Hooray for Fall Conference!!!

Hello, friends! 

Well, I'm back! After a wonderful weekend, another Fall Conference is in the books. The weather (mostly) cooperated), students had a good time, the Holy Spirit moved, and overall, it was a great experience. Here are a few highlights: 

- Nebraska Time: We actually only had 7 students from Nebraska attend. At first I was bummed but it actually worked out really well. I was hoping that Fall Conference would be an opportunity for us to build some "brand identity" with InterVarsity and boy did that happen! These 7 from North Platte, Kearney, Hastings, and Omaha (literally all over the state) spent so much time together and really got to know one another. It was such a blessing to see them all interact and build relationships. 

- Church Partnership: Fall Conference was at Living Hope in Blair, Nebraska, about 30 minutes north of Omaha. It got recommended to us by one of our volunteers (his dad is the pastor). It was such a blessing to partner with Pastor Pat. They were super welcoming and we had some great conversations about how much of a blessing it was to have us there for them too. 

Added to that, our worship team fell through so I had to scramble to find a worship leader. I asked my friend Eric if his church could do it. They couldn't but he met a guy who might be able to do it. Eric's guy couldn't but he contacted one of his friends who also couldn't do it but sent his intern to us. It was a wild ride but such great worship! 

- Staff Partnership: One of the things that I missed over Sabbatical was working with my coworkers. We have such a great staff team and Fall Conference was evidence of that. Staff led all sorts of things and they did it so well. We really couldn't have had a Fall Conference without everyone working together. 

By the numbers, we had 40 students attend. 3 made decisions to recommit their lives to Jesus and 27 committed to being on mission on campus. It was so wonderful to see students make those kinds of decisions. 

I've been telling folk that Fall Conference is very similar to the triathlons that I (used to) do. All the prep, the training runs/bikes/swims, the anticipation, even up to the race itself, is all terrible and no fun. Then, you cross the finish line and immediately think to yourself, "when's the next one?!" Fall Conference is a LOT of work and sometimes can be very frustrating. But then it happens, the Holy Spirit moves, and when it's over, you start counting down the days until the next one. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam