March Madness: Week 1

Over the next few days I'll be writing about the road trips and conferences Ben and I have experienced throughout the month of March. We've traveled over 2,500 miles and seen a lot of new sights along the way! On the 9th we took off for Panama City Beach, FL in our faithful Saturn, along with our friend and co-worker Jonny. The ride was surprisingly quick-probably because it was so fun (and I didn't have to drive much. Thanks guys!) The weather in PCB was the nicest yet during any Big Break conference I have been to in previous years. This was my fourth-at least-I can't remember if I went twice as a student.

Marquette and UW-Parkside students arrived eagerly and a bit anxious for the week of being taught from featured speakers and sharing their faith on the beach. We had a LOT of students come who had never ever shared their faith before, let alone been to Big Break. It was a great week of seeing these students step out and trust God to use them to love on people and listen to them. In particular, Ben and I are excited to see the momentum back on campus at UWP, as one of the girls said she wants to have a weekly time where people gather to go and initiate spiritual conversations with other students on campus. They saw God work through them during this week and want to make it a lifestyle, as we are called to do as followers of Christ.

The week was filled with bonding, and we especially loved getting to live life with students off campus, which is hard for us since we live out of town. Below, Kat and Halima learn to use Soularium, a tool that uses pictures to ask people about their life experiences and view of God.
This group of students left Saturday morning, and just hours later we greeted the UWM group to do the whole thing over. I prayed that God would help me to hear the speakers and experience this week with fresh perspective, not thinking that since I was there the week before that I could just check out mentally. It proved to be a bit of a struggle through the week, and I needed to pull away at times to think and process experiences & what I was learning-but God answered that prayer and taught me what it really means to walk by faith and not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7)

Girls share about a fruitful conversation they had on the beach one afternoon.


Over 100 students attended an optional morning seminar that taught them about apologetics and the importance of understanding a variety of worldviews.