I am in the process of evaluating how things went at #CruTru09, and I would love some feedback so that in a year we can continue to build on what happened online for encounter 09! In the comments below (or via email if that’s how you’d prefer to roll) drop me a lne with an answer to the following three(ish) questions:

What went well in the online experience?

What parts of the online experience would you like to see improved?

If money, time, and people to work on it were not an issue, how would you envision the website for encounter 2010 being used?  What are ways we could encourage maximum spiritual impact via the internet next year?

So you learned some great stuff at Encounter.  You might have even shared your faith for the first time.  Right now you feel bulletproof.  After all, you’ve realized that all of the folks back on campus aren’t living for the Lord, like you are.

You have figured out the key to life!  Jesus is the answer!

Just don’t do what I did.  See, I was a textbook Campus Crusader all the way through college.  I shared my faith for the first time my freshman year, and by my senior year I was the president of Cru, was leading Bible studies, had been on two summer projects, and more staff recruiting dinners than anyone I knew.  I had it all figured out, too.  I knew the best apologetic arguments, could answer any objections, and play all the chords in at least two Shane and Shane songs.

What happened over time (and almost completely without my noticing) was that I became an insider.  And I started to actually think that being an insider was what mattered.  I still shared my faith, sure.  But I saw the gospel as something that the outsiders needed, and that I had already figured out.  What that created was a near-total lack of freedom in my life, and I began alienating friends.  They didn’t know how to confront me in my arrogance, and I probably wouldn’t have listened anyway, but I look back on that period in my life with much regret.  I’m still mending the relationships that I jacked up now almost 10 years ago.

If you walked away from Encounter with anything other than a deeper love for Christ and a deeper sense of your need for him, and especially if you walked away thinking that you’ve got it all figured out now, please repent.  Martin Luther said that the whole life of a Christian is a life of repentance.  The only thing I’ve figured out in the past 10 years is that I don’t have it figured out, and that Jesus does.

We’re on the news.

The goal of this conference is not to stop at a simple encounter with God.  You didn’t come here for a mountain-top experience that fades after a few weeks back into a life of the same spiritual mediocrity.  You came here because you wanted to change, to aim your life in a more significant direction, and to fully experience all that God has for you.

Right?

The greatest part about being in vocational Christian work, for me, is that I don’t have to try and convince people to stop chasing their dreams and run after God.  The Christian message is that God is the ultimate dream to run after.  Don’t buy counterfeit dreams like money, or success, or power, or the worldly (and baseless) figment of a concept they call self-actualization.  The way to ensure the most ultimate fulfillment is to run hard after God. Conversely, the way to ensure the most ultimate despair and frustration is to run away from where God is calling you (See Jonah for examples)

Did I say (or did you read) that I think you need to go into full-time vocational Christian work? Go back and read it again.  I don’t care how you make money after college.  What I care is that money not be the god you lay down your life for after college.

One of the best ways you can set yourself on the right trajectory for after college is by maximizing your training and experience in ministry during college.  That way, if you graduate and go into business or law or dump truck driving, you can be a businessperson or a lawyer or a dump truck driver who knows how to walk with God, share your faith, and disciple others.

I don’t know if you are supposed to go global.  But I do know it’s about time you considered it.

No other day of the conference will more of you claim a head cold.  You’ll hear that we are doing “outreach,” and there’ll be a spike in DayQuil purchases in the hotel gift shop.  But the truth of the matter is that, though it’s the most intimidating day of the conference by 273%, it’s also the day we see God move the most.

Don’t waste the fear and anxiety you are feeling right now.  Use it as motivation.

I’ve seldom met anyone who was comfortable initiating with strangers about the gospel.  It’s not natural.  It’s not comfortable.

It’s supernatural.  The God of the universe, before the dawn of time, knew this day was coming.  He knew you’d sit in that chair and contemplate bowing out of the day of outreach.  But He sent the Holy Spirit of God to strengthen, encourage, and equip you for today.

Tim Keller notes that the gospel is news, rather than instruction.  We aren’t selling newspapers or Tic-Tacs out there.  We are bringing good news.  The Author of the universe wrote himself into the story, to save his beloved children.  Shout it (lovingly) from the mountain tops!

And, if you actually have a head cold, take some DayQuil.

The Global Village is a feature of our conference that you do not want to miss.  It is a place that (along with everything else here) has been specifically designed with the aim of allowing you space to encounter God.

Grab a friend by the arm, look them in the eye, and tell them there’s something the Lord has been doing in your heart that you need to process out loud.  Find a seat at a table in the Global Village and set about processing.

Late into the night, if you are looking for a place to yell, scream, and have any sort of “rave” (flash or otherwise)–Go to the Global Village.  Need a place to play a round of spoons that won’t wake up anyone?  The Global Village is the spot.

Tonight, there’s extra motivation to head to the GV.  We’re allowing anyone to grab the mic, say/sing/chant/yodel anything they want to, and we won’t stop them (with reasonable decency limits).  Starting at 11:30, the mic is going to begin being passed around.

I got the official word from the Art Expression room here at the conference.  Here’s the fittingly artistic promo piece.

Head to the St Andrews room to check it out!

I got some time with Adam Dixon, the director of the conference bookstore, and I asked him a bit about the deals they’ve got over there, and why he puts so much work into the store.  Here’s what he had to say:

I attended my first Winter Conference in 1991.  I had a great time and happened to pick up a copy of a book by Bill Bright entitled The Secret. I read it over the course of the next semester and learned how to surrender my life to Christ and how to walk with God.

Nowadays we get about 1000 books into the hands of the students and staff in this region at each Winter Conference.  Throughout the year we negotiate prices with book providers so we can offer those resources at the lowest price possible.  Prices on Bibles range from 50%-75% off.  Prices on books range from 25% to 50% off.

We don’t offer fluff.  Winter Conference is simply the best place a student can buy Study Bibles, tools like Soularium and Cojourners, or books by John Piper, Jerry Bridges, Paula Rinehart, and a hundred other authors.  Every title in the bookstore has been recommended specifically by staff members.

Howard Hendricks once said “Leaders are Readers and Readers are Leaders.”  We know the difference a solid book can make in the life of students.  It’s our joy to resource the region through the Winter Conference bookstore.

Go over and check out the bookstore.  You won’t regret it.

Ever been to every vendor at the food court across the street in the mall and asked each one about the availability of free water?  Well, you don’t have to now.  Some resourceful students have done all the work for you.

Call them cheap, but these guys just can’t stomach paying for water.  Head over to Patrick’s blog to save yourself 30 minutes of work.

Ever attended a conference and wish you had a direct line, the red phone where the conference leadership would pick up and actually listen to your ideas?  This year, we’re giving you that phone.  And that email.

So, get your copy/paste fingers ready, and whip out your mobile phones, because I am about to give you the direct line.

midsouthcru@gmail.com is going to be your email ticket.  Not only can you email your thoughts, prayer requests, and assorted miscellany; you will also use that email address to send photos taken during the conference.  Those photos will magically appear (there are Encounter elves involved) in a picasa album for the conference.

Also, save the number (919) 912-9278 (that’s 919-912-9CRU for those keeping score at home) to your contacts. That’s a way you can get in touch with us at any time. Leave us a message with prayer requests, encouragements, frustrations, and the like. Also, you can text us as many times as you’d like there.