25 years ago I attended Urbana 84, Intervarsity’s 14th student missions convention. 18,144 delegates descended on the University of Illinois in the last days of December to commit ourselves to global missions.
I remember my first taste of Midwestern cold. I recall being tired a lot since the schedule kept us busy 18 hours a day. Mostly I remember the vibrant preaching of Eric Alexander.
Here’s the coda from Alexander’s sermon on Ephesians 2:
I was in Colorado Springs earlier this year, and the hotel I was staying in was being rebuilt. There was a lot of dust around and some inconvenience about not being able to go through some of the corridors. But they had a notice up which met me again and again as I was going through the hotel. It said this: “Please be patient with us. We are under reconstruction.” As I was walking along the corridor the first morning, I thought, “Blessed be God. So am I.” We are under reconstruction. The living God is building us into a new society and into a new temple for his glory. We need to say to one another, “Please be patient. I am under reconstruction.” God is building us into a temple, a dwelling place, a habitation for himself and for his glory. And one day, by his grace (for he is supervising the work himself), he will complete it, and we shall be truly a habitation for God. This is what God is doing in the world today. He is creating a new society, and we, who have been resurrected and reconciled, are part of it for the glory and praise of his great name. Amen.
Two years later I went overseas on a summer mission trip to the Philippines. Later I went into parish ministry. All these years later God is still remodeling me in ways I never expected. Blessed be God.
