The Stromwall's

South Project Recap from CO Minneapolis on Vimeo.

We’ve been in South Carolina for 3 weeks already with 200 college students from Minneapolis and our staff team.  Our theme for the Summer Training Project is “Awake.”  Our theme comes from the verse “So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.”  (1 Thessalonians 5:6).  Some of the talks our staff have given so far have been called “Awake and in Awe,”  ”Awake to the point,”  ”Awake to you,” “Awake to Eternity,”  and “Awake to Brokenness.”  In our “Awake and in Awe” talk, one of our staff asked the question:  What should happen when we think of God? When we find out his character, who he really is, we would have no other reaction than to be “in awe.”   A quote that stuck out to me was this:  ”Only a few people are awake and they live in a constant state of amazement.”  We’ve discussed and seen so personally in our own hearts and lives how as Christians, we’re continually falling asleep.  We continually need to be living our lives in community and awakened by God’s word through  scripture and conversations of who He is and eternal reality.   Without these things, our hearts fall asleep.  We forget the good news of Jesus. We forget that there are people dying who do not know him.  We forget that He saved us from his wrath through his death on the cross.  We forget all his benefits, rewards and blessings he has for us.  The toughest one is that… we forget he loves us.   At the risk of sounding cliche… we feel like we’ve woken up to our own struggles with sin more deeply, we’ve woken up to God’s character more sweetly, and woken up to his freely offered grace more frequently.   What we’ve been exposed to in the past few weeks has led our hearts to deeper worship.  We’ve only got a few days left and are soaking in such wonderful teaching and community while we have it.

Sho Baraka – Discipleship from CO Minneapolis on Vimeo.

We had the privilege of having Sho Baraka at our conference – see how God worked in his life!

Sho Baraka – Conversion from CO Minneapolis on Vimeo.

MNYC 2010 Student Testimony – Greg Morse from CO Minneapolis on Vimeo.

MNYC 2010 Student Testimony – David O’Reilly from CO Minneapolis on Vimeo.

Go here!

Last Words for Students MNYC 2010 from CO Minneapolis on Vimeo.

MNYC 2010 Recap Video from CO Minneapolis on Vimeo.

The theme for the 2010 New Year’s Conference was “Unseen,” from 1 Corinthians 4:17-18.  “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”  Our desire was to help students to consciously turn their minds from the things of this world that are transient that will be gone like a vapor and help them to set their sights on the things that are eternal.  We wanted them to begin to view the things they pursue from this point on through an eternal mindset.


In addition to large group meetings focused on a God who has an eternal purpose for each of us, the students participated in worshipful singing and heard testimonies from students about their encounters that brought them to saving faith in the one true God.  The main conference speaker was Kevin DeYoung, the senior pastor at University Reformed Church in East Lansing, MI as well as the author of Just Do Something, Why We’re not Emergent, and Why We Love the Church, to name a few.  There was also meaningful teaching from Christian hip hop artist Sho Baraka and the Campus Outreach Minneapolis and Indianapolis staff teams.

The highlight of the conference for many was the chance to build and renew friendships with other Christians as students spent time studying the Word and praying together.  Students also enjoyed a free day in Milwaukee where many participated in basketball or volleyball tournaments, or took in the sights of downtown Milwaukee.

Watch the highlight video here: