Madeline's Perspective: Urbana 2012

Madeline & Jessica at Urbana '12

To start off this new year, I had an experience unique to the previous 20 years of my life. I had the privilege of ringing in the new year in a stadium in St. Louis worshiping with 16,000 other college students at an event called Urbana.  Urbana is a missions conference that targets college students from all over the world.  

During Urbana I had the privilege of meeting students from across the world (including Japan and Canada).  I was very encouraged to discover we had much in common- carrying big dreams, finishing college, and caught in wonder with the thought, "What on earth does God want me to do?"  We were all able to mingle in the various afternoon workshops as well as share in the experience of corporate worship sessions in the mornings and evenings.  The services consisted of multi-cultural worship styles, dramas, dancing, and speakers.  I was enraptured in the sound of thousands of people around me all lifting up praises to God through song in different languages, which included Korean, French, and  Spanish.  One of my fondest moments of this conference took  place the night service that all of us worked together to make over 32,000 medical kits.  These were shipped out to be delivered to caregivers in Swaziland. 

During this five day conference, we, as a body of believers, were challenged by several missionaries, evangelists, and pastors to live out the Great Commission and carry the gospel to the nations. I consistently found myself in awe of the events that took place and the people on stage, but more than that, I left Urbana in a great sense of awe of God's love for all people and all nations.  Check out Urbana12 by watching this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXu5BKnKKDE

By: Madeline Lafferty