Missions Conference.

Every spring, Biola holds Missions Conference, an event planned and run entirely by students. For three days, classes are canceled, and there are various events to attend all throughout the day. Speakers come from all over the globe to share at the large group sessions, as well breakout sessions. Representatives from over one hundred missions organizations had booths set up on Metzger lawn.

This year's theme was "Set Us Ablaze." It comes from Isaiah 64:1-2, "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you!"

One thing I do want to comment on specifically is an event called Global Awareness. Held in a couple of different buildings of classrooms, each room represents a different scenario that people in our world face. From homelessness in Russia to Islamic oppression, I realized how many global struggles there are to which I do not often give nearly enough thought or prayer. The students that set up the rooms did a phenomenal job, and so did the actors in each of the skits.

As I sit here trying to decide how to best recap the event, I realize that there is no way that I can summarize it and still do it justice. It was an amazing three days. The Spirit moved in unbelievable ways.

I think I will simply have to give snippets from my sessions notes, as well as a few photos that I took.

From Mark Parker’s sessions:

• You have been made for something more than you understand sometimes.
• You don’t have to change the whole world, just change the one you’re standing in now
• Our job is not to focus on sin but on Jesus—the Holy Spirit will convict us
• Whatever you think in your heart, you will be
• We’re not making Jesus Lord, He already is
• We are the product of the decisions we make, not just our desires
• Jesus isn’t about improving the old life—He’s about transforming us
• Jesus doesn’t just save us from our sins, He brings us back to the Father
• Passion for Jesus is the only passion that won’t enslave you
• We don’t invite Jesus into our lives, He invites us into His

From Kevin Humble’s sessions:

• We need to strip the Gospel of our Western culture and let it transform communities

From JFK Mensah’s sessions:

• It’s wrong to think that because of grace you don’t need to clean up your life
• Zeal for Jesus must be maintained and kept in check
• Discipleship of Jesus requires obedience
• Obedience affects character, attitude, behavior 

Shoes were scattered all over campus, each with a different country to pray for.

This part of global awareness represented homelessness in the U.S.