Onward to Urbana!!!

Hello, friends! 

First of all, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you! I am very excited for 2026 as it will include a 6 month Sabbatical as well as starting a new position with InterVarsity as the Area Ministry Director for Nebraska. 2026 is going to have a lot of changes but I'm sure it'll turn out just great. Besides, it can't be too much more wild than 2025, right? 

RIGHT?! =0). 

Before we turn the calendar towards the new year, we have one last BIG thing happening in 2025. 2025 is an Urbana year! 

Urbana, InterVarsity's tri-annual global missions conference is one of the most iconic things that we do as an organization. Christian leaders from Billy Graham and Tom Skinner to Francis Chan and Michelle Higgins have brought the word from the Urbana stage over the years. We've seen hundreds (if not thousands) of students give their lives to Jesus and thousands more say "yes" to God's calling of being a missionary wherever they end up in life. Megan and I both had significant experiences at an Urbana in the past (one even included an angel!) and we know that we're not alone. 

This will be Urbana number 7 for me and this has easily the hardest Urbana ever. Urbana was first housed at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (thus the name) before moving to St. Louis for a few cycles (oh man, those were the days...). Urbana 22 was in Indianapolis and this year we'll be heading to Phoenix. Since all those other locations were relatively close, this was the first Urbana where we in the Central Region had to consider flights as part of the Urbana travel experience. 

In 2022, I started the Urbana Together program for the Central Region. The premise was simple enough: ask our students to write letters to their friends and family, asking them to help send those students to Urbana. Essentially, it was treating Urbana like a short-term mission trip. We had 40 students sign up for the Urbana Together program and raised exactly what we needed for our students to attend Urbana and it was great! 

Our goal for Urbana 25 was to have 77 students attend Urbana and partake in the Urbana Together program, essentially doubling the number of participants. Praise the LORD, we had 80 students sign up! 

Now comes the hard part. In 2022, I just covered the Urbana Together program while 3 of my coworkers in the Regional Office covered the housing, registration, and travel accommodations. This year, 2 of those coworkers moved out of the Central Region for New Zealand and the third member was coming off of her own Sabbatical. Which means that every part of the Urbana process came down to me. Friends, we're making it but it has been a bit of a struggle. There are a LOT of logistics to cover, and it probably needed to be a full-time job for a staff, not just part of an already full portfolio for me. Alas, we're making it work. 

What I know is that God is good and that Urbana will be awesome. There will almost certainly something that will go wrong. A flight will get delayed or a student will drop at the last minute. There will be some sort of mini-crisis that we'll navigate and the students will all have a good time. I also know that as soon as Urbana is over, you can count on me taking a nice long nap on the plane home... =0). 

There are two big ways that you can be part of the Urbana process. The first is to be praying for us. Please pray for those logistics. Pray for God to be preparing the hearts of the students as they prepare to head to Phoenix. Pray for me as I try to juggle all these final details. 

A second way that you can be part of Urbana 25 is by giving! Like I said, we're trying to send our students to Urbana with limited financial liability on their part. If you'd like to give to a scholarship, you can do so by following this link.

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam

New Life at Bellevue!!!

Hello, friends! 

Wild story from yesterday that I just have to share! 

M* has been leading our Bible study at Bellevue. She gave her life to Jesus at Ambition (our conference in Denver this January) and felt a call to be more intentional in her invitations at Revive. At Revive (Our Fall Conference in Omaha this October), her friend Q* gave his life to Jesus and since then, the spiritual warfare has been HEAVY for M*. One co-leader ghosted the group, another one (also M*'s roommate) is super mad at M* and stopped coming, and Q* has started using drugs and alcohol again. She's been a trooper but REALLY feeling it. I only met with her via the phone once a week but I felt like I really needed to pray for her before Sabbatical so I met with her yesterday afternoon. 

C*, one of Q's's friends, was with her. C* hasn't gone to church since he was young but started coming to Bible study when Q* invited him. I decided to do some listening prayer for M*. C* didn't hear anything (understandable) but when I asked M* what she heard, she said "I heard that we need to pray for C*." So we prayed for C*. 

Actually, what I did was guide C* through a visualization and listening prayer. I had C* visualize a safe space, then has Jesus enter that space. C* could then tell Jesus what was on his mind and then Jesus responded. It was there that Brandyn decided to give his life to Jesus! 

After C* prayed to give his life to Jesus, I asked him how he felt. He said that he got a chill but it wasn't a cold chill. Just goosebumps. M* said, "I knew it! That's the same feeling I had at Ambition!" =0). I now need to buy a new Bible since I gave mine to C*, but I'd say that's well worth it. Woot!

Please be praying for C* as he starts his new life with Jesus. Please be praying a prayer of protection over M* as she continues to lead. Please pray that the LORD will break Q's auction. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam

* Names changed for privacy

A New Adventure In a Familiar Place...

Hello, friends! 

A few years ago, for our anniversary, Megan and I drove to Sioux Falls for a Carrie Underwood concert to celebrate our anniversary. While we were waiting for the concert to start, Megan asked me if I'm glad that we moved to Omaha. I told her that wherever she and the kids were, I would be happy, so yes, I was glad that we'd moved to Omaha. I also told her that I'd finally come to terms with 2 facts about Omaha: there were too many hills and there was no good Chinese food. Now that I was at peace with Omaha, I was happy to be living here. 

If you had told me in 2002, my Junior Year of high school, that I would ever be leaving Southern California, I would have told you that you were crazy. I would have said the same thing about leaving St. Louis in 2006 or leaving CoMO in 2011. But, the LORD works in mysterious ways and sometimes plans change... 

Wow, rereading this, it REALLY sounds like we're moving... Don't worry, we're not. =0). 

Let's try starting this again, shall we? 

In 2015, I was invited by my supervisor to Memphis for a 1-day conference on Justice in Fundraising. It opened my eyes to the ways that many non-profit funding systems are inherently unjust in their setup and it got me thinking about ways to address those injustices. I don't quite remember if it was on the way there or on the way back, but sometime during that trip, I heard about the protests happening at Mizzou. As soon as I got back, I made my way to the Black Culture Center to pray with and support the Black Students on campus and my commitment to finding ways to unbreak unjust systems was solidified. In 2018, after we moved to Omaha, I took on my current role as Regional Ministry Coordinator for Ministry Partnership Development. It was now my job to take on the busted systems and try to rebuild them in a way that led to a more just, equitable, and life-giving way of doing MPD. 

After 7+ wonderful years in the job, I have decided to move onto the next chapter in my ministry career. Starting in July, after our Sabbatical in the first half of 2026, I will take on the new role as Area Ministry Director for the state of Nebraska. 

The AMD role for Nebraska has been left empty for a few years now. In fact, currently there are zero paid staff in Nebraska whose primary role is student ministry in the state. Megan and I both live in Nebraska but our responsibilities are on the Regional level. We have one friend who also lives in Omaha who works for InterVarsity but he's part of the National Planting Team. All three of us have been doing student ministry for a few hours a week but it hasn't been our main focus and it's been pretty obvious that Nebraska needs someone who can dedicate a majority of their time and energy to the students, staff, and faculty in Nebraska. After much prayer and consideration, I have decided to answer that calling. 

My process actually began last year, as we prepared for the Ambition conference in Denver in January. We recruited a number of students to join us in Denver, most of whom weren't actually InterVarsity students. But, the LORD moved and coming out of that conference, 1 student gave her life to Jesus and 2 new campus groups were started in Nebraska. In spite of there being no staff presence, The LORD was still going to move. This increase in student activity made it pretty obvious to me that someone was going to have to step into a leadership role. That need only increased this past semester as ministry continued to grow. This also included a few potential staff joining the conversation, which is something that we'd been praying for for a long time. 

Honestly, I didn't want it to be me. I love my current job and I feel like I've made an impact in the work that I've done. I also know that the work isn't finished and that there's still more that I can do in my current role. I'm also aware that the change in ministry responsibilities will mean that my schedule will need to change and that those changes will mean a change in schedule for my family as well. These are all factors that made me hesitant to apply for the role and hesitant to accept it when it was offered to me. 

And yet, here we are. What became really clear to me was that this was an invitation from the LORD and that I needed to say, "yes," not because it would be easy but because it was time to say "yes." So I did, and I know it was the right call. 

Like I said, first up is Sabbatical after the first of the year (more on that next week), then I'll formally start in July of 2026. Until then, will you please lift us up in your prayers. Pray for me as I say goodbye to a job that I've loved for the past 8 years. Pray for our family as we navigate new rhythms. Pray for our new potential staff as they prepare for life in ministry. Pray for the students here in Nebraska as they continue to seek Jesus. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam