As a student who personally benefitted from attending BASIC’s biannual conferences with hundreds of other college students and young adults, as well as a college pastor who currently benefits from bringing my students to the conferences, I thought it would be appropriate to share a few of the reasons why I love #BASICcon.
A Sanctified Weekend. In my experience, there’s something really powerful about choosing to set aside an entire weekend for the sole purpose of getting to better know God and His people. Time and time again I’ve watched my students’ lives be changed on these weekends as they grow closer to our living savior. There is no greater joy as a college minister.
New Best Friends. It seems like every conference we go to has amazing outcomes in terms of new, closely-knit relationships formed that would potentially not be otherwise. By simply sharing an entire weekend full of deep and passionate moments together (along with the silly downtime moments), new relationships are formed that will likely remain for years to come.
Ministry. BASIC does an excellent job at keeping its campus leaders deeply involved in the action. Every semester, we get the opportunity to pray for and minister to our students as they respond to ministry alter calls. These are special moments that bind you and your students long after these experiences.
Late Night Talks. One of my favorite aspects of these weekends is the discussion that occurs late at night, after an awesome teaching/worship time/ministry time. This is usually when guts are spilled, thoughts are processed, and more ministry takes place.
Meeting Other Leaders. At each conference, the campus leaders break out into a leadership session, where BASIC staff does a great job at keeping us informed on what the future of the ministry brings, and shares some valuable information about how to carry out our mission to our campuses. At these meetings, there’s an excellent opportunity to make new friends in ministry leadership who likely share the same pain points and joys that you do on your campus.
No Planning Necessary. I’ve been involved in college ministries before where I had to help plan and organize a retreat weekend’s worth of sermons, activities, entertainment, music, etc. While I think this is awesome, it’s really nice to be able to show up to a retreat weekend and have it all done for you, and with a level of excellence that I certainly couldn’t pull off!
There’s many more reasons why I love these conferences, but all in all, they make my heart happy because they provide my students with challenging teaching, powerful worship, and opportunities to grow closer together and with the Lord. It’s a total #win.
Super early bird registration for this semester’s conference featuring Chad Veach and Bob Sorge is due next Friday, March 7. Visit thebasicsite.org/basiccon for details!