Thy Kingdom Come

Two thousand years ago a kingdom was revealed that did not fit the normal human pattern of rule. This kingdom came to bring hope and freedom to the poor, the downtrodden, and the sinner. It was a kingdom not of human design but of divine planning. Jesus Christ walked the earth proclaiming this kingdom - a kingdom that brings transformation to people desperately in need of the Savior.

During the first week of January, 1,400 staff and students from seven states gathered to worship the King and to grow in their relationship with Him during the Denver Christmas Conference (DCC). Students heard from passionate speakers, took part in a variety of seminars, were exposed to the needs of the nations, and learned about summer mission opportunities around the world. Students partnered with local churches and community groups to embody the good news of the kingdom by meeting the physical and spiritual needs of Denver residents. On the final night of the conference, many students pledged to participate in the Great Commission this summer.

DCC 2009 challenged students and staff, alike, to reflect on the kingdom of God, to be transformed by it, and to faithfully serve the King as they seek to see the kingdom come to their campuses and the world.

DCC Stories-Part 1

I was raised in the Mormon Church. This past semester I was introduced to Campus Crusade and I began to realize that I no longer believed certain things my church taught. I came to DCC even though my parents didn't want me to attend. During the first session, I realized that I had never accepted Christ as my Savior. Three days later Bryan Loritts challenged those who still had not made that decision to do it right then. I was finally ready and after the session I gave my life to the Lord. I know that God is going to provide for me even though my family is going to be very disappointed with me.

~Ashley Pritchard, Jefferson College

DCC Stories-Part 2



DCC Stories-Part 3

We met Dahari at the end of the Day of Faith. He was very educated about different world religions but wanted more information about a personal relationship with Christ. We contacted the Pastor of the Denver Community Church to ask about a future meeting with Dahari, and to our surprise, the pastor responded right away to set up a time to meet with Dahari.

~Jenna Allegre, University of Kansas

DCC Stories-Part 4

Information Overload

I'm doing some research for a video idea I'm working on that, in part, focuses on how students spend their time. Twenty years ago, the term, "research" would have entailed a library and a card catalog (on a DOS-based computer if you're lucky). These days, however, the term research usually means "Google." On a whim, I typed "research" into google. Any guesses on the result? 982,000,000 results in .17 seconds.

Google gives this stat for every search it runs. It's routine. It's mundane. You don't pay attention to it. It's staggering when you do.

In less time than it took to type this sentence, Google returned so many documents that if I read one each second, it would take me just over two years to get through all of them. More if I have to use the bathroom.

The funny thing is, once upon a time, when a person asked a question that couldn't be answered, that was it. Now, there is no unanswerable question. We assume that every question has already been answered, we just need Google to find it for us.

I for one become indignant when I can't find the answer to my question of the page of search results. What's funny, is that it never crosses my mind that the internet might not hold the answer to my question. I always assume that I just haven't worded it correctly. So I try again.

The internet is big, but the volume of information it DOESN'T contain is also pretty staggering.

Winter Wonderland

It's cold. Really cold. I guess I shouldn't complain, it's double digits. The snow is swirling around, and it actually reminds me of Christmas. The only difference, is that when Christmas is coming, you're cheery and optimistic. I think that's because I still remember what warm weather felt like. At this point in the winter, there's no cheery optimism. Just the prospect of more cold.

Maybe this year, spring will decide that the annual struggle to push winter back to its northern home for a few months will seem too daunting, and decide to take 2009 off. If that happens, there's no hope for summer. Summer's all talk. It takes the running start that spring offers, and then just goes too far, like someone who doesn't know when a joke isn't funny anymore. It takes well past a comfortable climate, and pushes us into the high 90's and even triple digits if it had too much caffeine that morning.

Fortunately, fall is there to talk some sense into summer. Fall's kind of a killjoy, because it knows that winter is coming, and it reminds us, but at least it gives us a break from summer's triple-digit antics.

All of that to say, it's cold. I hope spring shows up this year, because if it takes this year off, why would it even bother in 2010. The world might just turn into Narnia, except with Christmas.

In Transit II

Different day, different airport, different time zone. We're waiting for our third flight of the new year. This one's going to stick, at least for a little while.

We had a great time in Daytona Beach. The conference was really helpful. We're coming home feeling a little more prepared from a detail standpoint, and really encouraged from a vision standpoint. Being in Daytona Beach, Florida during (I hope) the coldest week of the year in the US wasn't too shabby either.

In Transit

The day started at 4:00 am (MST, that's 5 or 6 for most of you) in Denver, so we could catch a shuttle for our 8:15 flight to Orlando.

Christmas Conference was amazing. It's hard to summarize a week's worth in a few sentences, fortunately, that was precisely Sarah's job at the conference. Look for that in our next prayer letter.

From here (here being the airport, so this will be brief) we head to Orlando where we'll visit Sarah's family, and then go to Summer Project Directors Training. We're excited about Cameroon, and had some great conversations about it at DCC. We look forward to filling you in more soon.