Urbana 12, Day 1

clockwise from top left: 1) my own copies of the handbook and seminar notebook that I designed 2) the wall of inspiration for our photographers 3) me and my boyfriend, pat, who i reunited with for the first time since we began dating! 4) students poring over the handbook as they enter into the conference

Urbana 12 officially starts in just a few hours! But our team, and thousands of staff and volunteers, have already been hard at work! My photography team has just begun our workflow and so far things are going okay. Please pray for technical hiccups to be smoothed out - we have encountered several issues that were unexpected and have been somewhat stressful. I am hoping that everything will be figured out by tonight so we can get a steady workflow established!

Some more things you can pray for: 

• Praise God that most of our photographers have arrived and have jumped in with enthusiasm. I am excited to be working with them.
• Pray for the one remaining photographer, Sean, still en route. (The bus he was taking had a flat tire).
• Pray for the remainder of students still arriving and the registration process to go smoothly, so that as many students as possible can enter into the conference well. Many will be tired, hungry, disoriented. Pray that God would give them a sense of peace and joy that they are here. 

Pray for Urbana!

While most of you are celebrating the birth of Jesus today, I am on my way down to St. Louis with the rest of my team. We have a couple days of setup ahead of us, and 5 long work days during Urbana, which begins Thursday, December 27. Your prayers are crucial as we anticipate God to work significantly this week! Read below for a specific list of prayer requests.

My role at Urbana 

This year I am serving as the "Image Czar." What this means is that I will be processing and organizing all of the photos that are taken during the conference, and choosing the best ones to be used in our daily newspaper, Urbana Today, social media, and future reporting or promotional materials. Six photographers have volunteered their time and gifts to help us capture the event.

Please pray for the whole photography team: the photographers (Micah, Stuart, Erin, Barry, Kyle and Sean), my assistant Becky (a former design intern and current InterVarsity staff), Christy (coordinator), and myself.

Social Media & Live Streaming 

Here are some ways you can keep up with the event to see what's happening and how you can be praying:

• My personal blog: la-raison.blogspot.com 
• Twitter: Follow our team @IVCF2100 and the official conference hashtag: #U12 
• Facebook: facebook.com/IVCF2100; facebook.com/UrbanaMissions 
• Watch sessions live here: https://urbana.org/live

Prayer Requests 

• Pray for the whole 2100 team as we travel to Urbana 12 today, and for the physically strenuous days ahead. Pray for good health, safety, endurance, and that our work will effectively contribute to God's call to students to give their lives to his mission. 
•  Pray specifically for God's wisdom and grace, and good communication for my immediate team, the photographers, Becky, Christy and me, as we collect images that will communicate what Urbana is like and what God is doing at Urbana. 
• Pray for Urbana 12, Dec 27-31 in St. Louis. Pray for God to speak loudly as he calls this generation of students to join his global mission.

The Great Invitation

As Urbana 12 quickly approaches, I am excited to see the work we’ve put in these past several months come to fruition as we extend God’s invitation to over 15,000 students to give their lives to
his global mission.

Here are a few projects I’ve worked on or am currently working on, and how you can pray for their effectiveness at Urbana 12.

The Invitation to Learn

In the afternoons, Urbana participants can explore specific missions topics by attending seminars. About 150 seminars will be offered, ranging from topics such as church planting, healthcare ministry among trafficked people, and the state of missions in the Middle East.

The 52-page seminar notebook I designed will help participants choose which seminars interest them. Pray that these opportunities to learn would further aid in equipping students to join God’s mission.

The Invitation to Give

The Urbana offering, collected using an envelope I designed, will be given to carefully chosen ministries who are carrying out God’s mission all over the world. In 2009, Urbana gave over $900,000.

Please pray that participants will give generously, sacrificially and prayerfully. Pray that this offering would be a pleasing gift to God as he uses it to advance his kingdom around the globe.

The Invitation to Decide

On the last evening, students will fill out a decision card, committing to follow Jesus for the first time, to study Luke with their non-Christian friends back on campus, and/or to short- or long-term missions. This card will serve to remind participants of how they heard God’s call and what they are going to do about it after the conference.

Pray that God would speak clearly, and that thousands would make thoughtful decisions to live for God.

The Invitation to See

I rarely work on videos, but for this Urbana I  am helping create a couple of videos which will present information about water (and the lack of access to it in some places of the world) and orphans (as a result of the AIDS epidemic).

Pray that these videos would help students become more aware of places in great need of healing and justice, and to develop a heart for God’s world.

I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in calling students to God’s mission. Thank you for your partnership in this season of busy, hard work. I am excited to see how God moves at Urbana 12!

It's Compelling

Compelling 2012 is this weekend!

Please pray for the 755+ students who are registered as they engage in a weekend of Bible study, leadership development, thoughtful conversation, prayer, and other forms of training. This conference is typically a key time for new students--it is their first experience with InterVarsity as a movement beyond just the local chapter they have joined. And please especially pray for non-believers who are seeking.

Pray also for the staff and volunteers who are teaching and relating with students. It's an exciting but exhausting time for them. Pray that the Spirit would lead them as they minister to students.

Unfortunately I will not be going to Compelling this year, but I'm sending these banners along with my colleagues who are going to serve as tech support (light, sound, screens, etc). I'm excited to hear what God does through this conference, and thankful that I get to participate in making it happen.

Compelling 2012 - Dream On

Compelling, Michigan's annual fall conference, is one of my favorite projects that I get to do every year. Each new theme presents an opportunity to come up with a new design concept. This year, Compelling's theme is based around the story of Joseph, which I was excited about because he's one of my favorite Bible characters. The conference planning team wanted to feature something about Joseph's dreams in the title. So I suggested "Dream On,"  the title of a 1973 Aerosmith song.

Rock 'n Roll?
This title led me to find some of my inspiration from 1970s rock posters. I love the way these posters use dramatic shapes and have a sort of psychedelic look to them. In a way, they are kind of dreamlike--slightly distorted and ethereal. I also love the way that the typography takes the form of the larger shapes in the design.

Inspired by 1970s rock posters

...Like an Egyptian
The other part of my inspiration came from Egyptian art. Since much of Joseph's story takes place in the intriguing world of ancient Egypt, I wanted to give the conference some of that look as well. I researched photos of hieroglyphic art as well as the geometric patterns used in a lot of Egyptian design. The colors from these pieces had a more muted, earth tone palette, and ultimately I chose to use these colors, rather than the brighter colors from the 70s rock posters. I also incorporated the texture of the ancient papyrus, giving the design a rougher, older feel.

Inspired by Egyptian art

Inspired by Egyptian geometric designs

My color palette, based on Egyptian art

Final Product
So, after a lot of research, here is what I came up with! It was definitely a time-consuming process to create a completely hand-drawn design, but it was so much fun! Can you see how both the 70s rock posters and Egyptian art have been incorporated into my final work?

front of Compelling 2012 flycard - click to view larger

back of Compelling 2012 flycard - click to view larger

[Visit Compelling 2012's website
(which I also designed) here.]

It's the Great Missions Conference, Charlie Brown

I haven't done a lot of pumpkin carving, but this year I was given a pumpkin for my birthday. So I took the opportunity to carve the Urbana logo into it. It was the perfect Sunday afternoon activity!

Singleness Sucks, Sometimes

I apologize for the lack of posts here these days. As you know, I am swamped with work on Urbana 12. However, I wanted to share an excerpt from a post I recently wrote for InterVarsity's national blog. It's the story of my experience as a 30 year old single woman and what God is teaching me in this season of life. Since it was posted Monday, it has been viewed over 1,200 times! I thank God for the opportunity to encourage and challenge others through my personal journey.

"Drew Barrymore plays a twenty-five-year-old who’s never been kissed in one of my favorite movies from the 90s. Okay, actually, all of my favorite movies are from the 90s. I’m a product of my generation.

Well, here I am, days away from turning 30, and I can still relate to this movie. And it’s not just because I can still pass for a student. (Yay Asian genes!)

I’ve never had a boyfriend."

 [Read the whole post here.]