We are less than two months away from our annual International Campus Ministry Conference; which takes place in Chicago this summer from July 29th -Aug. 1st. Similar conferences will be taking place in 30 different cities around the world this summer. It is my sincerest wish that you are able to come to Chicago and spend this time with all our North American campus ministries!
Why did we choose “Follow Me” as the theme of this year’s ICMC? It’s an interesting phrase that is often used in today’s popular online commercial ventures, yet it’s also a very significant saying of Jesus. We plan to examine Jesus’ intention when he uttered the simple declaration to his disciples “follow me”. It was an idiom he evoked at both the beginning and end of his ministry, and it was a charge his disciples carried forward after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. It runs counter to the sensibilities of modern culture yet still a phrase utilized by popular social networking sites such as Twitter. The passion, commitment to learning and
transformation daily is non-existent in such popular fads like Facebook or MySpace the way Jesus intended it to be when he said to a few simple fishermen, “follow me”.
It is sometimes lost upon us that Jesus often chose men considered young for their day to carry his banner of change and redemption. In the three years he trained those men to carry his yoke, the disciples learned to exercise their idealism and passion to a meaningful conclusion; one that changed the world. Today, we are still charged to train under Jesus and send all our heart, mind, soul and strength toward our discipleship of him.
During this year’s conference in Chicago we will learn what this should look like today. How do we train for Jesus’ mission in a modern context? How do we call others to do the same? One of the issues we will address is how popular culture sometimes creeps into our notions of discipleship making vain our efforts to train and be trained under the lordship of Jesus.
What is more, we will be doing all of this in the shadow of Chicago’s mighty skyline and upon the banks of beautiful Lake Michigan! Please register today for the conference and reserve your hotel space as well. We look forward to hosting and serving you during this year’s International Campus Ministry Conference.
Register today at hereamisendme.net
