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Learn how to share the good news of God in word and practice.
Original sin led to shame, pain and weakness as well as guilt. How does the Father's unconditional love meet us in these conditions? How do we read the Bible with an honor/shame lens? Come discover how to share the gospel effectively in cultures where honor/shame is an integral part of the worldview!
Eva Liu Glick, Katie Rawson
Explore the explosive synergy between engaging social justice through the lens of the gospel. Practical models of proclamation evangelism and partnerships with front-line non-governmental organizations will be examined as well as the relationship between the message of the gospel and social activism.
R. York Moore
Jesus doesn't command us to merely make converts, but to make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). Still, how do you go about doing that these days? Drawing from seventeen years of ministry to college students, this seminar will explore the motivations of different generations, and provide a simple, yet compelling, model for evangelism, discipleship and leadership development today.
James Choung
This seminar will walk you through key principals to help you start a missional, multiplying group. It is being presented by the authors of the Start Something New handbook which is helping hundreds of students and campus ministers.
Shawn Young, Serene Neddenriep
What does a strategic effort to reach Jewish people with the Gospel look like today? What challenges must be overcome when bringing the message of Jesus to the Jewish people? Learn how Jewish students are connecting with one another and with the Christian message through new paradigms of proclamation and engagement.
Aaron Trank
How do you empower others to join you in acting on the issues that you're passionate about? In this interactive seminar, we'll explore how to use creative activism and experiential campaigns to bring issues to life, change hearts, tell stories, and inspire others to act.
James Pedrick, Scott Erickson
God has put Christians in North American universities in a unique position to engage in cross cultural missions through starting evangelistic cross-cultural Bible studies with students from restricted and closed parts of the world. This seminar will challenge you as you consider starting a group on your campus and will give you practical tools to begin and lead a study.
Allison Schafer, Brian Smith
More than 700,000 international students now study in the United States, and the number continues to increase each year. How can we engage with these cultures on our campuses? This session includes practical advice on welcoming, loving and reaching international students for Jesus.
Adri Fonteijn, Jovin Adjeitey
How can we be culturally sensitive and relevant in inviting a person from another cultural background to follow Jesus? In our time together, we will discuss what we need to know, do and say to extend an invitation into Christ's kingdom in a cross-cultural setting.
Heidi Kempt Chew
Helping our friends look at Jesus for themselves is one of the best ways to extend God's invitation. Get trained in turning your Urbana experience in Luke into an evangelistic Bible study.
Andrea Emerson, Rod Pauls
The "new" atheism of Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett and others has made a huge splash on college campuses, the last decade. In this seminar we will overview the new atheistic worldview and offer practical steps for a Christ-like response.
Rick Mattson
In today's globalized world, there's a need for a new kind of missionary - recent grads with marketplace skills who go for two years to serve alongside long-term teams and projects. We'll answer questions like "What about my student loans?" and "Do I need to be called?" You'll learn why your 20s is the best time to be a mid-term goer, how to overcome the five biggest barriers and how to take your first step.
Paul Van Der Werf
Rooted in Luke 10, this provides a biblical basis for raising funds that moves beyond "permission" to raise money to the reality that the donor's response to the missionary impacts their eternity as much as the people the missionary serves while in the field. From this theological foundation, Jon will provide practical tools for both securing support and growing deeper in Jesus as you move through the fund raising process.
Jon Eisenberg
Reflect back on your Urbana experience and prepare for your next steps. Coaching and counseling is available.
Ready to Go Staff
Join us for a guided tour.
Ready to Go Staff
Meet others ready to go, and learn to make the most of Urbana. Coaching and counseling available.
Ready to Go Staff
While there are basic fundamentals for raising funds we recognize that the application is not the same for every culture and ethnicity. We will look at the foundational principles for the North American persons of color to adapt as he/she seeks to raise support for ministry. Whether you are heading into support-based ministry, seeking to assist funding a missionary of color or just curious about what it will look like for a person of color to raise funds, join us for a lively conversation.
Ramiro Marchena
Why is cross-cultural ministry such a crucible of character development and spiritual transformation? We will explore the global issues that impact the effectiveness of missionaries living in other cultures.
Steve Hoke, Jean Gill
How can I get ready for longer-term cross-cultural service right now? This seminar is a practical exploration of 10 critical steps demanding prayerful preparation for the long-term, crosscultural sojourner.
Steve Hoke, Jean Gill
Don't let fear, or not knowing how to raise support, keep you from following God's calling to go into ministry. Learn the biblical and practical steps to getting you and your ministry fully funded.
Steve Shadrach
This is a workshop designed to clarify biblical calling as it relates to missions and the Great Commission. We will discuss practical ways to help individuals discern next steps in confirming God's call. We will explore Biblical examples, current realities, and the role the local church and mission agencies can play in encouraging the cross-cultural development and deployment of workers for the harvest.
Jack Elwood
Enter the dark world of the Kolkata sex trade where young girls have been forced into the sex trade in order to help their families who are trapped in poverty. Tricked, kidnapped or sold many sex trade workers have no hope of freedom or rescue. What can you do? Join us to discover your part in the ending this system. Film and discussion December 30th at 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. in the Ferrara Theater, America's Center.
58: Alliance
Travel with Alice and Pastor Joel here into the precarious life of the Mathare Valley in Kenya. Foul living conditions, disease, violence, drugs, and extreme poverty permeate the community. Join us as we not only look at the situation but address how we can be a part of ending extreme poverty. Film and discussion December 29th at 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. in the Ferrara Theater, America's Center.
58: Alliance
Journey with one family into a rock quarry in India. Caught in an evil system of oppressive debt hopelessness weighs in the hearts and minds of the this family who is destined to generations of enslavement to the rock quarry owner. Can the people of the God of hope and truth break the bonds of slavery? Come, find your place in ending extreme poverty. Film and discussion December 29th at 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. in the Ferrara Theater, America's Center.
58: Alliance
In today's global society we all interact with people from a variety of cultures. Our personal background limits our ability to communicate across cultural boundaries and limits our effectiveness in working in multicultural teams. This interactive seminar will reveal the underlying assumptions that shape our reaction to people from other cultures and will provide clear steps to improve our relationships with others.
Sheryl Takagi Silzer
In this session we'll look at rural and cross-cultural missions in the context of holistic and incarnational approach to missions.
Mathew Brima
Short-term missionaries return to University with holistic conviction about the gospel. These teams have a powerfully enriched kingdom story to tell that invites the whole university to radical change. Once we change the university, we change the world.
Steve Colby
Using the illustration of the parable of the eleventh hour worker we'll learn practical advice for advancing the gospel from brothers and sisters of the Global South.
Calisto Odede
Missions exists because worship doesn't, but how does the short term missions experience help to build worshipers? This seminar will explore how God's glory-as revealed in the short-term trip-helps participants become more in awe of God and better disciple in the process.
Eric Iverson
Examine your calling as a woman with a heart to be used of God in the missions community. Examples given of contemporary women leaders in missions including video interviews where they discuss their struggles and triumphs.
Sarah Ascher
The Church in Egypt is facing external and internal challenges. The Church has a prophetic role as salt and light. This seminar will be in Arabic with English translation.
Shaher Issac Lukas
Come and learn of the Palestinian Christians, their historical back ground and identity. You will also discover the challenges for Palestinian Christians as they seek to be a living testimony in an area of conflict.
Nader Ghneim
This interactive session will examine the role of money in cross-cultural friendships and partnerships, and why things can become so incredibly confusing. It is designed especially for people who have cross-cultural friendships as well as for those who have been on short-term mission trips or urban plunge experiences and want to know how they might best prepare for a future of continued cross-cultural service.
Mary Lederleitner
We live in what Fareed Zakaria calls the "Post-American World." But what does that world look like? And what does that mean for those of us who desire or sense a call into global involvement? Come and discover an amazing world which God invites you to love, serve, and change!
Paul Borthwick
Urbana's done. Now what do I do?! In this session we'll discover and develop practical next steps to align your passions, skills and gifts with God's heart for the nations.
Steve Weemes, Erin Kawaye
Discover the women, men and times that were instrumental in the birth of movements that advanced the cause of missions. Transferable principles and practices for today's missions will be highlighted.
T. V. Thomas
"Think globally and act locally" is the bumper sticker charge. But how? Come discover ways to connect your daily life and routines to global realities. You can have a worldwide impact for God's Kingdom right from where you live now!
Paul Borthwick
Beyond seeing partnership just as exchange of resources or going into other people's context to do projects, how do we empower one another for Kingdom purposes?
Femi B. Adeleye
Humanity was mobilized to action as he spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic raced on in the 1980s and 1990s. While science has made inspiring advances in fighting the disease the morbid results of the pandemic on families and communities will continue to persist. Come learn how HIV/AIDS is affecting the campus of Francophone Africa and opportunities for the church to respond.
Klaingar Ngarial
The Soviet Union fell apart more than 20 years ago, but most of the people are still living by the ideology of that regime. Now atheism has filtered deeply into our culture and caused many roadblocks on the way of evangelism, leading to the persecution of Christians. Come learn about new opportunities and challenges for evangelism in our countries.
Vladimir Kostorny, Pavel Amelianchuk
Through immigration, a great missional opportunity has landed right on our doorstep, but oftentimes our own fears and misunderstandings have prevented us from taking concrete action. This seminar will explore common myths and facts about immigrants and provide specific action steps you can take to be a part of God's mission of reaching all people from all nations without having to cross the border.
Jenny Hwang Yang, Matthew Soerens
God's first command to humanity in Genesis 1:28 is, "multiply and fill the earth." In modern terms: "Migrate." In this seminar we will explore migration, immigration, and immigrants throughout scripture. Matthew and Lisa will offer clear theological perspective on one of the most controversial public issues of our times.
Lisa Sharon Harper, Matthew Soerens
Unengaged people groups have zero workers engaging them in the hopes of planting churches. If you go to them, you will be the first. This seminar will explore the different types of people needed to engage these people, as well as the type of people needed back home to help those who go succeed.
Bryan Padgett
Daju. Bhatiara. Ogan. Afshari. Ever heard of them? They have never heard of your Jesus. Come hear the names and places of unengaged peoples-where an effort to establish a Jesus presence has not even begun. Discover what place Jesus gives them in the Great Commission and how God through the Biblical narrative is inviting all believers into what He has been doing since the beginning!
Andy Kampman
Come hear stories of how a team has engaged with people who had not heard the Good News. What does it take to get there, stay long enough to share the gospel and see how God works?
Iris A
There are more than 25 million slaves in the world today. Come learn more about God's heart for justice, the connection to your spiritual life, and how you can stand for freedom on your campus. Together, we can end slavery in our lifetime.
Bethany Hoang
100,000,000 baby girls have vanished in the last several decades-more than twice the number of humans killed in the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, and the Armenian genocide combined. Join us to learn how you can fight gendercide and its root causes by the power of Jesus, for the glory of God.
Chai Ling
Rather than seeing homosexuality as an issue outside a straight person's experience, all of us as human creatures have the common experience of the tragic. In the Church, we gather together in the midst of dealing with the brokenness of human life to seek hope and healing in the gospel. Jesus has created a place for broken sinful people to come learn to love each other as brothers and sisters, and then to live together. Come hear the story of a church that is emphasizing the clear choice to follow Christ.
Ken Fong
Hear a personal journey of faith and solid biblical teaching through which you will learn how Christians can better minister to friends and loved ones who experience homosexuality. Christopher lived as a gay man for many years while his mother, Angela patiently displayed Christ's love to him for eight years. Christopher now teaches the Bible at Moody Bible Institute while speaking nationally and internationally with his parents on the topic of faith and sexuality.
Christopher Yuan, Angela Yuan
Development of community must be intentional as we seek to care for children and young people caught up in devastating situations. The theme 'community' is developed as a guiding framework for how we are to understand ministry among this population today. This includes creating protective, participant and justice based approaches in caring for children living in difficult circumstances.
Greg W. Burch
Exploring your ethnic journey is absolutely essential as an ingredient for preparing to engage others with love and wisdom. Understanding your own ethnic journey as a discipleship and lordship issue can become an impetus for effective missionary work because it sensitizes you to the ethnic and cultural needs of others.
Phil Bowling-Dyer
When racial reconciliation is engaged intentionally, purposefully and prayerfully, in our cultural context, it can lead to our genuine healing but can also prepare us to respect and discern the conflicts of other people groups. And as we promote a biblical perspective of racial reconciliation that has become our lived experience, we are in good position to promote genuine healing that demonstrates the power of the gospel overseas.
Peter Cha
Hispanics and Blacks have great potential when it comes to fulfilling the Great Commission. Both have unique contributions to make, and both have the numbers to make a significant impact in the world. Yet, both communities have struggled as it relates to sending cross-cultural missionaries. What are some of the obstacles these communities face, and what are some ways we can overcome these challenges?
Richard Coleman, Mauricio Alvarez
What we think about creation will determine to a large extent how we journey within it -whether in our local environments or the wider world. This seminar will look carefully at what the Bible says about creation, offering a biblical framework to help us better understand our relationships within it and our responsibilities toward the handiwork of God.
Terry LeBlanc
How do you balance care for God's creation with care for people? Do we have to choose between plants and people? Ed Brown will guide us in exploring biblical and scientific material to understand what is happening in and to God's creation-and what God really wants from us.
Ed Brown
Environmental missionaries are those sent cross-culturally to labor with Christ-the Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer of all creation-in caring for the environment and making disciples among all peoples. Come explore three case studies from: the largest Muslim country, the holiest Hindu river, and an island nation which is the poster child for both religious oppression and global climate change.
Lowell Bliss
How can faith honestly deal with the brokenness in our world-or even just in our everyday lives? There is a way that's more alive than either numbing ourselves with cheap clichés about God's plan or losing our faith completely. Enel survived the collapse of a six-story building in Haiti's earthquake, Kent has been working in places of extreme poverty for more than a decade, and they'll share how these experiences can guide our search.
Kent Annan, Enel Angervil
What is it like to be a woman living incarnationally in a slum community? Come listen and learn from the experience of single and married practitioners.
Heidi Pitts, Michelle Kao
You could consider incarnation in a slum as an ongoing experiment in finding the creative life Jesus uniquely gives to poor communities. Michelle shares a new framework for the slum worker: the overlooked joys of trial and error in spirituality, ministry, and empowerment.
H. Michelle Kao
A biblical vision for economic discipleship frees us to enjoy our abundance, liberates us from consumerism, and empowers us to give effectively. Come explore practical ways to form communities of friends whose use of money radically reflects God's generosity towards us and the poor.
Mako Nagasawa, Gary VanderPol
Many Christians understand the need for development, but what do we do when we face unjust laws and policies? How do we engage these powers as Christians? This seminar draws on the experience of a community organizer and activist minister, including a new model called faith-rooted organizing and biblical public policy advocacy.
Alexia Salvatierra
While the efforts of churches and agencies to alleviate suffering and pursue justice in cities are crucial, how might believers pursue a strategy that contributes to the long-term transformation of their communities into places of abundance and shalom? What is possible when urban ministry meets community development, and coordinated Christ-centered civic renewal?
Randy White
God cares about the entire human family. Those children who are in the greatest danger should be the focal point of care in the human family's community activity. In this seminar we will explore this biblical theme, how it connects with justice and ways to connect with God's heart for the poor.
Bob Hunter
In this talk, Brian will share how the principles of investing our God-given talents and doing everything for the glory of God have produced real fruit while building up an international open source software company. Hear key opportunities God has given him and his team to make economic, social, and spiritual impact in the lives of people throughout the world.
Brian Chan
Discover this new phenomenon called Business as Mission (BAM), learn how it fits within God's broader Marketplace Mission Movement, and see how your love of mission can find fulfillment in the world of business.
Neal Johnson
Whatever our field-vocational ministry, marketplace or missionary-God is placing us in locations where we can we can support his work through our time, work and finances.
Attai Uwodi
Jose Bonilla
In spite of the corruption, oppression and injustice that the majority of the Latin American countries experience, the student population continues to grow, and with it an unique opportunity to reach out to and impact them. We will share current information on the student ministries in these countries, as well as the opportunities to do mission and existing ways of partnership that can be long or short term.
Blas Lopez
This seminar explore the opportunities available in missions in the African context, especially for the American student or to be missionary in particular. We will explore the opportunities available in missions in the African context, especially for the American student or to be missionary in particular. Practical advice based case studies of successful experiences by InterVarsity students in Ghana will be shared.
Victor Obeng
The Caribbean is a heterogeneous region which presents a vast array of opportunities for missions, especially in student ministry. This seminar seeks to provide participants with information to help them in missions involvement-praying, giving and going- in the Caribbean area.
Desmond Rogers, Marc Pulvar
Discover the opportunities for Christian teachers in universities overseas. Opportunities in China will be highlighted. Learn more about the joys and challenges these teachers face in this ministry. We will discuss practical ways to get prepared to go, qualifications, living situations and process of adaption.
David Dickerson
As a professor overseas you can serve God by teaching your discipline and by influencing future leaders. Scores of opportunities are open for well-qualified academicians who want to make a difference for Christ.
Daryl McCarthy
More than 70% of the world's population consists of oral learners, those who are preliterate, illiterate, or simply do not learn and communicate through written methods. How can we effectively evangelize and disciple a people of another culture without being dependent on Western, written materials and methods? Dr. Sills will answer this question, providing a forum to address and discuss the challenges of serving and teaching those who learn through oral methods.
M. David Sills
English language teachers have a potentially positive and strategic impact for the Kingdom in many contexts and among many people groups. Learn how to avoid misconceptions and maximize impact in this seminar that highlights opportunities, provides a roadmap for getting started, outlines four levels of training, covers dos and don'ts, suggests best classroom practices, and includes case studies of successful integration of TEFL and missions in North America and around the world.
Kitty Purgason
Actor Edwin Forrest suggested that a "passion for the dramatic art is inherent in the nature of man." But what is drama? We'll present a framework that you can use to notice and describe the dramatic elements in any community's artistic life. Then we'll show how you can integrate these elements into both short and long-term mission work.
Brian Schrag
X-factor and American Idol make us dream of becoming famous musicians, but what does it look like to honor God with your craft as a Christian in the music industry? Meet with Melissa, and the worship team members who embrace a vocation as musicians in both a church a non-church context.
Melissa Vallejo, Urbana Worship Team instrumentals
Come to the table with the Urbana worship team and hear about their journey as a community of worship leaders. Come ask your questions: Why multiethnic multilingual multicultural worship? How do modern worship trends impact global worship? What vision and goals shaped the worship at Urbana? What are the joys and pains of working cross-culturally? How can I take this back to my church or campus?
Sandra Van Opstal, Urbana Worship Team Leaders
The Urbana Performing Arts Team (theatre and dance) will talk about art and gospel. They'll discuss the dialogue between the arts and mission, talk about how they developed work for Urbana, and explore the dynamic of community and Scripture in the artistic process. The team will answer questions about dance, theatre, faith, and their experience of following Jesus creatively.
Alison Siewert, Urbana Performing Arts Team
Discover the origins of the universal language fallacy and its impact on the history of missions. Learn about alternatives to this commonly held misconception with application to other artistic forms of expression such as drama, dance, story-telling, and the visual arts. This interactive session will outline useful resources as well as current possibilities for service, learning, and networking in the field of ethnodoxology.
Robin Harris
Nothing shapes the faith and practice of the Church more than its music. This seminar will challenge participants to think more critically about the Church's theology as composed, preserved, and transmitted in musical form.
James Krabill
Music, combined with other tools of oral communication (stories, drama, dance, etc.), represents an untapped resource for reaching and touching the hearts of millions of unreached peoples with t the gospel. During this seminar you will learn and experience some of the techniques used to utilize culturally appropriate music in strategic ways for evangelism, discipleship and church planting.
Tom Ferguson
Revelation 7 gives us a glimpse of people from every tribe and nation worshiping together around God's throne. We will search both Old and New Testament scriptures to see God's heart for the nations to worship him. We will consider the practical outworking of multicultural worship and the positive effects it can have on our congregations, our mission endeavors, and our personal lives.
Jaewoo Kim
House churches are a global phenomenon, yet in the United States they are not widely understood. Ted will explore the values behind the global house church movement and challenge you to consider the house church in your own neighborhood.
Ted Esler
This seminar will look at some amazing ways God is at work around the world to make disciples among some of the least reached. We'll consider reasons why church planting methods that seem natural often hinder church planting movements, and examine ways in which the methods God is using are often counter-intuitive.
L.D. Waterman
What does it look like to design relevant structures in a place that is foreign to you, both in culture and building practices? This session will help you gain insight and prepare for appropriate architectural and engineering design in the developing world.
Carl Tompson
Investigate local and world-wide opportunities to impact the world for Christ through sports. Explore what opportunities exist to use your life in full or part-time ministry to make a Kingdom Impact now and in the future. Find out how you can use sports to spread His love and glorify His Name in your school and around the world.
David Guehring
A recent report stated that Film and Photography were some of the worst majors for your career. They pointed to unemployment rates and low salaries. Yet with the iniquitousness of video communication, the opportunity to affect change in our culture is significant. As Christians, how do we navigate these difficult waters so that we don't just survive but thrive as we seek to make a living in filmmaking?
Nathan Clarke
Interactive visual art displays, theater pieces designed with seekers in mind, coffeehouse outreaches, concert fundraisers for social justice-all the arts speak to us in languages that reach deeper than conversation alone. Across the North America the gospel is being shared through the arts. Come and hear ideas and examples for reaching your communities through the arts.
Kathy Smith
Does God have plans to use the arts to communicate to the world? Where in the Bible does it say that this is true? Why are the arts important to God? All of these questions will be looked at in this discussion-based seminar.
Dick Ryan
Based on his study of Scripture, systems and his own experience as independent candidate in the first London mayoral elections Ram Gidoomal will present a framework to help you access and evaluate the policies presented by candidates and political parties. Issues of social justice, compassion, reconciliation, empowerment, respect for life and stewardship of resources.
Christian journalists are to be strivers for verifiable truth in any given situation. To that extent, we are to please our Savior, ourselves and our neighbor. This calling brings into focus the application of the doctrines of worldview, verbal inspiration, transparency and sphere sovereignty. "Who trembles when God goes to press?" We all should.
Robert Case
Women in academic vocations can have deeply satisfying and significant Kingdom influence, but they also must navigate particular challenges and obstacles from the academic system and the larger social context. This seminar will explore the potential and the pitfalls of the scholarly life as a context for women to exercise their gifts and participate in the mission of God.
Janet L. Clark
Is God calling you to higher education? Does it even make sense to get a PhD? The seminar will explore God's mission in the university, the need for Christian faculty, and the process for discerning whether God is calling you to be a professor. Christian professors working at secular universities will share their stories and offer their advice to future scholars.
Mike Hickerson
What does God's global mission have to do with graduate school? Why would a mission-minded Christian choose to spend years in schooling? Why not immediately enter the mission field? Whether you are a current or aspiring graduate student, or just exploring your options, come hear a professor share his story and learn how God brings meaning to an academic career.
God is working through businesses to bring the world to himself.
Why does business matters to God? How can business women and men serve God and the world through our work? What does mission look like on Wall Street? We will explore these and related topics in the context of the financial services and management consulting industries.
Jane Lin
God is at work in the 21st century to use the globalization of United States and European businesses to provide opportunities for Christian business professionals to become vocational missionaries.
Mark VanDyke, Debbie VanDyke
Billions of people in this world who live in conditions that God never intended. How should we respond? God has called some of us to a business career in the Third World where he can use our business skills for his transformation of oppressed communities.
The Church has recognized that good intentions in poverty alleviation have not always created good results, and sometimes created crippling dependency. This seminar explores the microfinance movement and the new financial tools that are being used to continue to bring the Good News to the poor in a way that restores dignity and brings lasting change.
Peter Greer
Hear from Larry Collett, Chairman of Cass Information Systems and Cass Commercial Bank about his journey in following Jesus in corporate America.
Larry Collett
Joseph may have been the first business as mission leader. Joseph set up a business in a foreign country, representing his God to the people of Egypt while accomplishing a real purpose that brought value to people. In this seminar we will look at this old story through a new lens with the goal of gaining insight for 21st Century business as mission activities.
Drawing from 15+ years of starting and growing three high tech start-ups in Boston and San Francisco Sonny will: share pictures and stories of lessons learned cover some ideas on how to align faith and work based on personal experience, examine do's and don't's of starting and building a high-tech company, review the essentials of the Lean Start-Up approach, and provide practical steps on how to get started.
This seminar will explore how Christians in business can align their work and the work of their companies with God's Kingdom values. We'll explore a biblically based understanding of the mission and practice of business and how business as an institution can partner with other institutions to advance the common good.
Jeff Van Duzer
This seminar will be filled with examples of the myriad of ways God is using business people around the world to be his agents of transformation. From small to large corporations, God is at work in and through the creative capacity of business to serve his purposes.
Scott McFarlane
Why are the Church and the marketplace often at odds with one another? And why does business often mistrust and find little help in the Church? Why is it critical to find a way forward? Is there a compelling vision of why and how business people and the church can work together to accomplish God's mission in the world?
Bill will tell how the Holy Spirit led him through his passages of marriage, raising children, and business advancement, while at the same time, preparing him for a mission-based business in his later years. He will give insights on how you can accomplish your passages and at the same time prepare for God's mission for you.
Bill Mallory, Debbie Mallory
Social entrepreneur Debbie Farah, CEO of Bajalia International Group, shares her experience and lessons learned in a business-as-mission start-up.
Debbie Farah
What might it look like for a for-profit business to bear witness to the reign of God in the marketplace? From job training for at-risk youth to salary structures to community engagement, we'll share our practical experience and offer some ways to think about business as a gospel announcement that are drawn from the 15-year journey of one high-tech start-up.
This seminar focuses on how everyday people make a difference in the world. Ordinary stories highlight seemingly small gestures of love and support. We will draw attention to the beauty that routine can bring to daily life. This session will highlight everyday missions with an emphasis on people making a difference from unlikely places-people who "make" from hard places something beautiful.
Leroy Barber
Christians are called to join King Jesus on his grand mission of renewing all things. Through the strategic, intentional, and creative deployment of our vocational talents in myriad marketplace spheres, God uses us to bring foretastes of justice and shalom in our communities and among the nations. Come see how to prepare yourself to live missionally through your work.
Amy L. Sherman
Ethics is about doing good which is so much more than not doing bad. It involves making tough choices that align with the mission and goals of the organization. The issues of business ethics are made much more challenging in an environment of corruption and bribery. We will explore these challenges in contexts from America to the Central African Republic.
According to the Bible, God calls people to all kinds of professions. This seminar explores the biblical theology of work, investigates calling to the marketplace, and shows how to begin discerning your own calling.
A discussion of the global situation of orphaned and vulnerable children and ways that a health care professional can make a positive impact.
Katherine Welch
Ministries that welcome and include persons with chronic illness and disability provide the Christian healthcare professional a unique opportunity to show God's love and bring the Good News of Jesus.
Mary Chase-Ziolek
A discussion of the myriad and creative ways that a health care professional can impact the lives of exploited and trafficked people around the world.
Katherine Welch
There is a global need for healthcare professionals worldwide with critical thinking and problem solving skills for competence in today's healthcare environment. This has created a demand for qualified educators and opened doors for followers of Christ to fill these roles. Come and hear how to be involved in education, evangelism, discipleship and the development of leaders in healthcare for the nations.
Connie Jarlsberg
What skills and preparation are needed to provide healthcare as a follower of Jesus Christ? Is God calling you into a healthcare ministry in the inner city, overseas, or in a closed access nation? Come and learn what it takes to arrive at the place of ministry God has planned for you.
Connie Jarlsberg
Healthcare provides a unique opportunity to engage the deepest issues of life and faith alongside those who are suffering. Can you care for patients in a way that brings them before Jesus and offers them peace, healing, and wholeness? Discover how to practice healthcare as your ministry.
Renee Lick, J. Scott Ries
God is using healthcare professionals around the world to care for the people he created. How are they helping to bring more of God's Kingdom? What does Scripture have to say about this model of mission?
Theresa Dunn
Who do you identify with in the story of the two sons? Often we start our journeys experiencing the grace of God and then find ourselves in a place of distance from God. The story of the older son illuminates the condition of our hearts when we are distant and how the Father reaches out to us.
Ram Sridharan
Christians ought to realize that having come into Christ Jesus, there is a quantum of grace released into their lives for the purpose of living the Christian life and also affecting other lives for Him. The Lord demonstrated this as he met the needs of several people that he encountered even before they could identify with him. In this is the concept of holistic missions.
Andrew Unom
We seem to have taken the costly command of Christ to go, baptize, and teach all nations and changed it into a comfortable call for Christians to come, be baptized, and sit in one location. What does it really mean to make disciples who make disciples? And why is it worth committing my life to this command?
David Platt
What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? What does a commitment to following Jesus daily look like?
Ryan Pfieffer, Dora Yiu
Contemplative Activism reconciles our inner and outer lives, equipping restless Christians who are marked by social concern for poverty, marginalization, war, exploitation, overconsumption and degradation of the planet. Phileena helps demystify the intimidating barriers that keep many of us from engaging contemplative spirituality, inviting participants to a more effective social engagement.
Phileena Heuertz
How will you translate your big dreams into tangible actions? Learning to be like Jesus is a lifelong experiment that requires creativity, discipline and community. Be equipped with tools for taking new risks to be a well-formed agent of God's healing in our world.
Mark Scandrette
Knowledge is a powerful tool to achieve anything. Whenever you are well informed about any course then you are already in the path of excellence. In like manner, understanding the concept of missions would make you fruitful in advancing God's kingdom here on earth.
Rex Emeka Onuh
How does ethnicity and culture affect prayer? (Acts 17:26, 27) This seminar will explore some diverse ethnic experiences in reaching out to God in prayer.
Kurt-This seminar is removed from the following seminar series 1) Ready to Go, 2) Global Issues in Mission and 3)Proclamation
Barbara Brown, Brenda Wong
Gain insights into developing a prayer life and campus outreach. This seminar is also for people interested in developing their community outreach.
Bala Maisamari Usman
If you've enjoyed feasting on God's Word at Urbana 12, come receive training to lead manuscript study back home. You can share your experience in Luke and pass on to others this dynamic approach to Bible study.
Susanna Muntz, Elizabeth English
Today, it's more important than ever for believers to develop a theology of suffering before tragedy strikes and questions begin. Without a solid biblical understanding of why bad things happen and how we are to respond, the pain of difficult times is often compounded by a crisis of faith. This seminar will take a basic "preventive medicine" approach to dealing with the suffering we all will eventually experience.
Bonnie Nystrom, John Nystrom
In Paul's view, spiritual warfare begins with God and not the enemy (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). This seminar will explore "Spiritual Warfare" from a biblical perspective and examine the resources the Lord has given us to partner with him in mission.
Jack Voelkel, Mary Anne Voelkel
Why does reading the Bible often seem more like a burden than something we eagerly look forward to? What can help kindle a sense of delight at the gift of Scripture? This seminar will explore why Scripture is worth reading and different ways of spending time in God's Word.
Sabine Kalthoff
God has created all of us to be a part of his mission but we often forget his call in our lives. This seminar will help people know how to keep focused and connected to what God has called them to. Learn practical ways to stay in step with God's Spirit in the midst of the chaos of life.
Amy Phillips
Can Roman Catholics and Protestants work together to reach out to folk who are far from God? An honest conversation about the challenges and opportunities of shared ministry.
Scott Brill
Though the Christian East and West share much in common; encounters with Orthodox Christians can be confusing, largely because the East has always asked different theological questions. Among other things, we will discuss how looking at salvation as a medical problem (an organic paradigm) has affected the shape of worship, theology and missions.
Howard Webb
Ever wonder why God chose the Jewish people and what they are chosen for? Come learn about who is Jewish, what is Jewish, where the Jewish people are, and how to witness to them.
Heather Drake
Hinduism, with 750 million followers, has been growing in its influence in different forms in the West. Like modern philosophy, Hinduism tolerates many contradictory religious beliefs and willingly accommodates them. How do you share the Gospel to a Hindu who would accept Jesus as one of the Gods ? There are thousands who have never even heard of Jesus Christ, how to reach them? This seminar would help you find answers t these questions.
Arul Manohar
Did you know there are 1.5 million Hindus in North America? Come learn practical tips on living out The Great Commission among your Hindu acquaintances.
Matthew Agrafiotis, Jawahar Gnaniah
Christians can sometimes contribute to the spread of a negative stereotypes of Muslims. This seminar will ask and attempt to answer an honest question: Should Christ-followers adopt a different mindset towards a perceived cultural enemy? We will try to see beyond the polarized approach that so often characterizes Christian rhetoric about Muslims to gain a nuanced view of a people deeply rooted in their religious and cultural heritage.
Mike Kuhn
In this session you will learn the social and religious influences on the Arab World. You will understand more of the religious roles of a Muslim and how this relate to the Arab Spring. You will discover what God is doing through the Arab Spring and how you can be part of sharing the Good News of Christ.
Fouad Masri
We'll walk through a detailed explanation Islam as a religion. You will leave with practical ways to connect with Muslims and share the Gospel.
Fouad Masri