
- 0650 - Went down and got breakfast. (Breakfast usually consisted of a danish/pastry, yogurt, a fruit, and juice).
- 0830 - Went to inductive bible study; met two people from the Philippines
- 1030 - Went to first morning session. Bible expositor Calisto Odede. Sat w/ UWIV
- 1230 - Picked up lunch from ABP, ate at the hotel, relaxed and took a nap.
- 1400 - Went to seminar, tried to go to "What it take to transform a city" but it was full. Went to "Politics!? Why bother?" instead.
- 1530 - Went to Pastors & Church Leaders (PC) seminar on "How Can the Local Church Help Young Adults Interested in Going into Missions?" by Ken Fong, Paul Borthwick, Mauricio Alvarez, and Janet Clark.
- 1630 - Returned to the hotel to take a nap.
- 1800 - Went to America's Center (AC) for dinner.
- 1830 - Dinner at the AC (Dinner consisted of BBQ Chicken sandwich, mac'n'cheese, an apple or orange, water, and a chocolate cake).
- 1850 - Went to Edward Jone's Dome for first evening session.
- 1930 - Evening session 1 - Chai Ling and David Platt. Sat w/ UWIV
- 2230 - Returned to Hotel for first Roommate Huddle; great conversations taking place during roommate huddle, went well past midnight.
- 0100 - Sleep, Matt didn't get back til late.
SATURDAY 12/29/12
- 0800 - Woke up
- 0840 - Went to inductive bible study. Met Austin from Bellevue, but studying somewhere on the east coast. Two others from Michigan. Long passage, not enough time for it all!
- 1030 - Went to morning session with Calisto Odede. Tired today, harder to stay awake. Ordered lunch from Jimmy John's online and had them deliver. Sat w/ UWIV
- 1230 - Ran back to the hotel to meet Jimmy John's delivery guy. Got lunch for everyone minus Kristine and Susie. Had lunch in the room, met Shane. Jesse threw slipper at Matt, apparently reminiscent of Kenya.
- 1400 - Went back to AC to try get in on seminar "Theology of Suffering". Room didn't even have standing room as the seats, aisles, every available space was filled and the crowd spilled out into the hallway trying to listen.
- 1430 - Went back to the hotel to pick up stuff for the next seminar.
- 1450 - Left for next seminar at the Millenium Hotel (roughly 8 blocks from the AC).
- 1500 - Got to Millenium, saved seat for Austin. Good thing too, seminar was packed, not even standing room available
- 1530 - Seminar on "Responding to the New Atheism". Very knowledgeable speaker, covered a lot of material. Favorite quote "I am appalled at the lack of intellectual knowledge among Evangelical Christians." Being a Christian doesn't mean you have to forsake knowledge!
- 1645 - Went back to the hotel for a nap.
- 1800 -Went to AC for dinner
- 1840 - Dinner at the AC, Tacos/Burritos/not sure which... for dinner. Refried beans, and I forget what else. Refried beans tasted like water and cardboard... First time in my life that I can remember having a gag reflex from eating something. Churro was good though!
- 1930 - World Vision Care-Giver packages -16,000 students packing 32,000 caregiver kits filling two cargo containers with boxes of kits, all under 2 hours! Amazing experience, like witnessing a miracle in action! Sat w/ UWIV. Stambo sat behind us!
- 2230 - Went back to hotel for roommate huddles! Ordered pizza too. Pizza never tasted so good. So much to talk about during roommate huddles... everything we learned from seminars, barely getting to talking about what God's been convicting us of.
- 0230 - Sleep. Matt was a bit hyper tonight. Austin got some funny videos.
SUNDAY 12/30/12
- 0800 - Woke up
- 0845 - Went to inductive Bible study. Met Adrial from San Jose (goes to school in Rhode Island), Priscilla and Sarah from Toronto, Canada. Fun bible study group! Got heckled by Canadians afterwards for not knowing how many provinces Canada has... Americans really are a bit dense... should change that!
- 1030 - Went to morning session, this time by Ram Sridharan on the Parable of the Lost Son. God-gifted preacher who gave a stunning Gospel presentation. 96 people met Jesus for the first time this morning, with hundreds more recommitting to Him. The Heavens rejoiced, Urbana privileged to join them. Urbana tribe challenged to meet $1,000,000 in offerings towards global missions. Came close! Sat w/ Wintersburg/Orchard valley peeps.
- 1230 - Ordered Jimmy John's delivery again, picked it up from the Renaissance Grand Hotel lobby, where the 2pm seminar was taking place. Ate lunch in the Majestic Ballrooms with Matt, Matt, Austin, Garrett, and Allison.
- 1400 - David Platt's seminar on "The Life of a Disciple-Making Disciple". Convicting and challenging seminar. David Platt's message is not an inherently new one to Christianity, but he presents it in a fresh and challenging way. Calls for Disciples to live out as the Bible has called them to, challenging the luke-warm, self-focused attitude of the North American Church.
- 1500 - Stayed in the same room for the PC seminar on "How Can the Church Keep Different Generations of Members Engaged in Missions?" with James Choung, Leroy Barber, Helen Lee, and David Platt. Appreciated the Pastors and Church Leaders track, getting to hear the experiences from the various speakers and leaders who have come to Urbana. More casual and intimate setting than the other seminars or messages they gave. Q&A time was a blast. Met David Platt (rather unintentionally) afterwards as I was leaving. Got to shake his hand. Tempted to not ever wash that hand again, but no idol worship. Great guy, very humble, and incredible speaker. Passion for Jesus so present and clear.
- 1700 - Matt took me back to AC to audition with CTI. Made contacts, met folks, now to follow up and fill out my Sound Tech questionnaire. Seriously considering a year-long commitment with them...
- 1800 - Went to worship room until it closed at 1830, then went to dinner. Dinner tonight was pasta with red sauce, salad, bread stick and an apple or orange. Not too bad!
- 1930 - Profoundly powerful evening session. Heard testimonies from pastors/missionaries from Brazil. Learned how the four points of the compass have been reached with God's word. But there remain 6,000 people groups who have yet to hear the Gospel. Our mission is far from complete! But the word of Jesus is going forth. Nations which were once the focus of global missions have themselves becomes the senders of global missionaries. Sat w/ Wintersburg/Orchard Valley peeps.
- First ever total media blackout over Urbana session. Speaker came from a war-torn country where being Christian is a death-sentence. Blackout was to protect those still involved in the ministry. For their protection, no details of names or places will be given. The speaker wasn't the powerful speaker that David Platt or Calisto are, more soft spoken. But her testimony is absolutely riveting. Ask me about it and I'll take you to coffee. Her testimony broke my heart and gave me the courage for the commitment card.
- Commitment cards tonight... mine was terrifying to write. So much to give up. So much more to gain. So many 'I don't knows' involved. Yet God is worth following. Evening speaker: "The first suffering man must endure in following Christ is the abandonment of attachments." We must give up our rights to our hopes, dreams and longings for our future and lay our lives fully in the hands of Christ. We must die in every sense of the word to live in Christ. Her husband died in the country they were missionaries in back in 2010, received an award from the President for it. This night she said "[my husband] didn't die in 2010, he died that night at Urbana in 1967 when he whispered 'yes' to Jesus."
- So much more to say... reflections to come later.
- 2300 - Roommate huddles back at the hotel. So much to talk about... so much left unsaid. Ordered pizza again. Josh came to hang out for a bit. Had lotsa laughs from Matt's antics the night before.
- Follow up conversations needed!
- 0330 - Sleep, after much Holy Spirit filled conversation. Plenty of time to catch up on sleep after Urbana. =P
MONDAY 12/31/12
- 0900 - SLEEP IN DAY! Woke up for bible study. Went to Bible study a bit late. Started at 9:15, got there maybe 10 mins late. Bible study w/ Canadians again! Sarah and met Diana and Melody this time. Shared brief testimony about Urbana journey. Guess God's really pointing me in a direction someone says I've been running from. The calling was affirmed over and over again. Time to stop pulling a Jonah... but not sure what it means yet.
- 1130 - Last morning session with Calisto. Sat w/ UWIV. Ran into Hilly after morning session!
- 1230 - Went with Jesse and Austin to the Rooster for lunch. Got a delicious sirloin crepe... so good. Home made tomato jam and chips.
- 1400 - Went back to the hotel to take care of transportation logistics to the airport. God was at work. No major issues with transportation to or from Urbana. God delivered on many prayers.
- 1500 - Was gonna only take a short nap and go back to prayer rooms... ended up napping until 5:00pm.
- 1700 - Went to AC to get in line for the Dome for the New Years Eve session. Austin ordered Jimmy John's for us.
- 1830 - Doors opened, managed to snag seats on the floor. Sat with Wintersburg. UWIV managed to get 40 seats near the front. Floor filled up before most people finished dinner. Final evening session kicked off. President of IVCF Canada shared. A number of dances and dramas (they were amazing throughout the conference). Had an hour break, started up again around 8 or 9. Went through some more dramas and highlights from the conference. Terry LeBlanc from First World Nations shared. Then we partook of communion as a whole. Process went until 11:30 pm. Went into a time of worship, worshiped and celebrate Jesus through the countdown. Videos to follow. First words of 2013 were singing praise to Jesus in Hindi. Our God is an amazing God.
TUESDAY 01/01/13
- 0100 - Returned to the hotel. Filled everyone in on the transportation plan to the airport. Shuttle would take the 11 who had a 6 am flight. Jesse, Austin and I gave up our seats to let Allison, Kelsey and Rebecca catch their flights. We would take the metro later. (Everyone made their flights and made it home!). Prayed over the group, then went to pack. Kristine ordered pizza again! Our nightly celebration. Bad for me though, gonna have to run it off in the next few days! Hung out upstairs in with the Wintersburg peoples for awhile, was a blessing to meet new people or reconnect with old friends.
- 0230 - Went back to my room to pack, shower and get ready to go.
- 0330 - Group met downstairs in the lobby to check out of the hotel and get on the shuttle. Counted everyone off onto the shuttle, said bye! Then went back upstairs around 4:15am. Hung out with Janell and Matt Y. for a bit. Jesse and Austin napped. Went back downstairs to check out around 4:45 am. Met Christina from Oregon (studying in Texas) while checking out. She was going to catch the metro too, but didn't have anyone to go with. We offered to walk with her since it was the middle of the night.
- 0450 - Left Crown Plaza Downtown for the last time. Walked 4 blocks north to the metro station. Found out the Urbana guides and stewards stayed out on the streets all night to help shepherd and watch over the Urbana people going home.
- 0520 - Boarded the Metro to the airport. Lots of other Urbana people on the train going too.
- 0600 - Arrived at the airport, checked in, and made it to our gates w/o much trouble. Everyone exhausted. Saw Rebecca and gotta chat to her a bit before she got on her flight.
- 0750 - Boarded our flights to Chicago!
- 0815 - Left St. Louis! Met Brenda on the flight, was an Urbana volunteer, helped coordinate the guides and the security volunteers. Learned about potential future opportunities to serve at Urbana 15. Maybe.
- 0900 - Arrived in Chicago - sunny skies and no snow! Couple hours for a layover, ended up knocking out for about an hour and a half. Didn't realize I'd fallen asleep for that long. Thanks for Jesse keeping an eye out.
- 1100 - Boarded flight to Seattle!
- 1130 - Took off for Seattle! Slept the entire flight.
- 1330 - Arrived in Seattle. Arrived at the mission field.
Home is yet to come, I have so much to reflect upon. May the Holy Spirit stir and speak over the next few days.
