Two weekends ago I got to go with our college students to Fall Conference at a Christian summer camp in the area. I even drove 3 of them to the conference. The weather was cold and rainy but we were all excited to see what God would do.
The conference theme was talking about the story of the Great Banquet and how Jesus has offered us an invitation to come. We talked about what makes bad parties and what makes good parties. How Jesus attended both and how in the Great Banquet story Jesus was at the house of a prominent Pharisee and then told this story.
We talked about how we can be welcoming and friendly to people on campus inviting them to see what Jesus is all about. It reminds me of the story of the women in the well in Samaria where Jesus goes just to that specific place to talk with her. There is a beautiful representation of this on the Chosen show (Season 1, Episode 8) Then she goes to her community that scorned her and tells them, you have seen me all my life and know me. Come, see for yourselves who this Jesus person is. The thing that keeps coming up for me is the “come and see,” it is a beautiful non-threatening or confrontational way of inviting others in with a peaceful mindset.
There was a lot going on this year at Fall Conference. I felt like my first time (last year) I felt like I had to be everywhere at once and talk to everyone quickly. I even asked God the question: “Am I in the right place? Is this where I need to be?” I ruminated on that question and He answered on the 3rd day of the conference. I very distinctly heard/felt Him say through a student I hadn’t talked to the whole time the student looked directly at me and said, “You are a leader, you are meant to lead.” It was a powerful God moment in which He again used someone else to speak to me directly. This year I asked the question: “Where is my place at the table?” I didn’t ruminate on that question as I wanted to this year, and I still haven’t gotten an answer to it yet, but this week I plan on ruminating on it and waiting for God’s answer.
A tradition at Fall Conference is the international snack night hosted by all of the international students on the different campuses in the Pacific Northwest. Intervarsity is on a lot of different campuses across this region. We had students from Seattle, Tacoma, Oregon and Idaho. I even saw a treat from Honduras (it was of course plantain chips, so good!) Everyone gets so excited to try snacks from all over the world. Every different snack would have a place card of the country it was from. At the end the students would write everyone’s name in either Chinese, Japanese or Korean. It was pretty interesting. I was also told that my name (which usually doesn’t translate to many languages well), was pretty popular in Japan. So that is cool! I talked with our Pacific Islander students and they were saying they were trying to get people in their bible study to do a service project together. I was very proud of them, all of the students I have met have really big hearts for the world around them and it is very encouraging to me personally.
During a long free time on Saturday there were games in the gym, study hall for students who needed to do homework, practicing dance moves for the karaoke night, or just spending much needed time with friends or the group that they came with.
There were sessions where we dove deep into the meaning of the Great Banquet and worshipped God as well. The worship team was so good! We got to sing many different songs and even sang in other languages: Spanish, Swahili, and Hawaiian. This is always impactful to me as it proves that all nations on Earth praise God’s name.
In the middle of worshipping we sang one last note, “Amen,” and the power dramatically went out. It was scary at first because it was so sudden. Then it turned into an awesome God moment. We could have ended things right then and there but we decided to keep going. We brought out the flashlights and sang the chorus one more time and continued our message for the evening. It was a unique bonding experience with the students. We all came together to continue to worship God even when the enemy was trying to darken our spirits.
I prayed in the back with students which was incredible. I really enjoyed doing that for them. There is something really special that happens for the students but also in my heart when I pray for them. I don’t get to know their full story that is between them and God, but I get a small glimpse into who these students are and every time they came up to me I would ask their names and then listen to them, really listen (someone wise recently told me that listening is a skill, that really listening is a gift that is important), to them and then I would say their name before God and pray with them. I like t remember all of the students that I pray for. I may forget what they look like but I remember their names and what they prayed for. It is a special honor that God has entrusted me with working with the college students that I take very seriously and I am humbled by it. The students were going through so many different things and there were even 13 people who said yes to Jesus that night! How awesome is that?! We had also told the students you have a choice you can either say yes to Jesus and the light or say no to Jesus and say yes to the darkness there is no in-between grey area. God asks us to choose one or the other, but it is your choice to make.
As a staff we had to come up with a plan to get all the students to a different spot on the camp so they could have power. One side of camp did not have any power and then other side did. So we took our lanterns, and guided the students to safety. Thank goodness the wind wasn’t blowing as furiously as it had been during this part. It was raining pretty hard though. It was a cool moment though as I felt like I was glimpsing what Jesus did in His ministry leading people out of darkness and into the light, praying over people, being amongst them, eating with them. It was just an interesting moments that God showed me that weekend.
I attended a small talk about hosting a peace feast. It was an interesting idea that I want to use on the campus that I work with. It was first started to foster relationships with Christian and Muslim students on campus and in communities that traditionally have had tensions because of their differences in their religions and cultures. This was a way to bridge that gap meeting on a neutral space and then having a guided discussion group with specific questions that allowed both sides to answer the questions in a non-threatening way over a meal. I really liked this idea and I want to try and do it on the campus with two groups I have seen on campus that don’t seem to interact well. I will keep you updated and see what happens.
I also played a card game (UNO Zelda, thanks Marci), with a student and I thought he was being funny asking about what the colors were. Then he said, “Oh by the way I’m color blind.” I laughed so hard and apologized. I never knew he was color blind and it all made sense. It was a really funny moment that we both laughed at, also he is too good at UNO! I am going to have to think of a more challenging game to introduce him to next time. On our last meal before the power outage I sat with students who are Nigerian and it really reminded me of my friend Olajumoke. It made me miss her so much but also made me so happy. I remembered one of them from last year as he was talking about microplastics. He was educating all of us about it. One of his friends was asking questions and making everyone at the table laugh. They were a fun group to talk to.
This is a student I met last year from Ecuador. She is super sweet. It was good to see her again!
These are some of our current students (also I am bad at selfies lol!)
All in all it was a really good conference. We had to leave early as the power was still out on Sunday morning. So we basically ate a to-go breakfast, took a group picture and then had a small sermon/talk and then had to leave. It was really great driving the students that I drove. I enjoyed our car discussions and getting to know them better! There was one person that I really wanted to come as I think that he would have really enjoyed the community but maybe next year. There is another conference in December that I am going to so if we want to donate to that please check out my gofundme page.
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