Yesterday I posted about International Getaway, which was one of the conference that Megan and I helped staff this past week. The other was Catalyst, which is definitely one of my favorite weeks of the year.
The idea behind Catalyst is simple: Take all the InterVaristy students from Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri, put them in a camp together, give them tons of musical worship, training on how to reach their friends with the Gospel, and fried food, then wait for the Holy Spirit to punch everyone in the face like a thunderbolt. Throw in a dance party and 5 students making decisions to follow Jesus, and makings of a great conference!
Honestly, I was a little disinterested coming into Catalyst this year. We normally bring 20-25 students to Catalyst but this year that number was way down to 8. Also, Catalyst is actually a two-week ordeal. Students show up for one week or the other depending on when they get out of school. Normally I help out during Week 1 so I can see how everything goes before the Mizzou students arrive for Week 2. However, because of our trip to Cambodia this summer, I was only given one week of Catalyst. I came in feeling behind the curve and not really excited about not having a huge number of Mizzou students in attendance. Thankfully, God decided that I was being dumb and way showed up.
I suppose there is something to be said for not just having a bunch of people at a conference but having the RIGHT people at the conference. We only had 8 students there but the 8 we had were: 2 graduates who will be volunteering with InterVarsity next year, 3 for sure leaders, 2 international students, and 1 student who has been invited to serve with ACF next year. It was tons of fun to see everyone grow the way they did.
Our graduates did a great job of staying engaged and leading their former classmates while also getting a glimpse of staff life. Our leaders all stepped up in big ways, including one who gave a killer testimony in front of the whole group. It sounds like our international students had a good time and had some really good interactions with Jesus. Our potential serving student not only won our Catalyst Dance Party Raffle but he also grew a ton in his love for bible study. All said and done, I'd say that was a pretty solid conference.
So, there you have it. Catalyst was a huge deal, just like it is every year. Thankfully, our God is a God who makes it a habit of exceeding my expectations. =0).
Friends, if you have a moment, would you please pray for the students who attended Catalyst. Oftentimes what began at Catalyst is stopped because of the lack of accountability during the summer. Would you pray that God would continue the good work that he began in each of the students who went to Catalyst?
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
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