PEF Missions Conference 2009

PEF's annual missions conference was this weekend -- what a wonderful time of reflecting on how God sends out His people to bring His good news to the world! The theme this year was the Student Volunteer Movement, a missions-minded movement that actually had its genesis at Princeton in 1886. Our keynote speaker this year, Jon Hinkson '85, gave a series of talks and reflections detailing the history of the movement and exhorting students to answer the call to go out into the world, making disciples of all nations.

The watchword of the movement was "The Evangelization of the World in this Generation." As Jon noted, this was an incredibly audacious aspiration -- but one that inspired thousands of students to be zealous in going out into the world and sharing the gospel. One of the goals of the movement was to harness the natural energy and zeal of college students (both men and women!), and channeling that into Kingdom work, specifically out on the foreign missions field. And we at PEF certainly know the energy that college students have, and the zeal with which they approach everything in their lives -- our prayer is that they would strive zealously to do the Lord's work, and have hearts open to His calling, wherever that may be.

Jon Hinkson during his keynote address

In between the two keynote sessions, we had dinner discussions led by different types of missionaries, all with connections to Princeton and PEF.


Jon leading a table on ministering and witnessing to intellectuals


Woody Lewis '69 led a table on long-term missions
(he and his wife are missionaries to France)


Kay Boyer led a table on ministering to international students in a college town


Curt '04 and Christina Saxton led a table on ministry in the inner city


Erik and Andrea Granstedt (grad students in one of our small groups!) led a table on
short-term missions trips (having spent several months in Japan
with YWAM between undergrad and grad)

And I have to post this adorable photo of Elijah, Curt and Christina's 8-month-old son -- such a happy little guy!


A huge thanks to the PEF missions team -- you put together a great conference this year! And please be praying for our students, that they will prayerfully respond to the testimonies shared this weekend, and respond to the call to evangelize the world, starting here in Princeton but also radiating out, in this generation.

For the full set of photos from the missions conference, check out this SmugMug gallery.

Small Group "M" Party!

It would seem that a lot of momentous events starting with the letter "M" are happening in our small group -- Mimi is going to Morocco for a month-long missions trip, and Mike and Angela are going to celebrate their marriage, and be McKoys together. :) So in honor of all of these "M" events, we threw the three of them a surprise party after our normal Wednesday night small group last night!

Everyone was asked in advance to think of some festive "M" item to bring. So for party fare, we had Martinelli's sparkling cider, mini muffins, M&Ms, macaroons, and even mangoes!

Because it was a special event, we were packed out. We have about 15 or so regular attenders for the Wednesday night group, but it's rare that all of them will all show up on a given week. Looks like we had pretty much everyone join us last night, plus a few newcomers!

Some more assorted photos from the party:

Emily signing one of the cards for our guests of honor

A really cute picture of the happy couple

One of my favorite pictures from the night... Totally captures the essence of Dan Megill

We love you guys!

PEF Missions Conference 2008

Every year, PEF hosts a missions conference, inviting some of our alumni who are out on the missions field to come back and share about the work that God is doing around the world. It's always really cool to meet some of the missionaries that we're supporting, and to be encouraged to think more concretely about doing "missionary" work, whether we're called overseas or Stateside.

This year's theme was near and dear to my own heart -- "Vocations to the Nations," focusing primarily on using our professions as an entry point into closed countries. It's important to have both a legitimate business reason to be in the country (not just a front -- one of the speakers likened these fake businesses to Mafia fronts for drug laundering purposes), and to also be actively seeking to disciple others and spread the good news. Real tent-making, in today's global economy, means being a real part of a local economy, making business decisions in a counter-cultural, God-honoring way, and sharing the gospel both in the context of your business life and in your personal connections with other locals.

And let's not forget that all of the same principles apply whether our missions field is a remote village in Central Asia or a law firm office in Central NJ... I'm struggling to figure out how my job can be more of a vocation/calling rather than just an occupation. I want to be a light in my office, but I'm still unsure of what that really looks like. I pray that I can be a voice of encouragement and hope amongst the complaints and fears of a down economy -- but surely there's more to it than that. Please pray that God would give me opportunities to speak His truth in ways that are meaningful to others around me -- that I would be both bold and sensitive.

Anyways -- the other reason I wanted to blog about the conference was to post pictures! (Click each picture to enlarge.)

Our first speaker, Brian Fujito '00, speaking on using business skills to spread the gospel

The dinner portion -- three tables (Business & Engineering, Medicine, and Non-Governmental Organizations), each hosted by missionary alumni


Hosting the NGO table: Lisa Frist '06, who worked for two years with Samaritan's Purse in Mozambique


Hosting the Medicine table: Kenny '92 and Wendy '93, medical missionaries in China


The money shot: Danielle, Elizabeth and Rachel with little Timothy, the youngest of Kenny and Wendy's five children (imagine the excitement caused in one-child China by this brood of five blond blue-eyed children!)