Regional Giving Initiative: Ethnic Field Ministry conferences
Last year, the University of Oregon Epic sent six students to this national conference. This year, thanks to giving at Cru Winter Conference /// Portland, the Northwest region of Cru was able to fly 27 UO students down to Anaheim, Calif., for the 2017 conference, held on MLK weekend.
Their first moments at the West Coast Epic Conference were overwhelming and disorienting.
For Randy, a University of Oregon senior with Korean heritage, it was the crowd of 250 Asian Americans packed into one place.
Hannah, also a UO sophomore, felt like she’d stepped into a foreign country.
“In my small group – last term, they wouldn’t really talk a lot, because maybe they weren’t quite sure what to say – being new Christians, but after going to the Epic conference, I can tell everyone’s more willing to speak up and be more vulnerable about who they are. We were able to grow in our spiritual faith, but we were also able to bond as a group. I think that really made a difference.” – Anna, UO Epic student leader.
But as the UO students began to engage with the conference despite their confusion, God met them there.
“Starting off with worship – it was amazing,” Randy said. “Then interacting with students from the other universities – it was amazing how we communicated in a special way. Everybody was vulnerable and willing to share their own story.”
Hannah, who was raised in the majority culture, experienced a sense of connection she couldn’t fully explain.
“It’s just something you feel in your gut,” she said. “Like ‘wow, this person will probably understand me in a way other people may not.’”
The UO students began to open up and trust their small groups with their hurts, struggles and fears. Anna, a student leader with UO Epic, could see them growing both spiritually and relationally over that weekend.
“We were able to bond as a group,” Anna said. “I think that really made a difference.”
The Epic conference is designed to push the students to move outward from those connection times to engage with the community in gospel conversations. For several hours during the Day of Faith, the students were split into groups and sent to different locations where people gather. They were given two questions to ask, with the goal of digging into people’s stories.
Randy was sent with a group to Downtown Disney, where he had to face the discomfort he’s felt when sharing his faith in the past.
“It forced me to go out there with people I had just started to connect with,” he said. “Just going out there and talking with people about their stories – where they are on their spiritual journey.”
By the end of the day, the 250 staff and students at the conference had engaged with 400 people in spiritual conversations, leading to 17 decisions for Christ.
“It was very empowering,” Randy said. “That we can make such a huge difference in that small amount of time.”
He realized how he could bring these same skills home to campus.
“I could start small,” Randy said. “I can share my faith with random students out here and have a conversation – get to know them as a human being and where they are spiritually.”
3/1/17: story has been updated to correctly reflect Randy’s year in school and experience with evangelism.