Well, it's great to be back.
It was just about a year ago.
I came back from Argentina and shared about
Acts 13 Start that again praise the Lord
it's good to push the wrong buttons Red
one for record.
It's great.
It's great to be back.
It was just about a year ago that
I Came back from Argentina just at this
time and shared about Acts 13 and it's
amazing as I go around To find out
it's been of course slower than I would
have dreamed but to find out how many
people are taking on this acts 13 vision
and I have people come up all the
time write to me and say our church
is now going to send at least Someone
many many churches that have not sent out
missionaries are now contemplating and attempting to send
out someone and Sometimes it's a result of
the acts 13 vision Which I would be
happy to send anyone more information about but
the main purpose of this time is to
share about her better and I want to
first of all, thank you for praying It
was a one-year struggle and somewhat of
an agony for me if I'm honest It's
not my favorite kind of thing, especially to
submit manuscripts and some of you remember the
work we put into that not just me,
but others and as you Some of you
guessed we we never did actually use that
manuscript Maybe that will end up going into
into a book But somehow I had the
I had the strength To just share from
my heart God had met me in a
very real way here in London on the
train or the tube going to Randy Lohler's
Team working among Muslims and had given me
what I felt was just the the core
of what I should share At Rabban at
least on the first night and gave me
the faith just to leave the second night
Until I could see what God was doing
because it was the fourth evening See what
God was doing through all the other speakers
and through all that was happening there So
it was certainly a momentous Occasion when finally
after a year of thinking praying and orientation
I stood in front of this great crowd
and just Let loose I guess people would
classify it as a bit over the top
the first night.
I wore this this hat My global jacket,
by the way, the OEM errs had the
jackets with these Signs on the back.
I didn't have one of those and They
had over one Thousand five hundred people signed
cards at the OEM store for follow-up
just about OEM And I estimate that if
we follow through with vision and strength and
prayer Which is one of the main purposes
of this tape.
We like to think of this as a
prayer tape Then I believe we're gonna see
a lot of people for global action and
I think every mission agency there huge numbers
of mission agencies huge giant Gymnasiums filled with
exhibitions are going to see recruits from Urbana.
I Think the bonding with this crowd was
was very easy.
They were hungry.
They were prepared There were a lot of
laughs and there was a lot of Things
that might be considered a little bit unusual
by the older generation But it was received
well and I then prepared for of course
The criticisms that often come from older people
or leaders about this particular approach to communication
But somehow it didn't come Dan did take
me aside with But I guess it was
Paula and Just to talk about the fourth
night and I asked for permission to give
a standing invitation to stand up not just
to fill out papers That is not always
been considered acceptable in the past at Urbana,
but they gave me that permission and The
only exhortation they had was that they felt
my next message.
Perhaps I could be a little more serious
telling George Bower to be More serious, you
know like instructing dinosaurs how to how to
eat But I decided I would attempt to
be more serious on the fourth night It's
not possible for me to describe that fourth
night and some of the wild things That
I still did in the more serious note
But no no doubt those two videos will
be going All over the globe in the
next few years.
I talked to more people through the Lordship
of Christ video From Urbana 87 and probably
I spoke at Urbana who knows but that
video continues 10 years later to be widely
circulated Let me share that which I've just
received by by facts as I talked to
Melanie Hanson and just wanted to get The
official press release and just some of the
official material that's going out around the world
because some of you I know Haven't seen
this Press release this is way back January
9th as a result of how God moved
in Urbana 96 thousands of students from across
North America have committed themselves to cross cultural
missions and are beginning to consider their next
steps in The fulfillment and fulfilling these commitments.
These are written commitments a woman led the
sort of printed written Commitment forms after I
finished speaking on that fourth night and gave
the invitation about one-fourth of the whole
audience stood when I gave the invitation for
Radical commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ is
Lordship and world missions.
I might just say At the beginning of
the meeting I asked how many were already
before they came to Urbana Trying to get
to the mission field and thousands Stood that's
something very important What we've been saying here
over the past year has been proven true
at Urbana There is no in one sense
lack of people wanting to go to the
mission field There's a lack of funds and
facility and many other things that are needed
to make it happen But the initial volunteer
stage is certainly not the biggest obstacle or
the biggest problem Let me get back to
this text Urbana 96 sponsored by InterVarsity Christian
Fellowship USA and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship Canada drew
more than 19,000 students.
This is not an exaggerated or blown up
statistic.
This is on paper.
These people registered They were there the main
auditorium only takes a little over 17,000
and so many had to through a system
of alphabet go to the overflow auditorium In
order to be there many of our own
OM reps in order to get a more
inexpensive rate.
I don't really know why we do that
They don't even go to the main auditorium
meetings.
They go to to some of them They're
mainly in the exhibition hall and meeting with
individuals all the time drew more than 19
,000 students missionaries and others And I heard
and understood it was about 900 pastors and
a pastor's track led by Gordon McDonald To
the campus of the University of Illinois, by
the way, we had mild weather, but lots
of fog quite a bit of chaos people
getting there with planes canceled we got in
just before the Fog, which is good because
I was speaking on the opening night from
December 27 to the 31st I might just
throw in right here in the beginning that
one of the highlights was breaking bread with
18 to 19 thousand people on New Year's
Eve It took a long time But it
was a time of meditation.
It was a time of heart-searching as
we followed Sometimes the people who took the
wine and took the cup took the bread
and distributed it through this huge Stadium they
did it in a very orderly way and
that was how we brought 1997 into our
lives mission agencies and Bible school representatives Representatives
reported their days being filled with interviews of
young men and women eager to make specific
contributions to the world Mission of the church
again.
One of the highlights of Urbana is all
the personal interaction And the breakthrough at Urbana
came not because of any one person or
one group of person, but a massive army
of people interacting with students sometimes on into
the night small groups Especially focusing on the
unreached people and the Joshua project alone.
It's just quite a phenomenal phenomenal event 15
,857 delegates turned in Urbana 96 decision cards
over 15,000 close to 16,000 turned
in cards as an expression of their commitment
made at the convention More decision cards are
expected to be turned in delegates In the
coming days We've only seen the tip of
the iceberg in terms of everything God has
done at Urbana 96 says Urbana 96 director
Dan Harrison the statistics from the decision cards
are an incomplete measurement of everything that went
on during Urbana, but they do give some
indication of the depth of Delegate interest and
where we expect to see impact as a
result of their time here for example about
2750 delegates declared their intent to pursue cross
-cultural missions this summer and another 2,000
indicated plans to go on short-term mission
projects at a later date and 2,600
2867 indicated they would pursue missions as a
life work.
That's a key statistic almost 3,000 missions
as a life work with 2,228 prepared
to make one or two-year commitments 7
,861 indicated they would clarify how and when
they would pursue mission involvement 9,000 reconsidered
committed themselves to the Lordship of Jesus Christ
180 I Lost that page now.
I think that 180 statistic the number of
people who actually made a decision to believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ for the first
time I've actually got the original page.
It was given out at the Press conference
it probably has changed a little since then
but at that time 157 had Indicated believing
on Christ I was asked I guess together
with others to make sure even though the
whole thrust was world missions that I included
the gospel and An opportunity for people to
come to Christ because non-christians do go
to Urbana Well that gives you just some
of the statistics.
I think it might be of interest however,
especially as many of you listening to this
tape or Christian workers to get a little
of the Background They took a survey on
probability of mission service 14% definite 33
% probable 38% unsure 7% unlikely
One and a half percent none 5%
no answer They did a survey and I
might say one of the great days at
Urbana was a day of racial Reconciliation which
is an important theme in the body of
Christ at this time around the world they
had a couple thousand after the main morning
morning was all plenaries a Much fuller and
more intensive schedule than any OM conference I
can assure you at least that I've been
to except maybe if I went back to
the 60s They just feel these people out
there And so it's really from early morning
to late at night every single day and
that even on that final day They seem
to be so receptive But they did a
little survey who was at Urbana in terms
of racial background and this has some negative
and positive factors 64% white 20%
Asian 2.28 African there was a major
afro-american Conference going on at the same
time down in Atlanta.
That's a factor 2.34 Asian Korean 1
.90 Hispanic 7 Percent others 57% female
43% male Shows the women are still
ahead, but at least that's the men are
somewhat in range very interesting statistics about where
they What their campus relationship?
And I was just talking with Melody Hanson
on the phone on how we can increase
mission emphasis in the actual inner varsity Chapters
since this is an inner varsity event 8
,700 people listed nothing in terms of campus
fellowship 5,200 inner varsity 1,500 other
564 campus crusade they had many regional conferences
going on around this time of the year
485 local Christian college mission groups 407 inner
varsity Canada 282 fellowship of Christian athletes 182
navigators 153 young life 137 Baptist Student Union's
by the way in American campuses for those
of you are not Americans.
There are often many different student movements not
not just one And then there's one or
two other Listings there this might be of
interest to you educational level 5% 12th
grade 13% college freshman 22% college
sophomore 22% college junior 26% college
senior 8% master's level grad student 3
% doctorate level grad student 1% postdoctoral
grad student 116 nations represented at Urbana 1996
I've got some amazing feedback just from individuals
because it's always good to hear what students
Have to say and I thought I would
read just a few of these about witness
What are one of the one or two
things that God has taught me at Urbana?
How about 30 or 40?
God has been teaching me about his character
my sinfulness his name my future.
I'm committed to praying For two of my
non-christian friends more regularly want to be
more Intentional in my witness to them and
that is so typical at many many at
Urbana.
I think a huge number of people made
commitments in in connection with prayer and There
was quite an emphasis on prayer even in
the main meeting and it's so hard with
such a huge a huge crowd and Somehow
a number of people brought this feedback that
these young people they want to pray they
want to be involved in prayer We had
a lunch a prayer and fasting lunch Which
was very very encouraging and released an enormous
amount of finance into into Into missions.
Let me just give you that information 90
,000 was raised for world hunger relief 90
,000 these people already paid a lot of
money to get there through a skip a
lunch effort on December 29th more than $285
,000 was also given toward world hunger.
That's another offering December 30th and then another
offering of 160,000 was given to support
pioneer student work through International Fellowship of Evangelical
students Lindsay Brown seemed to just show up
on the last day other conferences took place
right after Urbana and Others intend to give
to I fees on a very very regular
Basis what an encouragement What an encouragement?
Many feel that Urbana broke the stereotypes concerning
the X generation, which is a big thing
in American vocabulary and thinking People had been
at a number of Urbana's.
This was my third Urbana.
I was in 67 I've got referred to
a number of times and some interesting pictures
going around and then I was there in
87 This by the way was a celebration
of the 50th year and this one of
the speakers Sharing the night that I spoke
the opening night was Christy Wilson who in
his early 20s was the leader and the
organizer of the first Urbana in Toronto Canada
You can imagine the response that he had
and then Betty Elliot who was involved Way
back a whole group of people had come
together.
They were sitting in a special section Who
had been in Urbana back in those early
days, of course, including missionaries returning From the
field so that was That was quite amazing.
Let me read a few others God has
renewed and stretched my heart for missions He
really really convicted me to be radical in
my witness to my sorority sisters he also
convicted me of the need to be specific
and sacrificial in my commitment to missions Another
one God taught me that if I really
care about my friends, I won't accept their
religion with quiet tolerance And it was very
bold at Urbana the challenge that Jesus Christ
is the only way There's any area where
the church is hedging and pussyfooting it is
in that area But we had an Indian
brother share Specifically on that one of the
highlights of Urbana Was that he began to
Choke and was unable to speak the same
thing happened to the person who shared that
message previously Urbana now has a very strong
emphasis on intercession going on at the whole
time their intercessors meeting privately interceding led by
an outstanding woman Mary Ann who we Missionary
to Latin America we had good fellowship with
When this started to happen In front of
all these people main stage I think was
on the third night Dan went up and
they of course brought up some water that
didn't seem to Help and I saw Mary
Ann praying there behind the stage people praying
with her the students Just really respond to
that this generation of students.
I think respond more when people are in
trouble People that look like they have it
all together.
I don't think that's what really excites this
generation I'm sure there's some exceptions.
Maybe that's why I get such a great
response.
I just look at me They know this
guy's in big big trouble So I get
a lot of heart vibrations, but They really
rallied in prayer and some feel this was
the miracle of Urbana as his voice came
back strong and he finished preaching this message
this message on the exclusiveness of Christ and
Jesus Christ as the only the only way
Here's another one God showed me That he
has a place for me in inner-city
missions and taught me the true importance of
living among the poor I'm a strong emphasize
being reached out to and fully understanding their
culture I also desire to follow God closely
and soak up his word a huge traditional
emphasis Generally found in inner varsity on the
Word of God Jorge George and Dan said
that you main-bible speaker in the Bible
readings in the morning following in the steps
of men like John stop and Ajit Fernando
I Think everyone could see that he was
he was struggling.
This was not his first language.
He's a Spanish speaker in all these notes
But the message was was good and people
responded and on the final morning he spoke
through his wife an American Through interpretation and
you could see that he was a lot
more Free This brother has such a powerful
smile.
He didn't really need to preach He just
got up there these big screen.
Most people watch this on big screen five
big screens You're just a little you look
especially if you're small like me I did
bring my binoculars, but most people didn't have
binoculars can hardly see the speaker I went
up to what they call the nosebleed section
on the final night I was up there
walking around that that actually almost led to
riots and I had to leave but It's
it's so amazing to Just sit up there
and see the whole Auditorium, but this brother
would just give this this smile and he
would just he would really just radiate The
Lord Jesus so God used him as each
morning.
He expounded from the Word of God from
the Book of Acts a couple of other
quotes from participants God taught me that I'll
never be good enough to be a missionary
But rather the sacrifice of Christ will be
my hope to do his work Another one
I learned from Libby littles talk that missions
is not glorious And that if God calls
me to that long term Then there will
be much sacrifice, but that sacrifice no matter
how costly is nothing in comparison to how
richly God Blesses I've been committed.
I have committed myself to God as Lord
Seriously, I told God I'm willing to obey
him He has absolute authority over me.
I've committed my summer to his service I
will also inspire my church and campus for
world missions I let another one I learned
that there's an abundant blessing in my life
that I've treated That I have treated as
downfalls In my own message.
I shared a lot about God's grace to
ragamuffins that word became a major word at
Urbana people had ragamuffin buttons on ragamuffin books
were sold and Everybody knew who was the
ultimate?
Ragamuffin when I got up and spoke again
on the fourth evening We emphasized a lot
God being able to use failures.
So here's a feedback.
That's that's tied into that God is not
calling me to fire missions at this time
But he's calling me to love his young
people of America as their teacher in public
schools.
I Plan on being a mission mobilizer more
on my campus.
That was another arrow that we shot Normally
in this kind of meeting by the way
You don't always get a lot of freedom
for book pushes But they have a book
of a day and that is featured on
video on the big screen and those books
just go out Operation world was the book
of the day Last minute I was able
to print a special edition in Chicago priority
one five thousand copies We decided just to
give those away.
They all went Nate here was involved in
that My book somehow no turning back was
the book of the day.
It's available at the doors of the of
the auditorium They went out one of the
highlights that Urbana of course was was worship
They did not have special music numbers at
Urbana Then the program is so is so
packed, but they had powerful Worship with a
very very live band who really knew how
to to lead worship the times of worship
Again, I thought it was so good because
sometimes the worship sessions get a little too
long But to me they had God's mind
about the timing how long and they had
it of course different Intervals another highlight at
Urbana was a young man an actor named
Bruce Cone Is that pronouncing his name right
name?
Bruce Did a dramatization of the Bible reading
every morning before George or Jorge spoke?
He dramatized the reading from the book of
Acts and he was brilliant.
Did you ever get the opportunity to see
that video?
It's just quite amazing again audience participation so
powerful when there's a healing from the book
of Acts and just the way the way
he Gave the word he ended of course
for complete memorized I Refer in a vague
way to someone because the country they come
from is a high security Area of the
land of Afghanistan, but this married woman who
I believe been touched in Urbana years ago
Was a missionary in fact the missionary from
that country wrote me make sure I got
to see her And she spoke in one
of the morning sessions toward the end absolute
opposite of my approach very very quiet serious
woman and Shared about living in Kabul Afghanistan
and it was it was it was awesome
That that what she shared could be as
relevant in the 60s 70s 50s 70s 80s
as it was in the 90s and it
is a proof again That we don't have
to be intimidated.
We don't have to be try to be
someone else when we're sharing the missionary vision
if we've got something our heart if God's
done something in our life, we can just
share whatever way that we share and God
just mightily used That woman in all of
our hearts and I tell you the Muslim
world and the 1040 window and the unreached
people I Believe got a greater challenge at
Urbana than certainly most mission conferences Many that
I have ever been to so that is
also a big item of praise one of
the prayer requests that we want you to
especially take to the Lord is Concerning what's
happened on the world wide web many people
listen to this live on their computer This
has never happened before at Urbana because Maybe
it did happen three years ago.
I don't remember hearing about it But this
is certainly a major thing today if you
want the website of Urbana, it's www.urbana
.org Or G And I'll just repeat that
for those of you who are getting this
tape Because there is so much on the
event Urbana website that could be of an
enormous blessing and those of you here tonight
It's just it's just amazing what you can
get about what God has done their challenges
about the future possibilities to interact so it's
www.urbana.org Or G and that will
get you into unlimited exposure On Urbana for
all of you, especially who missed it By
the way, there were a lot of people
turned down as it was fully booked weeks
before the event Many many disappointed people were
not able to get there.
We hope They will be able to get
in on this Through email through the video
cassettes audio cassettes all of which have already
gone out in considerable quantity by the way
about 2,700 people made a commitment to
be more involved in in student witness And
I think we need to understand It's not
easy for these students to witness in their
universities And some universities even here Britain People
who are attempting to witness are being mocked
They're being attacked sometimes for their position on
abortion or on homosexuality huge complexity One of
the most highly attended special sessions and all
kinds of special sessions You can't imagine it
was for those that wanted sexual healing 2000
came to that session one of the powerful
testimonies from a young man who I think
Had been on OM but Was mainly from
Wheaton College.
He shared about the mini revival that came
at Wheaton about a year or so ago
And a thousand a thousand five hundred stayed
after that meeting To pray that kind of
confessional prayer and to get right with God
and to repent So that was another emphasis
that really really flowed another thing that impressed
me about Urbana and whenever I go to
these events, I'm always studying and trying to
learn People of different racial backgrounds a tremendous
mixture of people of different national backgrounds The
brother each day who really helped lead in
the prayer was a Korean brother Just a
very very strong communicator and the number of
women different backgrounds of those women who shared
main stage and It was it was really
it was really beautiful and the Holy Spirit
used that in a very very powerful way
another Group of people about 2254 people Made
a commitment to get more involved in missions
focus in their own church And that's another
prayer request because some university students are not
really with it when it comes to the
church and we tried to bring this out
in the message the Importance of local church
and acts 13 Sending out workers into the
Harvest field.
There's so much more.
I would I would love to Share, but
I think we've got more than enough here
that we could Take to God in prayer.
I had this other Little item Asking special
prayer for follow-up wondering what pool what
What tools to use to follow up your
students who attended Urbana?
Maximize material they already have by the way,
everybody got a Urbana Bible 19,000 Bibles
went out for the special Cover, I mean
the amount of literature and that's a real
prayer request because these students are already on
information overload Pray that this literature doesn't just
get laid aside buried by their all their
university studies Let me finish reading that maximize
the material they already have encouraged them to
read through next steps Everybody received a copy
of that volume one which delegates received in
their Urbana bag It's a booklet of reflections
on life at Urbana 96 Its goals are
to encourage help fulfill the decisions made at
the convention to offer new ideas Delegates will
receive volume 2 in early March Also encourage
them to visit the Urbana Website, which I
already gave you Here's another little article that's
gone out to the press Xers students at
Urbana shatter Stereotypes over and over again missionaries
and exhibitors at Urbana 96 Sat said how
impressed they were with a high caliber of
students at this convention They said students were
asking good questions We're seriously considering the cost
of commitment to missions We're already taking steps
toward involvement while at the convention mission agencies
and Bible school representatives reported their days being
filled with Interviews of young women and men
eager to make specific contributions to the world
mission of the church One of the things
I kept saying to people and especially when
I had a radio interview is We really
do need an Urbana for adults I was
so privileged to be able to speak at
this event and I counted it a privilege
to bring in my strong appeal for Sending
and that came across and people responded to
that And I gave I think I can't
even remember perfectly what I shared but I
think I managed to squeeze in This battle
against the clock.
They did give me a few extra minutes
or I took them or something but the
new hero fellow that stays home and helps
Supply the money that concept is foreign to
many young people And I really believe we
are going to see the release of finance
directly and indirectly From Urbana though with many
of these people it'll be a while.
So that's another prayer request that we can
remember their parents Some of these people when
they share with their parents that they're thinking
about becoming a missionary many parents are not
Christians They are going and they're gonna have
a very difficult time.
So of course the grace awakening challenge came
right Through what we were attempting to share
By the way I finally after several years
of praying I've made a deal with the
publisher to do our own edition of grace
awakening And instead of $22 a copy the
present hardback price in America I'm gonna be
able to buy ten thousand copies at one
dollar thirty one cents It cannot be sold
in bookstores.
It will be the student Missionary special edition
with the cheap kind of paper they're using
in Bulgaria But if you're going to give
a lot of them away, I don't think
we need to worry about that and certainly
the grace awakening Challenge came strongly through there
at Urbana.
So pray that as they share with their
churches they share with their parents We pushed
Betty Bartlett's book on friend raising as they
realize how difficult it is to raise funds
We pushed also the challenge of tent making
and that was they the tent making booth
was one of the busiest booths And a
lot of these students they they they are
thinking more of how they can be a
tent maker their career people So that's something
else we can incorporate into into our praying
Again, I want to thank every one of
you either here tonight or out listening to
this cassette who have prayed for a banner
prayed for me personally, I want to also
encourage you again to get into the Website
or to get some of the cassettes and
through distributing those cassettes video and audio cassettes
You can spread the vision not firstly of
Urbana the vision of reaching the entire world
With the gospel we try to emphasize our
burden isn't just to evangelize the world, but
it's the build the kingdom Everywhere and that
means all these students back in their universities
and many about a thousand missionaries and exhibitors
were there They're building a kingdom right now
and we are as we go back to
prayer in this prayer meeting.
Let's pray Lord I just thank you for
this Awesome event there in Urbana three weeks
ago And as the message goes out through
people's lives and by cassette and video and
through the World Wide Web we ask that
this may be Brought into this huge stream
of missionary vision Motivation that's going on across
the world right now.
We thank you for that telephone link up
with a missions event Down in Panama and
the missions event in Mexico We thank you
that so many organizations and so many leaders
of different organizations were involved with this and
for the balance of truth that was shared
in the midst of a Conference that was
especially focusing on world missions We pray that
many many leaders in America who are not
emphasizing world missions Many pastors who don't even
allow time in their pulpit for missionary speakers
to any degree That many of the people
who are considered the shakers and movers in
the United States and other nations in Canada
will somehow through what they hear about Urbana
decide to become proactive and To really begin
to build sending churches Lord unless we see
sending churches unless we see finance Even in
terms of all we want to do in
the follow-up task Then we know many
of those who made this commitment will never
go many will never even go short term
We haven't time Oh God We haven't had
time tonight Oh God to emphasize the opposition
the complexities the heartaches the fiery darts of
Satan Which we've seen Coming even since we
walked out of that great Auditorium and so
we pray there may continue to be a
an ongoing sense That for most people or
many people Urbana was just the beginning or
just one more step in their ongoing Dynamic
and revolutionary walk for you.
We pray for those that went away hurt
or disappointed For those that had deep emotional
struggles and maybe didn't get the counseling or
help that they wanted or for those that
stood up, but now their Emotions are down
or they're depressed and they feel in in
a time of Confusion may they somehow come
and and bring this whole thing into perspective
and may that Message of your ragamuffin grace
and your ability to use failures come back
to them at their moment of need Lord,
we pray for Dan Harrison as he now
moves on from inner varsity and Goes into
a different ministry as he has several major
open doors and we pray that you lead
and guide him and his family and all
those who Are and were involved in the
organizational side of this event Lord how we
thank you for so many hundreds that Were
behind the scenes in the in the offices
and in the organizational side that made this
happen and we commit them to you, especially
our sister Paula and Asked that they would
be strengthened as they now move into the
next phase of their ministry Lord, we would
give this heart cry again for the parents
the mothers and fathers of those who are
at Urbana That somehow they would be able
to understand The importance of Biblical action and
if they're not Christians May they realize that
you Lord Jesus are the way the truth
in the life And there is no other
way and may we hear of parents and
friends all over the globe Coming to know
you because of the ongoing impact of this
huge event and all that's come out from
it We ask this in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ Amen