Destino Conference 2006

This past weekend I had the privilege of helping out at the first Destino Conference ever. Destino is Campus Crusade's ministry to Latino students around the country. They came from New York, Florida, California, and of course Texas...as well as a few places in between. Over 100 students gathered in San Antonio to praise God, fellowship, learn, and reach out to the community.
The theme of the conference was Represent. It was about representing God on the campuses, in the communities & throughout the world! The conference aim was to bring about a real awareness of the issues facing the Hispanic & Latino community and a challenge to be the solution for these social and spiritual ills. As somewhat of an outsider to this community, it was encouraging for me to see how these students can have so much more of an impact in an area that I never could. As with most of our conferences, a day of outreach was a huge part. Saturday was spent partnering with a local church to take the gospel door to door in a neighborhood of San Antonio. That day 12 people came to trust Christ!

As exciting as the conference itself was, it is even more exciting to imagine what is to come. As a result of these students joining together and encouraging one another, they are excited about going back to their campuses, families, and communities to allow God to use them to draw people to himself. Please pray for the staff and students around the country who are involved with Destino, as this is just the beginning of ministry for many of them. Pray for movements of students to spring up on new campuses. Pray for the growing Latino population in the US, that they would become a people of Christ that will impact the world in ways that we have yet to see.

Here are some things to praise God for:

154 in Total Conference Attendance – 112 students, 28 staff, 14+ volunteers & guests

14+ Nationalities represented – U.S., Mexico, Puerto Rico, Columbia, Costa Rica, Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Chili, Honduras, Portugal, Philippines, China

13 States Represented
Arizona (2) – 2 students
California (32) – 26 students, 6 staff
Colorado (4) – 3 students, 1 staff
Florida (10) – 5 students, 5 staff
Illinois (2) – 2 students
Indiana (1) – 1 staff
Massachusetts (2) – 2 students
Michigan (1) – 1 student
North Carolina (2) – 2 students
New Mexico (2) – 2 staff
New York (6) – 6 students
Ohio (2) – 2 students
Texas (88) – 61 students, 12 staff, 14+ volunteers & guests

200+ Exposures to the gospel

20 Decisions for Christ – 8 conference students, 12 on day of outreach

17 NEW key student contacts this semester

14 NEW campuses launched were DESTINO did not exist last semester.