Urbana Staff Update (December)
As we head into the final stretch before Urbana 25, this update gives you everything you need to help students, faculty, and staff arrive spiritually prepared, practically ready, and open to God’s work. Whether you’ll be in Phoenix or supporting from afar, your leadership in December will shape how people experience God’s call.
Hey staff!
We’re entering the final stretch before Urbana 25—a month to prepare hearts, steady expectations, and help students, faculty, and staff arrive ready for God to meet them. Whether you’ll be in Phoenix or supporting from home, your leadership in December shapes how people experience God’s call.
What's New This Month:
1️⃣ Preparing Students & Faculty Spiritually & Practically
2️⃣ Getting Ready for Your On-Site Role
3️⃣ Preparing for the Urbana 25 Experience
4️⃣ Prayer and Intercession
5️⃣ A Note on Last-Minute Registration
1. Preparing Students & Faculty Spiritually & Practically
We can help shape the posture our students and faculty will carry into Urbana.
Spiritual Preparation
Encourage a posture of:
- Openness (“God, I’m listening.”)
- Curiosity over comparison
- Willingness to step into unfamiliar spaces
- Readiness to engage Scripture and respond
- General Green Liney-ness
- Expectancy over expectations
Even a simple conversation this month can help till the soil: "What are you hoping God will show you?"
Practical Preparation
Before your people leave for break, help them settle the basics that make Urbana feel smooth, not chaotic.
1. Confirm travel + housing
They should each know:
- How they’re getting to Phoenix
- Hotel + roommate plan
- Who they’re traveling with
- When they need to arrive on Dec 28 (between 1:30 - 5:00 pm MT ??♂️)
2. Review the conference schedule
Even a quick skim of the overall schedule reduces anxiety and helps them identify the arc of their week and what to expect. They can even browse a sampling of seminars here.
3. Set group structure now
Give your group clarity by:
- Naming a logistics point person
- Identifying who leads debriefs/mealtime check-ins
- Setting other group touchpoints
4. Talk through arrival logistics
Make sure everyone knows:
- Where their hotel is
- How they’ll get airport → hotel → Convention Center
- Where to go first
- What to do if something goes wrong.
5. Clarify your role
Let them know:
- How available you’ll be (even if that’s limited due to an on-site assignment)
- How to reach you
- When your group will gather each day.
You don’t need a complex plan — just clarity, presence, and a few intentional touchpoints.
IF YOU'RE LEADING A GROUP (or designating a student or volunteer point person)
On December 13, we’re sending a detailed Group Leader Email with instructions on distributing passes, navigating onboarding, and coordinating group communication.
Only the person who purchased the passes will receive this email.
If that’s not you (true for most staff), you can still read the full content here:
Urbana 25 Group Leader & Participant Communications
Please make sure your group’s designated leader or point person reviews these details and shares them with every participant.
2. Getting Ready for Your On-Site Role
If you’re serving in Phoenix, thank you!!! The presence and service of our InterVarsity staff colleagues what makes the Urbana experience truly extraordinary.
Some quick reminders for entering grounded:
- Arrive in Phoenix by 4:00pm on Dec 27
- Complete team pre-work
- Review your assignment in Teams
- Connect briefly with your on-site lead
- Find more information in the On-Site Staff Guide and in the Urbana 25 On-Site Staff Teams Channel
Carry a posture of spiritual hospitality:
Regardless of your role, the goal isn't perfection but presence.
- Offer a calm, non-anxious presence. Be a human being, not a hustling task-runner.
- Move with purpose, but don’t hurry. Let urgency lead to clarity, not feed anxiety.
- Notice the people around you. Participants will remember being seen far more than flawless execution.
- Make space for Jesus and meaningful conversations. The Holy Spirit often works in the margins!
- Give grace—to yourself and to each other. There will be last-minute changes and hectic moments. Stay rooted in Jesus and your own formation.
The legacy of our staff at Urbana isn't perfection, but our ability to minister in the moment and welcome the Holy Spirit's movement.
3. Preparing for the Urbana 25 Experience
The core experience of Urbana 25 is ready. Participants will step into a week shaped by Scripture, global stories, and guided discernment:
- A clear daily arc
- Morning Big Room — Bible exposition in Jonah and global spiritual formation
- Morning Scripture Study — Small group Bible studies (students), large-group manuscript study (general participants, faculty/alumni), and the Pastors & Church Leaders Cohort
- Afternoon Integration Sessions — exploring Campus as Gateway to the World and Vocation as Mission
- Evening Big Room — global stories, witness, and communal response
- 150 seminars across law, tech, missions, global church, film, entrepreneurship, spiritual formation, and more
- Community Gatherings hosted by Focused Ministries
- A streamlined Mobilization Hub for meaningful, relational conversations with mission partners and global church leaders
- The TruCenter assessment + onboarding experience to help participants name motivations and begin listening for calling
- Prayer and coaching spaces each afternoon for reflection, discernment, and next steps
- A conference app + chatbot in final development to support schedules, maps, and just-in-time resources
Every element is designed to reduce friction, increase clarity, and create space for Scripture, community, and the Spirit to do deep work.
A Note About Livestream
Urbana 25 will not include a live stream or remote-access option.
This is intentional: Urbana 25 is designed as an in-person, communal, immersive experience.
If you have questions, you can read more in our FAQ
4. Prayer & Intercession
More than anything, we’re asking staff to pray with us. We are so grateful to have hundreds of intercessors, praying across Phoenix and around the world.
Pray for:
- Soft, expectant hearts
- Staff to lead with spiritual authority + gentle presence
- Scripture (especially Jonah) to speak clearly
- Barriers to fall—fear, distraction, self-protection
- Clarity in calling and next steps
- Protection over travel, health, and the city of Phoenix
The Urbana 25 Prayer & Fasting Guide
A Note on Last-Minute Registrations
December always brings late decisions, especially from:
- West Coast + Southwest campuses
- Chapters within driving distance
- Students who wait until after finals
- Students who say yes once they see friends going
Don’t push. Don’t pressure.
Just remember: last-minute yeses are an increasingly normal part of recruitment.
If someone expresses interest, gently help them take the next step. It’s not too late.
? TLDR: Quick Recap
- Prepare students spiritually and practically — this is the heart of December.
- On-site staff: We want you to arrive grounded and ready for spiritual hospitality
- Urbana’s core experiences are ready and aligned.
- Join us in sustained prayer and intercession.
- Last-minute decisions still matter and just may happen...
Thank you for all the hard work, partnership, and grace you’ve carried into this season. I’m SO grateful for each of you. I can’t wait to see many of you in Phoenix — and to greet the rest of you in the land of TEAMS.
Blessings on your December, your Advent, and the close of 2025!! ?
With great affection and appreciation,
Andy Kim & the Urbana Team
The Staff Resource Hub
☎️ Contact Us
For additional questions, feel free to reach out to the Urbana team! We look forward to serving you!
- Email: urbana@intervarsity.org
- Teams Channel: Urbana 25 ? | All InterVarsity Staff
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About the authors
Andy Kim is a strategist, storyteller, and ministry leader who helps the next generation imagine and pursue their place in God’s global mission. He currently serves as Associate Conference Director for Urbana, InterVarsity’s triennial student missions conference that has inspired hundreds of thousands to say “yes” to God’s global call.Andy has helped shape multiethnic leadership development, intercultural formation, and missional innovation across a variety of roles within InterVarsity and higher education—including as a campus minister at Northwestern University, Director of Intercultural Development at Trinity International University, and Multiethnic Resource Director for InterVarsity's Multiethnic Ministries. Most recently, he served as Associate Director of InterVarsity’s Creative Labs where helped launch the Ministry Playbook, a digital training platform that has equipped thousands of staff, students and partners in campus ministry across the country. He holds an MDiv from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a BA from Northwestern University. He and his wife Madeline live in Urbana, Illinois, with their three children.