I know it’s been a few months, but back in January we had about 200 students, staff, and volunteers attend Transform–the Epic Movement East Coast Conference in Morristown, NJ. We heard from two great speakers: Pastor Kenji Adachi from Ambassador Bible Church in VA, and Leila Wong who is on staff with Epic in Orange County, CA. Many women (myself included) were blessed by Leila’s messages and her own story.
Another highlight from conference was the Day of Outreach. During one afternoon, we sent students, staff, and volunteers out to different shopping malls in the area to love on people and share the gospel. Many of the freshmen girls in my Bible study at Penn State shared that God stretched their faith with this experience. In total, we engaged in 205 spiritual conversations, the gospel was presented in 50 of those conversations, and four people indicated decisions to follow Christ!
Like last year, on the last day of the conference we challenged the students to take a step of faith in signing a pledge to God that stated, “In the power of the Holy Spirit, I will go where You want me to go; do what You want me to do; say what You want me to say; and give what You want me to give.” This year, 97 students committed to living out a gospel-transformed life and to serving in ministry wherever God would lead them. Hannah, one of the freshman students I work with, shared with me after the conference that signing the pledge helped her to increase her understanding what a commitment to follow Christ was. She had grown up in a Christian home and had understood in her mind what it meant to follow Jesus, but not in her heart. Until conference. On that last day, she made the decision to follow Jesus. The faith that she had been taught by her family and church became her own.
Christine Tsai, intern at Penn State