With the spring BASIC Conference in just a couple weeks I wanted to share with you some ways to get the best out of this weekend for your group. Over the years I’ve seen groups do a number of different things around conference time that I thought could benefit your group.
Prep your students for the weekend – Talk with students who have never come to the conference before about what it will be like so they have an idea beforehand, take one night of your meetings to preach on the importance of baptism in the Holy Spirit, or preach on freedom and hold an altar call so students can be prayed for and freed from sin. Taking the time to prepare students could enable them to meet with God in a deeper way at the conference.
Pray together before leaving – If your group all meets up before leaving for the conference pray together before everyone gets into cars or hold a special prayer meeting just for the conference in the week leading up to it. As you pray for students to get saved, baptized in the Holy Spirit, and encounter God’s presence you can be a part of setting the tone for what God wants to accomplish.
Go out to a meal together – Try to plan at least one meal during the conference that your whole group can go to together. These big group meals can be fun, but depending on the size of your group you may want to plan ahead so it’s not too much trouble. The BASIC group at SUNY Morrisville has been given money from their student government to use for one group meal in the past and your group may be able to do something similar.
Debrief after the conference – If your students aren’t in a rush to get back to their school work and other responsibilities why not take some time after the conference to debrief with everyone? The BASIC group at St. Rose always takes some time after the conference to sit and talk together about what God did over the weekend. Your group could either find a space in the hotel or back at the college to do this. Either way, this is a great means of encouraging community as students share about how God has worked in their lives over the course of these three days.
Share testimonies – I’ve talked before about taking the opportunity to share testimonies from the weekend. When I was involved with BASIC as a student at SUNY Oswego we always devoted the time after worship at our first BASIC meeting after the conference to sharing testimonies. This time was always very powerful and encouraging.
We’re on pace for this to be the biggest conference in BASIC’s history! If you haven’t signed up for the conference yet you won’t want to miss out. It’s easy to register online.