IFES at Urbana 09It’s the first full day of Urbana 09, and already it feels like everything is settling into its rhythm for the week. In hotels across St Louis, students and staff began their day with manuscript bible studies, before gathering back at the Edward Jones Dome for the morning session with teaching from Ramez Atallah, and more audio-visual treats and thought-provokers. The teaching revolved around the story of Nathaniel’s conversion in John 1: 43-51, concluding with this thought: “Go and make known the one who knows you.”

After an ingeniously planned lunch break (to make sure none of the city’s restaurants had too many thousands of hungry students arriving at once!) we were back into an afternoon of seminars, meetings and times for reflection. Delegates are invited to choose from a huge range of themes from Domestic Poverty to Environmental Stewardship, Business as Mission to World Religions.

By the early evening, the hallways of the America’s Centre were thronging with dinner-seeking students, and the catering operation to get 17,000 diners through in 2 hours had to be seen to be believed! We then gathered once again in the Dome for an eye-opening evening.

We heard the testimony of Cheryl Bear who is travelling around the USA and Canada in a motor-home to share the story of Jesus with all First Nations communities… Patrick Fung, director of OMF, shared his thoughts on living to be forgotten… Ruth Padilla DeBorst spoke passionately on forced migration, and challenged us: “love does not reach from afar – it demands incarnation.”… we saw a film on the statistics of trafficking and forced labour… York Moore spoke movingly about his ‘conversion within a conversion’ to the fight against modern day slavery at Urbana 2000… we witnessed a powerful dramatic monologue about Rahab… we left once again full of thoughts and challenges to bring before God… and Day 2 of Urbana 09 came to an end.