We just got back from the H2O Church Network Conference in Columbus. I think it’s pretty safe to say that it surpassed all of our expectations. Mostly because we didn’t know quite what to expect! We’ve never done an event quite like this before — inviting all of the people from all of the H2O Churches in our region to gather together for a 24-hour conference. Especially in the aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic, it felt surreal to spend a significant amount of time with such a large crowd of like-minded staff and students. Still, make no mistake: it was amazing!
When I moved from Bowling Green to Amsterdam in 2003, there was just one H2O Church in Bowling Green. It was a good, strong church that had already sent out numerous church plants: to Ball State University, to the University of Missouri, to the University of Central Florida… and our team to Amsterdam, as well. However, starting in 2008, subsequent church plants worked in a more coordinated, more regionally-focused way. H2O Kent was the first of this new breed. But it was quickly followed by H2O Churches at the University of Cincinnati and the Ohio State University in Columbus. Today, there are twelve H2O Churches. They’re largely in Ohio (the University of Toledo, Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio University in Athens, and Youngstown State University). But also at Indiana University, Western Michigan University, the University at Buffalo, and at the University of Central Florida.
Now, it’s been fifteen years since the one H2O Church started growing into an H2O Network. So, the time seemed right for a big conference. We all started converging from all our different corners of the region. I joined with eight others from the Centennial Life Group at Kent State University. We traveled down I-71 around the same time that another seventy people from H2O Kent were on their way. Other Life Groups and Churches came from their locations. And when we all got to Columbus, there were about 500 of us. Worshiping together… Studying the Bible together… And dreaming together about what God may do in the next fifteen years (and beyond).
One of my favorite parts of the conference was hearing the testimony of a woman named Jill. She and I have crossed paths several times over the years. First as students at H2O Bowling Green (I think she came in as a freshman when I was a junior or senior)… Then she and her husband Mark joined our church plant in Amsterdam for a few months… And finally, we’ve crossed paths at various conferences and events back here in Ohio, now that I’m in Kent and she’s helping with a newer church plant at Ohio University. Even so, I didn’t know several aspects of her journey to faith.
She came to the point of tears talking about her experiences with Jesus and the H2O Church Network. And, of course, this brought me to the point of tears! But they were happy tears. Jill’s story highlighted consistent themes of what God has been doing in this part of the world in recent decades.
In her first year of college at BGSU, Jill was especially impacted by the love and care of a student-leader named Meredith. Consequently, at the end of that school year, Jill went with Meredith and several others to a summer of Leadership Training in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Jill had grown up in the church. So, she thought she knew everything she needed to know about Jesus and faith. However, while in Myrtle Beach she was challenged to read the Bible for herself — and somewhere in the middle of the Gospel of Luke, she realized that she hadn’t yet made her own decision to follow Jesus. So she prayed a quiet prayer of surrender and faith on the beach. And then her life started a new trajectory.
After that transformative summer, Jill went back to Bowling Green. She started taking a more active role, serving and leading within the church. She joined the leadership team for her Life Group, and she started helping to coordinate audio-visual support for the church’s Sunday Worship Gatherings. And now, Jill is working for the H2O Church Network. She uses her passion and experience in graphic design (including the majority of the conference “merch” in Columbus). And she also helps support new church plants. It was so encouraging to hear Jill share her experiences. And this was just one story of many stories of transformation that were shared throughout the conference!
Throughout the entire event, the teachings were based on Ezekiel’s vision of the Valley of Dry Bones. They pointed to the fact that God breathes life into things that seem dead. Even though many mourn the spiritual state of today’s college campuses, we see the opportunity for God to empower college students. We believe God wants to propel them towards even bigger and better things than what we’ve seen over the last couple of decades. So, towards the end of the conference, we asked students to consider “putting their ‘Yes’ on the table and letting God direct them from there.” And these were the areas where we urged people to consider reflection, prayer, and commitment:
- YES, I will pray for the lost and share my faith.
- YES, I will pray about leading a Bible study.
- YES, I will pray about going on a Spring Break trip.
- YES, I will pray about going to LT this summer.
- YES, I will pray about going overseas for missions.
- YES, I will pray about going on staff and into ministry.
The conference was simultaneously invigorating and exhausting. But hopefully, after a little bit of rest back in Kent, we’ll start to see what sprouts from this conference.