David said to the Philistine giant, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me and I will strike you down… and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.”
This was the theme of this year’s International Campus Ministry Conference. The 2009 ICMC in Santiago Chile was perhaps the smallest of the many campus conferences around the world. What it lacked in numbers, it made up for in zeal and great fellowship. The conference was hosted by the campus ministry in the Santiago Church of Christ. It was organized by John and Kay Hoyt, who are visiting missionaries from the Florida churches. The conference was attended by nine campus Christians from Brazil, including Brasilia, Porto Alegre and Sao Paulo. There were eight disciples from Bolivia, including churches in Santa Cruz and La Paz. There was even one fired up student from the campus ministry in Ascuncion, Paraguay. There were in all eight countries represented from the US, Central and South America. There were three languages spoken at the conference: Spanish, Portugese and English.
The students from Bolivia traveled two and a half days each way by bus. The commitment to growth and fellowship of these students is a great encouragement to us all. Friday started with a class by John Hoyt “Todo El Mundo Sabrá” (All the World Will Know). All the participants got out sharing their faith on campus. On Friday night there was a lesson by Dr. John Oakes, of San Diego on Science and God. The meeting was at the Universidad de Chile Law School. With 35 conference participants, plus a few members from the Santiago church there were 110 in attendance, including sixty visitors. Many new studies were set up. 
Saturday included a devotional on top of San Cristobal Hill in the center of Santiago for a devotional with John Oakes. In the evening there was a lesson The Bible, From God or Man by Dr. Oakes. Still more studies were set up. That night the whole group had a barbecue and a late night party at the Cardonas. The students had a ton of fun and caught a great vision for having high impact on their campuses at home. The conference ended with lessons on Church History and on Jesus in the Old Testament by John Oakes. After lunch it was time to say a tearful good bye to the many friends we had made.
This, the first campus conference ever for our family of churches in South America, was a great encouragement and all involved expect much greater things to be happening for God on the campuses of our sister churches here in South America.
