Campus America: Gathering the TribeRachel Wegner - 2 Jun 2010
To our astonishment, the first six months of our Year of Prayer is now behind us. We have seen 94 campuses in 33 states pray so far, and many students are continuing rhythms of prayer as they fan out across the nation and world for the summer. Our National Team is following suit. Many of us are traveling abroad for summer missions and collectively preparing for our summer gathering, Northfield 2010. I will personally be traveling to visit family and friends over the next few months, and will wind up with a small team at 24-7 Ibiza for a two-week mission.
The unfolding of Northfield 2010 has been an exhilarating story so far. From July 23-August 1, 2010, we will gather as many students as we can from campuses around the U.S. at an historic campus in Northfield, Massachusetts. During the summer of 1886, legendary evangelist D.L. Moody hosted a similar gathering, but without the help of things like cell phones, social media and automobiles. 251 students came to that 1886 gathering—far more than they ever anticipated. Out of that significant gathering, the Student Volunteer Movement (SVM) was born. Over the decades that followed, the SVM sent out 21,000 college students to the nations of the earth.
Needless to say, we are both humbled and excited to have secured the stunningly beautiful Northfield campus for our gathering. The campus, which was originally built as a boarding school, has been inactive for a few years, but is now being renovated in preparation for the launch of the C.S. Lewis College in 2012. The C.S. Lewis Foundation is working hard to resurrect the campus, and we will hopefully be able to pitch-in with some manual labor, along with covering the place in prayer and worship, while we gather.
Northfield 2010 is being spearheaded by Trent Sheppard, a member of the Campus America National Team and author of God on Campus: Sacred Causes & Global Effects. The 10-day gathering will focus on three main topics: mission, mercy and marketplace. In Trent’s words, here is what those three things mean:
“Mission is telling the story of Jesus, who He is and what He has done. Mercy is loving people like Jesus did, and that especially involves loving the poor. Marketplace is where we live like Jesus, including every area of culture and society.”
We are praying and working hard to put feet to the vision of this gathering, and we sense it will be very significant for both Campus America and the global 24-7 Prayer family. You can learn more about the gathering, and view a special video invitation from Trent, at our official Northfield 2010 page.
My update next month will likely have tales of Ibiza to share and more reports as our Northfield 2010 plans continue to come to life. As always, you can find more frequent updates and stories at http://www.campusamerica.org, or via our Twitter and Facebook.
Until next time...