Damien's Epicenter Experience

Epicenter (our winter conference in the Northeast) was an incredible time of connection and hearing from the Lord for the 600 students and staff who attended in person and online!  Damien, a student from Hudson Valley Community College in Albany, shared this experience:

Heading into Epicenter, prayer was an area I felt God was showing me I needed to grow in.  Specifically, praying for others and with others.  Over the weekend, I had been asking Him to use me to pray for other students at the conference and to open opportunities to pray with each other.

On the third day of the conference, while standing in the busy hotel lobby with a friend, I noticed someone walking by.  He seemed to be heading somewhere fast, but I sensed God leading me to talk to him.  I was able to ask him three questions as he walked by:  "What's your name?", "Where are your from?", and "How has the weekend been for you?"  By the third question, the student from UMass had already walked past us, but he stopped and turned around.  He told me that the weekend had actually been pretty tough and that he was having a rough time before coming.  That prompted me to ask if he needed prayer for anything.  For the next five to ten minutes he really opened up a lot about his troubles.  The three of us [Damien, his friend he was standing with, and the UMass student] huddled up and he let me pray with him.  I asked God to continue to show up in his life and thanked Him for the encounter.

We were able to sit with each other during the night session.  In the beginning of the session, he announced that he had just accepted Christ into his life after listening to the first speaker that weekend! This was crazy to me!  We talked about this after the session and he told me more about his story.

Not only was this encouraging, but the entire Epicenter Experience was life-changing for me and others.  In addition to answering my prayer going into Epicenter, God also exemplified His faithfulness in bringing this student to the conference and revealing Himself to him in a life-changing way!

Over 20 students made decisions to follow Jesus during Epicenter like the UMass student Damien befriended; dozens of others, like Damien, had a fresh encounter with the Lord.  Kerri and I are so thankful to God that he cares for and engages personally with us!  Every year, Epicenter is an incredible reminder of that fact.  Thank you for partnering with us in this ministry!  Check out some Epicenter 2013 photos below: