Is it possible for one of the highlights of 2024 to happen the first week of January? As someone who has spent almost two decades discipling and investing in the lives of college students and young adults, I would most definitely say yes!
A Long-Term Investment
As I reflect on CrossCon 24, I’m reminded of how exciting it is to watch almost 11,000 18-25 year-olds sing doctrinally-saturated songs, pray for the gospel to advance, and listen to the faithful teaching of God’s Word.
As students learned more about Reaching & Teaching, they were very excited to learn about our Summer Practicum, which offers a six-week cross-cultural opportunity for students to experience ministry alongside Reaching & Teaching’s global workers. We want our Practicum students to see what cross-cultural church life looks like and to develop skills that will serve them in the future.
We also had many conversations with students who were beginning to ask how they could begin to prepare for long-term work among the nations.
An Emphasis on the Local Church
Throughout CrossCon 24, students heard a repeated theme: don’t forget the local church! Our late-night event with 9Marks and Radius International focused on the importance of local churches equipping, training, and sending qualified missionaries. As our staff and global workers had conversations at our booth, it was easy to talk about the centrality of the local church in missions. Over and over again, we told students to pour their lives into their local churches. We told them to know and be known by their local churches, to pursue training and discipling by faithful believers. We told them to encourage others to speak into their lives regarding their character, their training, and their readiness.
Genuine Joy and Excitement
In the Lord’s kindness, He gave Reaching & Teaching a front-row seat to meet new students each day. What an amazing opportunity! In our conversations, the Lord graciously provided us with many opportunities to make much of Christ and his bride, to rejoice at what he is doing among the nations. What a joy it was to hear their stories, learn their passions and desires, and listen to them as they shared their hurts and struggles. After having so many of these conversations, I’m so excited about the potential of this generation.
The days were long, but the investment we made in the next generation was absolutely worth it! I’m already counting down the days to CrossCon 25. Come join us!
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