Urbana '12 "The Great Invitation"

Wow! What a blessing it was to get to take part in Urbana '12!  God really did some very amazing things in St. Louis as 16,000 students gathered to learn more about God's call to missions in their lives.  It was so interesting to be on staff this time around instead of a student; so God met me in a different way than He did 3 years ago.  However, before I get to how God met me this past week I can't help but praise Him for the AWESOME things He did in the lives of our students!

16,000 students spent their Christmas break worshiping God and seeking His will for their lives!

800 students accepted Christ into their lives while at the conference! (During the Call to Commitment those who accepted Christ held up a glow stick)

32,000 Caregiver medical kits were put together to send to caregivers in Swaziland to provide materials that let them serve more effectively and lovingly.

4,000 students committed to short-term, mid-term, or long-term missions!

Thousands of students were able to receive prayer ministry while at Urbana! (And there were only 100 prayer ministers! Talk about God feeding the thousands!)

God is so Good! He does WONDERFUL things! As I watched all this unfold, God really pulled at my heart strings to work on my prayer life and asking God for what I need.  I think that I had gotten so caught up in having faith that God would provide that I forgot to even ask Him to provide for me!  Talk about being a little backwards.  But God really put me back on track at Urbana and I'm seeking Him daily asking Him to fulfill the needs I have.  God is a truly powerful, loving, and holy God; and I am coming to Him knowing I have no power on my own to do this fund raising but it is only through the work of His Spirit that I am at the amount I have today.

Watching what God does in the life of students really melts my heart and gets me excited.  This is what I love to see.  And God used Urbana to really remind me of what I am committing my life to.  This is why I'm going on staff with InterVarsity, because God has broken my heart for college students and the college campus.  This is what I'm aiming to get to with fund raising; to see students transformed by the love, grace, and power of God.  To watch God use these transformed students to bring renewal to the brokenness of their college campuses.  And then to witch God send these students into the world to change it for His Kingdom purposes.  That is why God has called me on staff, to lead students in that director and invest in them so they can invest in others.  This is why it is so important for me to be on campus.  But I can't do that unless I get back on board the fund raising train at full force.  I need to really be relentless in fund raising because I can't get to what God is calling me to without it.  God used so many other InterVarsity staff at Urbana to help encourage me in fund development.  I am so thankful for all the staff that spoke such encouraging words into my life over those 6 days we were in St. Louis.   I have a new energy for fund raising and I'm aiming to be 70% funded by the end of January! 

The whole theme of Urbana this year was God's great invitation to us.  God has invited us all to say "yes" to following Him one step at a time into the path He is taking up on.  After many small obedient "yes"s God led me to taking larger risk in saying "yes" to full-time mission work with InterVarsity.  So this is my invitation to you to join with me.  How is God asking you to say "yes" in seeing the lives of students transformed by the power of the Gospel?  If you would like to partner in this ministry with me please click on the link: https://donate.intervarsity.org/support/Anne_Miller

This is my mission: "InterVarsity! I love college student and sharing Jesus with them!"