Passion 2012 Conference

We just returned from a Conference in Atlanta Georgia called Passion. The conference had 44,000 students ages 18-25 and featured speakers like Beth Moore, Francis Chan, John Piper, and Louie Giglio. Imagine a packed Georgia Dome full of young people lifting up the name of Jesus in worship at the top of their lungs. It was indescribable and powerful!

One aspect of the conference was focused on the issue of modern day slavery. Each day featured different stories that brought to light the realities of human trafficking, child exploitation, and forced labor.

FACT: There are 27 million slaves living in the world today which out numbers the entire African slave trade! It is hard to imagine... By challenging these college to "Do Something NOW!" Passion hoped to raise $1 million dollars for Various charities that work to educate, prevent, rescue or rehab people exposed to this modern day atrocity. Some of the charities include: International Justice Mission, Tiny Hands, A21, and The Atlanta Project among others.
For more info check out Passion 2012: DO SOMETHING NOW

THE RESULT: College students stood in line for hours to give and when it was all said and done a total of $2.6 million was given. That's right, the same group of people who live off of Ramen noodles and scrounge in the cracks of the couch for pocket change gave almost triple the goal set before them to END SLAVERY. If that doesn't scream FREEDOM, I don't know what does.

The following is the story covered by CNN

The Biggest Fan | Worldwide Challenge

Here is an article about USF in a issue of Worldwide Challenge from Jan 2010. It features the Athletes In Action  ministry and Asif Shaikh's work with the football team. It is a great picture of some of the things God is doing on our campus!

The Biggest Fan | Worldwide Challenge

Also, our most recent newsletter has been posted under "Monthly Newsletter" for your enjoyment :)

USF Fall Retreat

When we were students, one of our favorite parts of CRU was Fall Retreat. It always provided an awesome getaway to focus on God in the midst of a hectic semester.

It was that time of year again... Last weekend USF had their Fall Retreat at the Word of Life Bible Camp. Each year USF partners with UCF (University of Central Florida) to put on this weekend. Overall there were 4 schools in attendance totaling to more than 200 students and 40 of them were from USF! Also, Anna and I actually got to be there for part of it because we live so close to the camp.

Anna with some of the USF girls

The theme of the weekend was "Revolution"... Not following the way of the world but starting a revolution for Christ! It was refreshing to see each student seeking the Lord and learning about His love and strength through the different talks.

One of the best part for us was that we got to start to build relationships with some of the student and leaders who we will be working with when we start on campus. It was a nice break from the support raising trail. We even got to spend time with our awesome "future bosses".

John and Keri Schneider are the directors at USF.