Invited into Community

People ask me, “How was Urbana?” Ultimately, for me, it wasn’t about the mission field; it was a time of spiritual restoration and refreshment and community building – and now I have a renewed vision for building a biblical community on my campus.

I’m a junior nursing student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a leader in our chapter of Nurses Christian Fellowship.  My favorite part of the Urbana 12 Student Mission Conference was getting to know the other NCF girls in the selective Student Leader Track. We came from all over the country: from San Diego to Pennsylvania. We shared our struggles and prayed for each other. I got to know some of them on a very intimate level. Getting down to the nitty-gritty wasn’t easy for me!

Some of our conversations were accompanied by streams of tears running down our faces.  But it was so comforting and helpful to tell someone what was really going on in my life and share deeply together. Even in such a short amount of time, we all experienced such great community. Those five days are the times that I will cherish the most.

I feel like I got a little glimpse of what Biblical community looks and feels like. It makes me yearn for the same here on my campus among our faith communities of NCF and InterVarsity. I don’t know how change will happen, but it needs to. With the Lord’s help, it will. If God was able to soften my hard heart toward him during Urbana, then he can work in so many more ways in our NCF and InterVarsity chapters.

I am continually in awe of God’s omnipotence, though it should come as no surprise. I was overwhelmed again and again – and I hope to be continually overwhelmed.