Ginger served on the Prayer Intercession team. (There's also a prayer ministry team with was available for students to come and receive personal prayer.) The Intercessors had smaller teams of 7-8 who gathered to pray twice daily for 3 hours at a time, to keep the entire conference in prayer 24 hours a day!
The team: Amy (NC), Ana (TX), Erina (CA), Evan (PA), Ginger, Chris (RI), Hope (RI)
Ginger was a little worried that three hours of prayer would be overwhelming, or that we'd feel separating from and missing out on the rest of the conference. But it was not so! Spending time in praise, prayer requests, scripture, spiritual warfare, proxy prayer, and general interceding for the topics we felt lead on made the time go quickly. We felt deeply connected to the rest of the conference, getting to watch things we prayed about happen, or previewing situations that were coming.
It was an unusual week for responses at Urbana. In the first two days, more students sought out the Prayer Ministry team than the whole week of Urbana '09. During the call to faith or re-commitment, over 1,000 students stood to give their hearts to Jesus- we only expected 500! (and ran out of free Bibles!) At the end of the week, a record number of students committed to long-term missions- over 4,000.
Urbana isn't just for students. A number of pastors and people doing mission work in alongside their careers attend Urbana for training and encouragement.We got to meet up with a number of Texas Tech alumni at Urbana! Patrick, Nathaniel, Ryan, Dustin and Andy have all been praying for and supporting Ginger's ministry this last year. They work in engineering, construction, and the medical field. It was wonderful to see them.
Former Tech staff Sara was in town for a few hours to visit! Below, Ginger, Lisa, Sara and her baby Evie! Sara and Josh will be leaving the country soon.
Stephen was excited to see our friend Daniel again. Stephen once led a Bible study that introduced Daniel to InterVarsity- and now Daniel is applying to staff!
With the busy schedule, Ginger only had one afternoon to meet with her students and debrief the week. Back: Michael, Sarah, Shauna, Jeremy, Kelley, Ginger. Front: Ramie, Luke, Lindsey, Charity, Karlie, Matt.
Another said she "truly experienced God's love" at the conference. She was moved by stories of love in soup kitchens and African caregivers.
A student athlete wants to start a Bible study with her swim team members. She had worried that college athletics was a waste of time, but now feels encouraged that it's a mission field after listening to a testimony about a dance team.
Urbana was Ginger's last days of working with InterVarsity staff. We are trusting God for something new and exciting next.
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