Recently I had the opportunity to attend the Campus Making conference through CRCMA. First, a little background: this upcoming school year at Michigan State University I will be joining the leadership team of Campus Edge. While I have been involved with leadership positions in the past, this will be the first time I’ll be thusly involved in a campus ministry. I’ve admittedly been a little nervous because of this, so I was both anxious and excited about the Campus Making conference: this would be an opportunity to meet other people my age in similar positions and learn from people who have had years of experience. Quickly my anxieties proved to be unfounded: I found a great group of people (new friends!) who were excited for the future of the body of Christ.

Over the course of about 48 hours, we listened to various speakers and panels that were designed to address general issues in campus ministry leadership, as well as specific ideas as pertaining to the idea of “power.” The location was beautiful, and was the epitome of a retreat from the activity of the world. The people and location of the Crieff Hills Conference and Retreat Center were both wonderful. It was my first time to Canada, and it was definitely a memorable one– in all the good ways!

One of the panels I chose to attend was focused on how to find rest in God while living in a busy world. I chose to attend this because often I find myself anxious over day-to-day issues, and I know that many of my friends and cohorts in grad school are constantly facing the same sort of issues. Since Campus Edge is primarily aimed at graduate students and faculty of MSU, I figured this would be something good to learn about, and later share. This panel turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the conference. The second panel that I attended addressed issues associated with collaborating with campus and local groups. This was lead by three students who had lead various student ministries, and it was interesting learning from their experiences, as well as other students who attended this panel. On the last morning, I attended a panel titled, “The Constellation of Shared Leadership: How Following Well Makes Leading Light.” I particularly appreciated this panel, since the speaker made sure to address any and all questions that we had about leadership. In a way, it was good that this was at the end of the conference, as it let us ask any remaining questions that hadn’t been addressed earlier.

Overall, I had a great time at the Campus Making conference: it is a rare occurrence to meet with other Christian student leaders. It leads to making new friends, and having spontaneous worship sessions! I look forward to utilizing what I learned at this conference, and hopefully hearing from the people I met to see how their respective ministries fare over this next year.

-Sarah Coburn