USA (MNN)–Urbana ’06 will likely help students bring the world into focus…so says Paul Borthwick, an Urbana Missions Associate with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.
He says God is moving in the world today, noting full-blown revival is a combination of history and vision. “It’s a prayer, combined with the realization that students, if mobilized, can change the world.”
For sixty years, God has been using Urbana conventions to change the lives of students and to advance His Kingdom in the world. Urbana ’06 takes place December 27 – 31, 2006 in St. Louis, Missouri.
Borthwick explains that history plays a role in preparing for the future. Two hundred years ago the Haystack prayer meeting was held at Williams College in Massachusetts, launching the modern missions movement in the United States. “Prayer is at the core of God’s work,” he said, adding, “Along the lines of the haystack prayer meeting, one of the things that encouraged me most around the world is the number of Urbana-like conferences that are taking place all over the world.”
Borthwik encourages continued legacy for InterVarsity staff. “There are challenges in our churches, challenges in the world we live in. But, be encouraged by the fact that God is working and calling out young adults who are prayerful, who are committed to racial reconciliation, who are committed to sacrifice and even dying for Jesus, and are committed to going to places which have never heard.”
