CCO's Jubilee Continues to Impact Students One Month After the Conferece

Students who attended last month’s Jubilee Conference are receiving support through Bible studies and campus meetings to keep the spiritual momentum going.

About 1,800 attended the Februray 25-27 conference with the purpose of learning to actively integrate their faith in Christ into their careers and life.

Two weeks later, the Coalition for Christian Outreach, which hosted the event, brought the student attendants together in small and large groups on campuses to let them share about their growth during the conference, sing Jubilee songs together, and talk about their future plans.

The effort by CCO also extends to online resources, like websites that allow interested students to share more about faith.

One of the tools used by CCO to help students better understand their faith organizes the spiritual journey in a continuum from “no belief in God” to “surrenders to the Lordship of Christ” and beyond.

The hypothetical model of a person’s journey from atheism to a commitment to Christ was created by Amy Serridge, a CCO staff member. This continuum tool is meant to let students articulate their own stories and the ways God has helped them grow.

"Students who had grown up in the church and felt that they didn't have much of a story to tell could look at this and tell their story, seeing how God had worked in their lives," said Serridge, who is from Point Park College, Pittsburgh, PA.

The students could point to the continuum and say, “that’s where I started,” and “that’s where I am now,” said Serridge. "It provided a simple way for them to think about their journey, and it wasn't intimidating."

The tool helped Serridge to get a better grasp of where students are in faith and how they see Christ.

She stated, "Some students I spoke with revealed a lack of commitment to Christ when I thought one was there. Others who were committed to Christ were able to articulate where they were and how they needed or wanted to grow."

The Jubilee conference has had substantive impact in recent years. After attending Jubilee in spring 2002, the Malone group developed the THINK! program.

THINK! is a campus-wide program designed to help students "recycle" the belongings they might ordinarily pitch as they pack up at the end of the semester. Through the program, items like clothes, furniture, and office supplies were collected and deposited into a Goodwill Industries trailer located on campus.