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Thank God for blessing our UIC student conference in Milwaukee on Augus t 14-15.  29 students came to the conference including four students from Milwaukee UBF. Two staff were present: our new UIC campus coordinator, M. David Won and myself. The theme of the conference was “I Want to Know Christ”. This is also the theme of our UIC UBF ministry for the Fall semester.

We began with praise and group Bible study on the conference passage, Philippians 3. There were five group Bible study leaders. Each led their group studies well. The questions were prepared by the students, Joann and Stephanie, who also prepped the group Bible study leaders. It was followed by a message by M. David Won. We learned from his message that knowing Christ is like a marriage union, it is experiential and through this union we gain everything. We also know Christ when we become like him as we participate in his sufferings to share the gospel on campus. We were all encouraged to make knowing Christ our master passion. After the message we devoted time to testimony writing and sharing. Many shared heart moving testimonies based on the passage. We ended with an hour long prayer vigil to pray for our American missionaries overseas, the UIC fellowships, the 10 new group Bible studies that many undergraduate students are leading on campus this Fall, and for our own hearts to desire to know Christ. The first night was packed but Spirit filled and really prepared us for the Fall semester.

The second day of our conference we began with presentations based on the Intervarsity book “Start Something New”. Ten students came up to share their clear vision, strategy and prayer topics for starting new group Bible studies on campus. Students are pioneering the Art Design department (Faith Koh), Business department (Denny Deliva), Pharmacy school (Hanna Lee), Nursing school (Joann Ismail), Dorm ministry (Courtney Rinehart/Stephanie Polvi), Freshmen students (Suvd Sukdhavaa), Black students (Ethalle Thompson/James Jackson), and even other campuses such as Hispanic students at North Park (Karina Bautista), Men’s ministry at Northeastern (Erick Lopez), and Arts students at Columbia (Tim Fernandez/Tristin).

After their presentations we dedicated time to working on their fall ministry plans by making their syllabus for the Fall group Bible studies. God is expanding our reach and hearing our prayer topic that we may reach every corner of the campus. After lunch, we ended with recreation time playing sports and some of us climbed rocks at the local beach. All the students really enjoyed the conference and accepted the Word of God, “I want to know Christ” personally.  I was really thankful to see a Spirit filled, student led conference. This was a historic conference because for the first time it was mostly students with only two staffs present. The conference was almost entirely student operated. The students were coordinators for food, transportation, group Bible study preparation, prayer, recreation, cleaning, praise, etc. I can see students taking stewardship to do student ministry on campus and I am excited to see what the Holy Spirit will do through these students in the Fall.

Please pray for these ten “start something new” groups that God may use them to reach every corner of the campus this Fall. Pray that each student may keep their focus to know Christ and to make Christ known on every corner of the campus.