Day 4 - Friday, July 22, 2016

Today's format was quite different than the past couple of days which made for an interesting day!! To start off with, we had the morning off, so we were able to sleep in a little while and didn't have to rush to have breakfast. After breakfast, instead of going straight to delegation groups, a couple of friends and I went to the Purdue bookstore to get some merchandise to prove that we've actually been here for the week, lol! Next, there was an advocacy walk that was going on for the conference so we followed that around campus to see what types of booths they had set up.

Eventually, it got too hot to be walking around, so we headed back to the dorms to cool and dry off before lunch. After lunch, we had to head over to our delegation group location so we could start off the day's topic of doubt. A major question that was asked was, "what role does doubt play in our faith?" and just as Jesus would, we answered the question with a question. "If you don't doubt how can you truly believe?" I found that to be very accurate, because doubt strengthens our faith by keeping that constant communication with God and having to search to find the answers of our questions.

Worship was in a different setting and at a different time tonight than in past nights, since it was the last night. We had our service outside at an amphitheater because there was to be a candlelight service at the end.  The preacher was a white male and he talked a lot about privilege and he preached that he was a person that had the most privileges of everyone and that was not right. A direct quote from the sermon was, “If you haven’t had to think about the color of your skin, that is privilege,” and he basically described how wrong that was. He said that God needs ordinary people to make a difference, not anyone special, just regular people like you and me and if you turn to look, God will call you. The message of the sermon was fantastic, but the best part was after the sermon when we had a glow stick party, titled “Let My People Glow” (the bible verse of the day dealt with Moses, hence the play on words) and we basically listened and sang along with the worship band as they played fun songs and we threw glow sticks and massive white balls with glow sticks in them all around the lawn. It was a phenomenal experience and probably some of the most fun I had on the trip!

Lastly, we toned things down a little bit and got our candles, lit them, and sang songs and did a simple dance with them. Seeing over 6,000 candles lit up was such a cool experience and one that won’t soon be forgotten, and although last night’s sermon was not my favorite out of all the sermons we’d heard, worship itself was one of the best!

I’m so sad tonight is the last night, but I can’t wait for worship tomorrow to really wrap everything up!!