Every three years the InterVarsity Staff family gathers for our National Staff Conference in St. Louis. It’s hard to believe, but this will be my third conference! It’s always envigorating to gather with almost one thousand ministry colleagues from every department of InterVarsity (including InterVarsity Press and our Camps).
The theme of January’s conference is “campuses renewed,” which forms part of our vision for InterVarsity. This is a particularly exciting theme for those of us who work with graduate students and faculty. It’s also an important theme since it communicates InterVarsity’s sense of calling not simply to people who live, study, and work in the university, but also our commitment to being a redeeming influence on the institution itself. This certainly happens through our ministry to students and faculty, but also through our equipping and sending these men and women to be the fragrance of Christ in classrooms, conference rooms, committees, and clubs around the campus. Wow. Too much alliteration.
Would you join me in praying for Staff Conference 11. As I reflect upon my own life and ministry, my central prayer is that God would stir the embers of my heart to a flame and remind me anew of the importance and urgency of this work, much of which happens in private and behind the scenes.
Jeff Gissing 