March 2013
1 post
January 2013
2 posts
Top 10 Personal Highlights from Urbana
There’s so much to be thankful for as I reflect on the Urbana 12 Student Missions Conference. I’m so proud of my team and the 1,500+ InterVarsity staff across North America, who rallied together around a vision for this Urbana to be clearly connected to its historical vision, clearly rooted in Scripture & the Gospel, and clearly contextualized to the language & culture of this...
WatchA TASTE OF URBANA 12: All of the Urbana general session talks and performing arts sketches are now available on this page for free viewing! In addition to strong biblical exposition by Calisto Odede, I was moved to tears by powerful artistic sketches like The Deep and Prodigalia. Keep in mind that these videos only represent a small portion of Urbana 12, as the morning Bible studies in Luke and...
November 2012
2 posts
Hot Off the Press: The Urbana Onward Series!
How can we take Urbana’s best learning and share with a wider audience about the lifelong journey of missions? Together with my colleague Nikki Toyama-Szeto, we worked with some outstanding authors and co-edited 6 mini-books, just published and now FOR SALE. Titles include Deepening the Soul for Justice, The Mission of Worship, Partnering with the Global Church, Spiritual Warfare in...
Seven Deep Trends Leaders Can't Ignore →
Leaders need to pay attention to deep trends that are shaping society and its institutions. Gregory and Nathan Jones do a great job of describing seven deep trends and how to cultivate patterns of discernment, guided by the Holy Spirit, on adapting faithfully and creatively to them. Here are the seven:
The digital revolution
A multinodal world
Reconfiguring denominations and emerging forms of...
October 2012
2 posts
David Platt Speaking at Urbana 12 →
For our upcoming Urbana Student Missions Conference, I’m excited to have a host of global voices speaking to our 18,000 participants. One of the very few American speakers is David Platt, who my InterVarsity team interviewed this past year. I appreciate his heart, his passion, and his commitment to global missions, which came through as we spent 4 days together with our speakers’...
Billy Graham Center Interview →
From an interview I recently gave to the Billy Graham Center regarding challenges in the North American Church and the Global Church…
September 2012
3 posts
Article: The Cost of Your Call →
From a recent interview I did with Relevant’s Reject Apathy Magazine, exploring the changing context of global missions and the hope I have with this student generation’s engagement in God’s call to mission… Enjoy!
WatchWhat is calling? How do you know the will of God? Something we’ll explore with more than 6,000 students at 12 select campuses across North America during our Urbana On Campus “tour.” We’re thankful for event partners like World Relief for challenging us to think through God’s purpose in our lives through video. Click to see a list of all of the campuses, starting with my alma mater!
June 2012
1 post
Six Self-Reflections on this Millennial Generation
From Urbana Associate, Paul Borthwick:
As co-laborers in the work of the Kingdom and fellow partners in the world of fund-raising, I thought you might like to read these words from a 27-year-old Christian responding to questions I was asking about raising funds from the under-30 crowd. [NOTE: The respondent is from a upper-middle class background and a liberal arts secular college grad, who...
April 2012
1 post
September 2011
2 posts
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Scripture Engagement and Missions
I’ve been recently excited about the development of common vision around Scripture engagement among various ministry organizations and leaders. It is one of our 4 objectives for Urbana 12, to see student’s not only study the biblical basis for missions but also grow to love studying God’s Word. In November, a national Summit in Orlando around Scripture engagement will involve...
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Scripture Engagement Initiative Launched
are you thirsty? from canabana on Vimeo.
July 2011
4 posts
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Live from IFES World Assembly in Krakow
About 650 Christian leaders from 150+ nations are gathered this week at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, for the quadrennial World Assembly of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. I am leading a delegation of 44 InterVarsity/USA staff who feel honored to be here. What’s perhaps most encouraging is the presence of 130+ student leaders from movements around the...
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Lausanne 2010 Congress Documentary
As Lausanne North American International Deputy Director, I often get asked what the Lausanne movement is all about. The Lausanne Congress last year has been called “the most representative gathering of Christian leaders in the 2000-year history of the Christian movement” (Christianity Today). Four-thousand Christian leaders representing 198 countries attended the Congress in Cape...
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Live from Kolkata: Transportation Perspectives...
Getting around Kolkata will either make you a saint or a mean, crazy son of gun. I’m serious. I see a lot of saints and last night I was one crazy son of a gun. We left home at 1:00 pm to travel from the North to the South to help YWAM folks give a program at an AIDS Hospice. We got home at 10:00 pm. For this 2 hour program, it took 2 subway rides, 1 taxi, 2 cycle-rickshaws and 5...
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Live from Lima: Student Perspectives from our...
The following is from an American student at the Lima site on InterVarsity’s Global Urban Trek: “Meet Carmen… A loving wife and mother of two young boys. Together with her husband, she has started a non-profit ministry aimed at helping children develop into leaders for the future in their churches and their communities. When asked, Carmen details how she would like to expand...
June 2011
1 post
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My New "Hat" with Lausanne
A press release went out today about my new role with the Lausanne movement — Tom Lin named as new North American IDD. While there are many great opportunities for the future of Lausanne, many people do ask about the relationship of Lausanne to Urbana, among other questions. Here’s some excerpts from a recent interview I did: Q: Why did you agree to serve as Lausanne IDD for North...
May 2011
2 posts
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3 Challenges, 3 Hopes for the Next Generation
The transcript for my talk on “The Role of the Next Generation of the U.S. Church in Global Mission” is now available on this link, along with other resources from the Orlando Consultation last month. As a follow up piece, I was able to recently visit my old stomping grounds in Boston and speak to a group of local missions pastors, senior pastors, and parachurch ministry leaders. It...
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Eradicating Bible Poverty
As someone who has the opportunity to interact with many global issues and see the missions landscape firsthand, people often ask why Bible translation is one of areas that I choose to invest my time in. My good friend, Ruth Hubbard (a Senior VP at Wycliffe), captured my sentiments well in her recent post on the urgency of “eradicating Bible poverty in this generation.” But my...
April 2011
2 posts
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Students Serve during Spring Break 2011
An exciting area of InterVarsity’s missions is our Urban Projects. My own life was changed as a college freshman, when I spent a summer with InterVarsity’s Chicago Urban Project, engaging poverty and a cross-cultural environment, and being challenged to consider how Scripture called me to serve the city. Twenty years later, during this past Spring Break 2011, over 1,500 students...
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Hope for the Next Generation...
I’m currently writing a talk on “Hope for the Next Generation in World Evangelization” for over 700 U.S. leaders at a Lausanne Consultation in Orlando. There’s much that gives me hope, but let me start by some encouraging things we’re seeing in just a small slice of the U.S. Church — InterVarsity. We’ve had an explosion in evangelism over the last 5...
March 2011
2 posts
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Unengaged People Group: Greeks!
The New York Times profiled last weekend’s Greek InterVarsity Conference, where 475 fraternity and sorority members gathered for mission. Read the full story here.
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Great Britain Engaging in Mission
One of the privileges in leading InterVarsity Missions is hearing reports about students reaching fellow students around the world. One of our sister movements in Great Britain, UCCF, is sponsoring mission weeks in 22 universities across Great Britain this month, engaging university students to think about contemporary issues in relation to God, the claims of Jesus, and their own lives. Click...
February 2011
2 posts
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Passion for Missions - My First 2 Weeks
I’m officially two weeks into my new role, about to head out on my 4th trip and my first InterVarsity Board meeting. I was encouraged by my initial meetings with Missions Department colleagues, who share a passion for missions and for engaging college students in missions. I also felt like a rookie staff again as I got “oriented” to my new office at our National Service Center (where I had...
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The Road to Urbana 2012 Officially Begins
Tom Lin Directs Missions Department - News - InterVarsity.org.
January 2011
3 posts
Inspiring Story from InterVarsity's Faculty...
Faculty Stories - Carol Swain from InterVarsity-twentyonehundred on Vimeo.
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New Year, New Team, Same Compelling Vision
With 45+ staff gathered in Missouri, I gave my last address to my team last month at our Regional Staff Conference. It was an encouraging time of celebrating God’s work in the Central Region, and a meaningful “send-off” for Nancy and me. Some reflections are in our recent Prayer Letter DECEMBER 2010. We also celebrate stories in InterVarsity’s 2009-10 Annual Report. On page 1,...
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A Vision for Athletes at U of New Hampshire
University of New Hampshire from InterVarsity-twentyonehundred on Vimeo.
December 2010
1 post
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World Changers at U of Missouri
The IV chapter at U of Missouri, Asian Christian Fellowship, was recently highlighted in the campus newspaper with the headline, “Fellowship Group raises money for trafficking victims”. It gave students the opportunity to share the vision of InterVarsity on campus and practically practice mission both to the campus and to the world… Student leader Asha Xu gathered her small...
November 2010
4 posts
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Gift for Christmas, Gift for Ethiopia, Change the...
Beza Threads began after several InterVarsity students from Drake University in Iowa lived one summer in Ethiopia, working with an Ethiopian ministry. I had the privilege of joining the IV students on the project. The idea for Beza Threads arose after we walked through a prostitution district. Seeing the social injustice and abuse of young girls, our students’ hearts grieved for children living...
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North Korean Student Inspires Lausanne Congress
Truth - North Korean Testimony | The Lausanne Global Conversation. INSPIRING! This testimony from an 18-year old North Korean student was by far my favorite testimony in Cape Town, one of only two speakers to receive standing ovations. It’s moving and inspiring (and very challenging). I’ve dedicated the last 15+ years of my life towards developing students, believing that...
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"The Changing Face of Missions" - this weekend in...
As I share my testimony at church conferences like the one this weekend, I think what strikes them the most is that I don’t look like the missionaries we saw growing up. (I have an Asian face!) In fact, the majority of missionaries in the world today don’t look White. At the 2009 Urbana Student Missions Conference, over 25% of the participants were Asian American. There is a changing face of...
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Lausanne Reflections and Highlights
It’s been over a week since I returned from the Lausanne Congress in Cape Town, perhaps the largest and most diverse gathering of church leaders ever, leaders from about 200 countries. The spotlight was on one thing: the global church engaging in global mission in the 21st century, or, “from everywhere to everyone.” There’s too much to share in one blog, so I’m...
October 2010
2 posts
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Lausanne Congress in One Week!
In just one week, I will have the privilege of participating in a historic event — the 3rd Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Cape Town. Not only am I looking forward to the 4,000+ church leaders from around the world, but also the intersection of many of the worlds that I live in as a missions director. Wycliffe Bible Translators and SIL will be present, as the bible ...
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Videos from Drake's Ministry
Thought you might enjoy videos from our International Students Ministry and undergrad chapter at Drake University. Student leaders created them. Check it out!
September 2010
3 posts
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At God's Invitation - News - InterVarsity.org
A great article on our Harris-Stowe State University Chapter plant just came online at InterVarsity.org… check it out! In addition, here’s a bonus story involving prayer, marajuana, and God’s providence during a day on campus this past month: After a great prayer meeting, IV staff Ashley met up with Margaret, a student who had expressed interest in ministry. As they walked...
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Invitation to Pray
I’ve posted my August 2010 Prayer Letter online, which includes a short 2009-10 annual report from the Central Region. Enjoy!
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A New Year, A New Call to Campus Mission
Missions on Your Campus: Alec Hill from Urbana 09 on Vimeo. This week, as InterVarsity reaches out to 1,000’s of new students on over 30 campuses in the Midwest (about 600 nationwide), we hope to challenge mission-minded students toward seeing lives transformed, campuses renewed, and world-changers developed. Please pray with us!
August 2010
1 post
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Stories from Around the Globe
InterVarsity’s Global Urban Trek and Global Projects which took place over the summer have just ended, and amazing stories abound! The Central Region sent a student team to Ethiopia, where we have partnered for several years with EvaSUE, Ethiopia’s student movement, to serve marginalized communities within Addis Ababa. Another team was sent to a university in East Asia for a cultural...
July 2010
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Supreme Court Rules Against CLS
As I mentioned in my April 13th post, a major Supreme Court case ruling could adversely affect campus ministries across the U.S. On June 28th, the Court ruled 5-4 against a student group affiliated with Christian Legal Society (CLS). Much debate continues over this issue in the media. Click on the following articles from Inside Higher Education, Christianity Today, and InterVarsity.
June 2010
2 posts
1 tag
Church Leaders Partnering with InterVarsity
One of our highest values and an important part of my job is partnering with local churches and leaders in the community. I was encouraged by this recent blog post by a pastor in Des Moines. Thanks again to all of you church leaders who partner with IV!
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Tom Lin to Lead InterVarsity Missions and Urbana
(Madison) — InterVarsity is pleased to announce the appointment of Tom Lin as vice president of Missions and the director of the Urbana Student Missions Conference, effective February 1, 2011. “Tom is an entrepreneurial leader with rich experience in student ministry and missions, both in the U.S. and abroad,” said Alec Hill, InterVarsity’s president. “I am thrilled that he will be leading...
May 2010
1 post
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Growth Through Cell Multiplication
One of the 3 Central Region Initiatives for 2009-12 is “Cell Multiplication.” We are investing huge efforts in seeing our traditional small group ministry transform into a more missional cell model that emphasizes multiplication (students gaining vision and taking risks to start new cells in unreached places on campus). For the 2009-10 year, we set a goal to plant 200 cell groups. As of today,...
April 2010
2 posts
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Ohio State Price of Life Week - InterVarsity
Last week, IV partnered with other campus Christian organizations, local churches, government, and anti-trafficking organizations, to raise awareness about the evils of human trafficking and 21st century slavery. Ohio State students were challenged to consider how God may be calling them to respond and bring justice to those who are suffering through their increased awareness, financial...
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Supreme Court and Campus Ministry Ruling
On April 19, 2010, the 9 justices of the U.S Supreme Court are scheduled to hear arguments in the case of the Christian Legal Society v. Martinez. InterVarsity is among a large number of organizations who have filed 34 amicus (friend of the court) briefs in this case. The justices’ decision will majorly impact campus ministry. The ruling in this case will impact every chapter of CLS, every...
March 2010
2 posts
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Four Stories of Transformation
One of the great privileges in my role as Central U.S. Regional Director is the opportunity to hear stories of what God is doing in our 27 chapters, 13 of which have just been planted in the past 2 years. Below are 4 stories of great impact from this past February and March! Story #1 from staff at U of Missouri-St. Louis (new plant): “God’s blowing us away at UMSL. I’ll try...
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Harvard IV student in Time, Sports Illustrated...
I recently re-connected with generations of Harvard IV Asian American Staff (see pic), and continue to celebrate what God is doing at Harvard, though it no longer falls under my direct responsibility. One recent amazing story is about Jeremy Lin, an IV student who happens to be one of the best point guards in the country! Jeremy is both the Harvard basketball team co-captain and committed...
February 2010
3 posts
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Urbana Report and Videos
“Tom, thank you for leading us pastors. It was a treat to study the Bible every morning.” “I have never studied the Bible like this before. How can I bring this back to my church?” It was a joy for me to spend the Urbana Missions Convention teaching inductive Bible Study in John 1-4 with 200 pastors in the Pastors & Church Leaders Track. During the last morning, I challenged the group to...
