Urbana was an interesting experience for sure. I started off pretty excited for Urbana when Phil first introduced it to challengers because it would be a new way to see how different people and churches run their worship and service. As time went on I started losing the hype for Urbana. Realizing the cost, driving distance and time spent there made me reconsider my decision to go to Urbana. Even though I had all these things in mind I somehow felt like Urbana is where I should be at and so I stayed on the team.
The drive to St. Louis was brutal. It took us around 16 hours to get there and we ended up arriving until about 6AM without much sleep. Thankfully, Urbana didn’t start until the night time, so it gave us a chance to catch up on some sleep and to relax before everything started. The week of Urbana went by pretty quickly. Every day was packed with bible study, sermons and workshops, which left barely anytime for us to relax and reflect. I went to Urbana with the hopes of encountering God and having questions answered, but I think I left with more questions than I came in with. Urbana definitely has opened my views for worship and missions. It was a very different experience to learn how to worship in different cultures including Latino, native Hawaiian and African American. We also learned to worship in different languages including Korean and Swahili. The different styles of worship put me in a place where I was not comfortable with in the beginning, but as we worshiped more, it became more natural and fitting. We also learned to embrace and live each other’s story because that is how we care and pray for one another. We explored why the Black Lives Matter campaign was so important to not just African Americans, but to everyone. It is because it matters to our brothers and sisters that we too are now called into the same story, so that we can share their hurts and joy. Another emphasis of Urbana was the need for people to do missions, not just locally, but globally. We got a little insight to seeing some of the countries where Christians are being persecuted including Iraq, Syria, North Korea, Yemen and others as well. Some missionaries shared their stories with us about the persecution they faced in different countries. What amazed me was that these missionaries were regular people like you and me. Some of them have the fear of insects, which made me realize that these people aren’t any more special than you and me, other than the fact that they decided to follow Christ’s calling into being a missionary and giving their life away. We got an opportunity to pray for different countries during that night and it amazed me how much missionaries value prayer. The number one thing missionaries ask for isn’t safety, security or their daily food and water, but it is prayer. That would not be the first thing that I would be asking for if I was in the middle of a country that persecuted Christians. I realized that if prayer is so important to them, it must be more important than what I think. Urbana has made me think more globally. It encouraged me to think about churches around the world and events that are happening around the world. I don’t know if it has convinced me to go on a mission trip, maybe someday. I do know however, that my way of seeing worship, missions and the global church has changed a lot. It’s made me pray more for our brothers and sisters around the world and my outlook on the importance of mission.
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January 2016
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