Ohana Means Family...

Hello, friends! 

Two weekends ago, over MLK Jr. Day Weekend, I had the pleasure of staffing Ohana, the Central Region's first ever Asian Student Conference.  80 students from all over the region joined us as we learned about our role as children, God's role as the perfect father, and what true family in the kingdom of God means.  It was a transformative time for more than a few students and I'm so happy that I was able to be a part of it. 

Our process started over a year ago when our (now Associate Area Director) co-worker Will took on the task of directing the conference.  Our goal was simple.  We wanted to unite the Asian American students from all over the region.  Looking at our Regional numbers, you could see that Asian American students were actually the second highest population of students represented.  We had more Asian American students a part of InterVarsity in the Central Region than African American students or Latino students, and possibly more than those 2 groups combined.  But, if you looked closer at the numbers, what you saw was that most of those students were concentrated in the 2 ACF's at Mizzou and WashU.  Once you took those two chapters out of the equation, suddenly those numbers don't look so hot.  So, we figured that a great way to build momentum would be to hold a conference where we invite Asian American students from all over the region. 

Understand, for many of our chapters, the number of Asian American students in 1-5.  How great would it be for them to all come together and see that the have something to bring to their campuses in terms of reaching the Asian American student populations?  It's at least worth a shot, right? 

Well, Ohana has come and gone and I can say that it was a rousing success.  We had 80 students from 4 different campuses come in and everyone had a great time.  Most of the students came from WashU and Mizzou ACF's, which was expected, but we also had a contingent from SLU as well as a number of Hawaiian students from Creighton.  Our speaker was Greg Jao, National Field Director for InterVarsity in the Northeast and he totally nailed it.  He talked about our ethnic identities as a good thing as well as dealing with a LOT of family issues.  When all was said and done, 35 of the 80 students made decisions to recommit their lives to Jesus, including 2 Mizzou students! 

I'm not sure when our next Ohana will be.  We have to take a lot into consideration, including a whole bunch of calendars and such.  What I can say though is that when we do have it, I hope the Spirit moves as much as he did at this one. 

Have an excellent day!

~Adam