Thanks so much for your question. This the best moment to be thinking about and praying for not only what we would like the Convention to accomplish in the delegates' lives, but as you pointed out so well, how to turn the experience of those 5 precious days into a sea change in the individuals' projects for the future.

1) Gatherings. I would encourage you as of right now to plan a series of meetings with those who go to URBANA and perhaps invite others who would be interested but who were not able to attend.

Here are some questions:
- What was your favorite thing? (Let them reminisce a bit about different things that impacted them)
- What decisions did you make? (Here it would be good to have them bring a copy of the Decision Card they worked on the last two days of the Convention.)
How do you plan to implement these decisions?

Here are some activities:
Plan a series of small group (or large group) Bible studies on missions/care for the poor/earthcare themes.
Plan opportunities for projects: whether they be for a service, a day activity, a short term trip, or more. These should relate to commitments different ones have made. Now would be the time to be thinking of these different opportunities. A great resource is Bill Berry's Into All the World (Articles on Short Term Missions and a 25 page reference guide to agencies and options). Also on the web: www.aboutmissions.com

2) Reports. I think it would be good if the students would be asked to share something in the church. It could be a couple of testimonies in the morning service. Or you could ask to have responsibility for the whole service and share more in depth, giving a missions teaching and/or challenge as well. Or the same in the young peoples' group. Or even offer to share in another church.

3) Accountability. We are blessed by the experiences we have; we are changed by the decisions we make. However, we need to be held accountable for our promises. I would encourage you to work out some sort of a mentor, "spiritual director," or even "Christian friend" link with those who made significant decisions, by which the delegates who wish to do so will give permission to another to call them or meet with them to talk about their process of implementation.

4) Prayer. I would encourage you to work in the element of prayer here somewhere, whether it is encouraging some to meet together to pray through their commitments, asking some of your friends to pray for each of your friends, or scheduling times of prayer during the regular meetings to keep the matter before the group and the Lord.

5) Next Steps on the Web. Urbana's whole follow-up program is on the web (just go to www.urbana.org any time after Jan. 1). It's designed to help people personalize the lessons they learn from Urbana.

I would be very interested in knowing that you decide to do and how it all works out. We are constantly looking for more effective ideas of follow-up.

May the Lord guide you in this most important task.

Jack