Biola University held its 94th annual Missions Conference, being the largest student-led conference in the world.

“Every year since the foundation of this mobilizing movement, Biola’s Missions Conference has sought to educate, equip and inspire students to embrace their role in the completion of the Great Commission,” stated the Missions Conference website. 

This year, the theme “Unhindered” followed Psalms 26-28. This theme was centered around “a believer’s honest response to a corrupted world. As believers, we can often be covetous of the world’s lifestyle because we are lacking an eternal perspective of life and doubt God’s goodness and justice,” as stated on the missions conference website.

DAY ONE, SESSION ONE

Students, staff, faculty and community gathered in Chase Gymnasium Wednesday morning to begin Missions Conference. The beloved Parade of Nations opened up the event, with over 100 countries represented. Hundreds of students rushed around the gym, representing their country’s flags while the percentage of the Christian population in that place was highlighted. 

The community was led in a time of worship by Sanctified Vessels which was followed by a welcome from the Mission Conference directors, Ehud Lee and Olivia Benda, and a few words from President Barry Corey. 

“I want to greet you and welcome [you] to the student envision, student dream, student prayed over, student planned, student everything 94th annual Missions Conference,” Corey said.

Bobby Parks, chief ministry officer for the Household Group, spoke to the audience about going on local and global missions to make disciples. However, he placed a large emphasis on that one can only do that if those going on missions believe the gospel. Students were welcome to attend his break-out session to listen more about ways to spread the gospel in unlikely places.

DAY ONE, SESSION TWO

Bill Wilson, Founder and senior pastor of Metro World Child was the speaker for the second main session of Missions Conference titled “Standing Between the Living and the Dead.” Wilson established Metro World Child, an organization that makes the Gospel more accessible to young children in different places in the world. The session opened with an introductory video featuring Wilson involved with the organization in various cities and countries everywhere. He posed the question of whether it is possible for one person to do something that causes true change for people in need and in an evil world.

Wilson showed some graphic clips of violence in the world, prompting some students to walk out due to the disturbing content. He then read from Numbers 16:43-48. He said that Aaron took fire from the altar and stood between the living and the dead. Wilson noted that God chose him to intercede between Himself and the Israelites although Aaron was an unlikely man. Chad Miller, the director of Pastoral Care and Student-led Ministries cut the session short offering resources like the Biola Counseling Center to students who were disturbed because of the graphic images. This second session concluded with some students cheering and others booing. 

DAY ONE, SESSION THREE

This session opened with a formal apology from Miller, Mark Muha, and the Student Missionary Union president, Neema Mbogo, about the previous session and talked about changes to the schedule. Following worship by Sanctified Vessels, the Mission’s Conference verses were read in Hebrew, Isizulu, Gujarati, Spanish, Korean and more. Sarah Breuel, founder and director of Revive Europe, was the speaker for this session and talked about ‘Hineni’ which means “Here I am.” Breuel explains that it means being in full service to God. God says to Samuel, Hineni. She mentions that we must be at full service to God so that we can have Hineni moments in all our lives. Being at full service to God is not just a moment or a series of them but a lifestyle.

DAY TWO, SESSION FOUR

The second day of Missions Conference began with Sanctified Vessels leading worship before Corey stepped up on stage for an awards ceremony. He honored Andy Bales with the Charles W. Colson Award for Conviction and Courage, commemorating Bales’ 19 years of ministry at the Union Rescue Mission, a faith-based organization reaching out to the homeless. Afterward, speakers Jonné Rasmussen and Christelle (Kiki), who did not provide a last name, stepped forward to deliver their message, “Called by God — On Mission on Your Home Turf.”

Rasmussen, a Biola alumna living in San Juan Capistrano, shared her journey of going from a labor and delivery nurse to becoming a missionary at Novo, an organization striving to innovatively minister to people around the world. She touched on several stories of how she and others had reached out to people locally. Rasmussen once opened her house for a coffee time to nonbelievers and evangelized there, while another woman went on a prayer walk by herself around a school campus before various others joined her in the following months.

Kiki works with NEO to minister in Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt and assist women who are sexually abused and harassed. She spoke of her journey to faith, sharing how was raised in a Christian home, then left Christianity for a time in her college years and became addicted to drugs. After she lost contact with her friends and most of her family, she found Christ again with the help of her brother, who spent time with her and prayed for her often.

At the close of the session, Rasmussen and Kiki lead everyone through a listening prayer. Then several students came on stage and led worship in various languages. The gymnasium was filled with singing in English, Chinese, German and more, echoing “Holy, holy, holy.”

DAY TWO, SESSION FIVE

Sanctified Vessels continued to lead worship as they kicked off the fifth session. The speaker for the time, Anne Zaki is a member of the organization Missio Nexus. She took Biola students through Psalm 73 and titled her talk, “The Eternal Perspective.” She started by talking about what she calls a “life quake” a time when our initial faith gets shaken and God can start to feel distant from us. As she points out, the psalmist went through something similar as he sees the prosperity of those who do not follow God, the wicked, and questions if God is good. The realization is that when we seek God’s presence we see “an eternal perspective” that sees God’s goodness and makes us want to glorify Him. She mentioned how God sees us and loves us unconditionally and so any comparison we may make with other people is “from the pit of hell” as this spirit of comparison gives no room for grace. If we are just focused on ourselves and think that convenience is the same as good and not just where God is. She ended by encouraging students to seek God and to reach the nations with this love, in the same way the Psalm ends.

DAY TWO, SESSION SIX

The session started with a video that focused on the phrase “It is good for me to be near God.” Following, Sanctified Vessels began to perform and invited students to the stage to dance. The floor was quickly filled with students standing and singing. Thirty-five minutes later, two MCs took the stage to discuss the end of the conference and how students can serve in the future.

Parks took to the stage to discuss the question “What’s going to keep you going?” He referenced John 10:7-11 then spoke about his wife, Brooke, and her first mission trip where she suffered injury and illness. Parks praised his wife’s ability to persevere and continue to say “Yes” to God’s mission. Parks went on to speak about the struggles people face that may cause them to give up or make tough decisions. 

“You can’t have a testimony without a test,” Parks said, resulting in applause from the crowd. 

Other topics touched on during the session were “finding the right time”, “crossing a threshold”, and the struggles one can face on their journey. Following the event, extended worship with the Sanctified Vessels continued until 10 p.m.