Despite reservations, at the Denver Christmas Conference, one student learns to take his faith and share it with others

The Denver Christmas Conference is many things to many students, but Matthew from Colorado was simply hoping to meet new people.

Matthew is a freshman in college and only recently accepted Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of his life. He came to the conference unsure of what to expect from the speakers and events, but what he found completely surpassed all of his expectations.

The host of speakers he heard covered a broad spectrum of subjects including; science and religion, the coming kingdom of heaven, sexual sin, missional living, and many more. Matthew was shocked at how applicable so many of the topics were to his life.

Not all the seminars were comfortable for Matthew though.

One afternoon was blocked off in the schedule under the title “Evangelism Cafe.” Cru brought in a panel of evangelism experts to train the students to effectively evangelize to their peers and friend groups. This was very uncomfortable for Matthew as he pondered for the first time what it would look like to share his faith with his friends.

“I don’t feel like I would be very good sharing about my faith to my friends when I don’t even know where I fully stand in my faith yet,” Matthew said.

Matthew’s concern is a valid one, and one that many of us struggle with. Discussing our beliefs with friends and coworkers is a daunting task for even the most experienced evangelists among us, let alone a freshman college student who just met Jesus this fall. Matthew wasn’t the only one challenged in this area of his life, as he was joined by college students this week from all over Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and New Mexico. They gather in Denver for the week to learn and grow in their spiritual journey. Some are walking with the Lord and look to further develop their relationship with Him. Some are like Matthew and still trying to make sense of a very recent decision to follow the Lord. Still others don’t personally know Jesus and are introduced to Him for the first time during the week. Several of those students made decisions to follow Him! We care deeply for all these students and love to see the Lord draw them closer to Him, wherever they may be at. If everyone’s story could be told from this week in this letter you’d be reading until we rang in 2015!

A busy and full week for everyone

Other highlights from the conference include outreaches throughout Denver, an afternoon utilizing social media to spread a gospel message online, a concert by Christian rap artist Flame and a New Year’s Eve worship night to welcome in 2014. Many students applied to spend their summers all around the world on a Summer Project with Cru, and hundreds signed pledges to go, do, say and give according to God’s will. God moved during this week and we are just beginning to see the effects. The gospel will be spread this spring on campuses around this region, often from the reluctantly obedient students like Matthew. Pray for them as they finish off their Christmas break and step back onto their campuses that they will be a testament to the love and grace of Christ.

Thank you for your prayers

As always, thank you so much for your continued partnership in this ministry as we strive to reach the college campuses of the midwest.