This Changes Everything…
Indianapolis Christmas Conference Dec.28-Jan.1
Along with a couple thousand college students and 500 staff from around the Midwest, our family gathered in Indianapolis for 4 days. We met with the Lord and each other through dynamic worship, Biblical teaching, concerts and reflective times individually and with our campuses centered around the reality that the gospel changes everything… It was a wonderful reminder of what we celebrated at Christmas: Jesus Christ entered time and space to live as one of us and redeem us from our rebellion against God. I’ve included some snapshots from a couple speakers and activities below.
Beth Guckenberger: Sovereignty
“The same God that did not heal my father, the same one that took my Dad, healed my son… God is sovereign, God is holy, and he is not to be fully understood.” These words from Beth’s talk still resonante with my heart on a daily basis. She hit the closest to home because the same God that did not heal my body to prevent our infertility is the same God that gave us the gift of our son, Martel. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away and he is worthy of our worship, honor and adoration in the midst of a world broken by sin. Along with Beth, we too can affirm Job’s words, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” Job 1:21
Jaime George: Humanity’s Need
“God is waking us up to the truth of the Kingdom.” “We are wired to want a king, we all want to follow someone.” but “We have the tendency to fashion God into our own image.” and “We miss why Jesus came.” These fallen conditions, “the mutual human condition that contemporary believers share with those for or by whom the text was written,”1 undergirded Jaime George’s teachings on John and reminded us of our need for God’s gracious work through Jesus Christ on the cross. I am thankful for this powerful picture of God’s gracious acts toward his people.
God at Work
IndyCC is also a great reminder of God at work through our ministry and in advancing his kingdom throughout the world. In a world and culture that wants us to believe the gospel is irrelevant, IndyCC did a wonderful job of displaying how the God of the Bible and his story of redemption is real and changing the lives of people on their campuses and across the world.
1,756 college students participated in the conference. During our day of outreach, most of those students received training in summarizing the gospel and engaging people in conversations about it. That afternoon the students were given the opportunity to use that training in partnership with local churches. Our students went out into the local communicty and talked to 2,418 people, shared Christ with 945 people, helped 88 people receive Christ for the first time and connected 538 of those people to their local churches.
It’s a blessing to be a part of helping local churches engage with people they may not otherwise have the resources to reach and to give students a vision for their involvement in the local church back home, on campus and following graduation.
A Michigan Student’s Perspective…
“Being the third time coming to Indy CC, I really felt that I wanted to dive into the sessions and learn more about what I can take back to campus to grow our movement. One thing that I found that was encouraging… when it seems our movement isn’t as strong as others, is just knowing that Cru as a whole across the country and across the world is moving so well. –David, a junior at U-M
- safe travels for our students and staff
- staff and student leaders to connect well with new students and underclassmen
- students to process what it look likes to walk with the Lord for a lifetime
- beach goers engaged in conversations with our students to respond to the gospel