partnerships

Deb is our St. Louis liaison, which means that her primary responsibility is to connect with the local churches and get them onboard with the vision of Urbana 09. With the Operations team pushing hard for increased volunteer participation this year, her networking gifts will be crucial in recruiting more churches and ministries around the STL area. She's also working to build more partnerships with the churches in the suburbs, which is cool.

An intentional and empowering decision made by the Urbana folks since U06 (the first time we held the conference in STL) was to give as much ownership to the local people. I knew attending as a participant in 2006 that that was one of the reasons why STL was chosen as the site for the conference- to both empower and serve a city struggling with post-industrialism and its many effects. From what I have read, heard, and experienced so far, the response from the city has been overwhelmingly positive and supportive. This year the mayor and his wife will be serving once again at the conference, as part of the Information Desk team. Aside from the fact that we're a huge source of income for them, I'd like to think that they like to work with us because of the way we 'do business.' As we plan for this Urbana, I hope that the way we go about preparing for this monstrous conference that calls for people to join His Mission will be a blessing in itself.

Here's an interview at a local STL radio station with Deb and Jim, the Dir of Urbana.