With less than three months left to Urbana ’03 – Intervasity Fellowship’s 20th Student Mission Convention, and registration more than half full, officials express excitement for the upcoming event.
"Young people today have the desire to commit themselves to something that's greater than themselves and they're looking for the call of God on their lives,” said Jim Tebbe, director of Urbana.
According to Tebbe, short term missions will be encouraged, following this year’s theme: “Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done.”
"The approach has been to encourage students to take incramental steps toward missions. If you haven't taken a short-term missions trip, take a short-term trip,” said Tebbe.
One other area that Urbana will address is Islam. Tebbe says, "I'm very concerned about attitudes. What is our Christian attitude toward people of other faiths, particularly the Muslim world." He says, "We're not able to influence people we don't like. We want to encourage students to reach out to those who are Muslims."
