Documentation: Recap of Epic Conference 2008

So as a way to document the history of Epic Movement, here is a summary I wrote up of me and Kelly's experience at Epic Movement in February 2008. We presented this to our Campus Crusade staff to give a report of what happened and discuss the future of our movement. It is so crazy reading this now in light of all the craziness that God has done since then. Epic Conference was so legit! It was amazing. I'm soo looking forward to this year’s Epic Conference. Everyone should go. Check out the link: Epic Conference 2009



Epic Movement Conference Recap - February 15-18, 2008

Hey Jack, Teresa, Shaun, and Jenny!
Here’s a summary of the weekend’s events. The weekend was amazing! It seemed like it was rushed, fast-paced, and went by in what seems like a blink of an eye, but nevertheless, amazing! I’m still trying to process everything that happened. Kelly and I discussed a lot about what happened this past weekend on our plane ride home, and if there is one thing that I think that we walked away, it is affirmation. In the past few months God has sent confirmation to us in starting up Epic Movement, and we really feel that this weekend was God’s affirmation to us on so many levels.

So I’ll try my best to recollect and present my thoughts about the weekend’s events while addressing the following questions you proposed: what was good about the conference? What we learned? What we need to get to the next level?

It’s really long because I kind of got carried away and even though the weekend was tight-packed, we realized that God really showed us a lot now that we have begun to think through it. So what I have done is summarized the major points and then went on to talk about them in detail in the paragraphs proceeding.

What was good about the conference?
Before I go into extensive detail of God’s goodness to us at Epic Conference, here is a brief summary outlining some things that I feel are most important to discuss and be thankful for.

• God took care of us from the very beginning putting Angie and Ben together on the same flight after Angie initially missed her flight.
• People showered us with love especially Joyce, a student from UC-Davis who picked us up. And people were eager to hear our stories, and God put people in our lives to approach us.
• I feel ASU helped set the tone for conference with our energy and excitement.
• ASU was made known not through what Kelly and I have been doing, but through God using James, Ben, and Angie in amazing ways at conference.
• Epic Conference was an awesome bonding experience, and people commented on how impressed by the way we were united together as a family.
• Experienced brotherhood and confessions of sin
• James established a great relationship with the worship leader and was also prayed over and anointed by the worship leader.
• Sharing time was amazing

God blessed our journey to Epic Conference starting from even before we boarded the flight. Kelsie Sharp blessed us by volunteering to take us to the airport. After a strange twist of events, we ended up being late showing up to the airport and Angie missed her flight. It was kind of an irritating experience at first, but in the end everything worked out. She was put on a later flight. Little did we know that the later flight she was put on was the same flight as Ben Dunton. Angie was afraid of traveling for the first time, but God took care of her and by being late for her flight, she was rescheduled to fly on the same flight as Ben – pretty crazy.

We arrived at the airport at Sacramento and were picked up by Joyce, a student at UC – Davis who is a leader of Epic at her school. Joyce is incredible! She showed us so much love and compassion without even knowing us. She us took us first to her school so that we could get some lunch and so that Kelly could meet up with one of her friends from Santa Monica. Once we got to San Jose, Joyce would take care of us by driving us to get food, buying breakfast for all of us, and even taking Angie and Ben back to the airport for the flight back. Joyce was a tremendous blessing to us and showed us what true love and hospitality is all about.

I really feel that ASU helped set the tone for the entire Epic Conference. Our group was excited the entire time and brought energy throughout the duration of the conference especially during worship. People were getting to know us for our energy and excitement, and it was awesome because students from other schools were coming to know about Epic at ASU through the personalities of Ben, James, and Angie. What I mean is that Ben, James, and Angie really took ownership of the conference and were genuinely excited to be there. They literally took over the talent show in some respects. At the talent show, James and Ben took over with a piano and beat-boxing duet. Angie took a step of faith and sang a solo. As a group, we went up together during the talent show, introduced ourselves, and led a worship song that James Mcelroy wrote during the first weeks of our Epic Movement at ASU. The excitement was contagious, and it was not until after we had performed that others started to represent their respective schools.
Yet what was even more encouraging in all of this was how people would comment about how ASU looked like a family. People saw that we truly loved one another and were excited to be there with each other. Kelly was scheduled to speak on Monday morning, but because we had to leave early she was not able to speak. But she didn’t have to. It is crazy to think that, in some regards, James, Ben, and Angie did most of the talking for us. That truly is an encouragement to both me and Kelly because we see that they have truly caught onto the vision.

Another awesome experience was the unity and bonding we were able to experience. The group was able to really draw close to each other and depend upon one another. There also was a sense of strengthened brotherhood. On Saturday night, James, Ben and I were really able to encourage and pray for one another as Ben and I prayed for James who was kneeling at the front of the stage during worship broken before God. Later, James was able to build a great relationship with the worship leader. The worship leader was impressed by James song-writing and his aspirations and he prayed over James and anointed him to be a worship leader. I know that the girls were able to really get to know each other better as they were able to room together along with Joyce and another girl Sara, who we met at winter conference and who will be flying into the Phoenix airport tonight before she goes back to Hawaii.

We went sharing on Sunday afternoon and it was an amazing experience. I felt confident and excited about sharing because of the good time I had sharing with our POD during the Tuesday before, and on Thursday night after Cru, I had the awesome opportunity to lead a friend to Christ! Before we went out sharing, we prayed for God to reveal who he wanted us to talk to. I got a vision of a guy wearing a green shirt and Kelly added that it would be a green polo. I also got something about a white hoody and Kelly added that it would be a guy who had black hair. So after that we started walking around and right away we saw a guy wearing green polo! It was crazy! We were hesitant to talk to him at first, but eventually we approached us. He ended up rejecting us, but it was one of the best feelings of rejections I had ever experienced. Yes, we had gotten rejected, but we took a step of faith and God gave us that vision. So we kept walking around and James talked to a couple of people and I talked to an elderly man who was eighty and had been in jail for twenty five years. He had some great insight, and so we had a great conversation. Kelly had not yet talked to anyone yet, so we were walking around and we spotted someone on a table. I pointed him out, gave Kelly the solarium, and pushed her towards him. While I was pushing her towards the guys sitting at the table, we noticed he had a white hoody on and had black hair. He was the exact image that God had put on Kelly’s mind. They talked for a long time, and the guy poured his heart out. The guy was a Filipino and had similar experiences as Kelly. Kelly was able to get his information in order to get him connected. It was truly an awesome experience and an answered prayer.

Overall, it was an awesome experience, and we definitely experienced a lot of God’s goodness. God blessed us through so many people’s lives, and it was also a great opportunity to share how God has been good to us in our own lives through Epic. People were approaching us and were eager to hear our stories. So ya, all in all God, rocked our worlds in an awesome way!

As a side note, we had the awesome opportunity to initiate prayer for our campuses on Saturday Night at the prayer room. It went for over an hour or so. Also, we met a girl from UC-Davis whose parents just recently moved to Queen Creek.

What did we learn?
Again, here is a brief outline of things that come to my mind as being most important, and then I will go into more detail about them later.

• God totally affirmed us by showing us that He is truly working in our lives and is moving and a tremendous pace at ASU. God definitely empowered us and encouraged us by showing us an even broader picture of his work through Epic at ASU.
• God showed us the importance of building a strong foundation upon which to base our convictions.
• True joy is found in God’s promises and not in experiences,
• The time for pursuing God and praying for revival at ASU is urgent. The window for revival and of God’s overwhelming blessings as we have witnessed is closing. Things are not going to be as bountiful as we are experiencing now forever, so it is really urgent that we make the most of the time we have.
• A dry season is coming, and we need to prepare for it.
• Independence from man and dependence on God.
• We feel that God is really using Kelly and I and the other leaders in mighty ways, and thus we are susceptible to spiritual attacks. Thus we need to pray that we are putting on the armor of God and being sensitive to the spiritual realm.
• The effects of our movement are beyond what we can even see, and we have a lot of people to thank.
• We need to disciple our future leaders and prepare them to take our places.
• I feel more strongly that God has called Kelly and I to go to Japan for Summer Project.
• Vision to go to churches and cast vision and seek support

So first things first, God has given us amazing affirmation through going to Epic Conference. We went to a seminar that was an opportunity for students to ask questions about starting and sustaining an Epic Movement at our conference. So I gave them a brief overview of what God was doing at Epic and how we were doing things at ASU and then asked them what else they think they should do. They were totally surprised by what we were doing, and they said something to the extent of “we would do everything the same that you did but just add food at your meetings.” Later, Kelly and I talked about the stunned reaction on their faces to hear how God has blessed us with people and helped develop our movement. Early they were talking about how their Epic Movements started out really small as a Bible study with a couple of students and how after many years it eventually grew. They were taken aback to hear that God had blessed us with 27 people on the second meeting ever. So God definitely affirmed us by showing us that even though it seems to us that we have no clue what we are doing, He is taking care of us.

We know that God has blessed us with vision and instincts beyond our years. God has blessed us with just mind-blowing success, and we not that it is all attributed to God and not to us. The conference talked a lot about empowerment and affirmation, and how God the father affirmed his son Jesus at his baptism even before Jesus began his formal ministry. And so we feel that God has really blessed us and affirmed us and has used our weaknesses and our youth to show His strength. So we are definitely humbled by God and so thankful for the way that he has empowered us and used us to impact people’s lives.

It is crazy to think about the extent of God’s work through us starting up Epic Movement. We only have a limited view of God’s work, yet we are beginning to see even more God’s greater work at hand. It is amazing to hear from people who have been praying for us and caring for us - even people who don’t even know us. It was crazy to have people come up to us and want to hear about our stories and be excited by what God is doing. We know that there are so many people out there that have been praying for us and that have already been impacted through what God has been doing through us, and thus it is exciting to take hold of God’s blessings and be encouraged by his massive work that is at hand.

In addition to this, we learned about the importance of worship and knowing the heart of God. The quote, “Missions exists because worship does not” was repeated a lot. So we really learned the importance of building a strong foundation in the Word. We learned that God is not interested in actions per se but in our heart. Thus it is important to that we understand that true joy is found in God’s promises not in our experiences. This point hit home really hard because right not God has been blessing us at a break-neck pace. We are truly joyous and excited to see what God is doing.

However, we realize that this overflowing of blessings will not last forever. Thus, we want to make sure that we are truly founded in God’s words in order to take advantage of the time at hand and to prepare for the future dry season that is coming. Through this word from God, we realize that the time for revival at ASU is urgent, and we need to do all we can to advantage of God’s manifold blessings at this time. Thus, with this vision and insight that God has given us we really want to be able to pray fervently and cast vision to others to prepare them for what is to come. Kelly and I talked about the dry season that we see coming, and how it scares us. We know that God is not going to be moving as readily as he is now, and that our there are going to be circumstances that come in our life that are truly going to test us. Kelly and I talked about this weird feeling that both of us had – this fear that we were going to lose someone close to us that we do not expect. I don’t know; it was crazy to hear that we had similar feelings. But with that in mind, we recognize that God has blessed us with extreme power in His name, and thus we are very susceptible to attacks from the devil. We understand that we need to be on guard daily by putting on the armor of God and being sensitive to the spiritual battles that our constantly surrounding us. Yet we have faith knowing that God promises us His protection and His strength to combat these trials.

To go along with that idea of spiritual warfare, we think that God is really leading us to Japan. I know that I was really impressed by the presentation of the Japan Summer Project. The project leaders seem solid, and I really feel a sense of strong calling there. I think that God really wants me and Kelly to go there together to get an insight into leading Epic and to experience the crazy ways in which God is going to intervene in our lives. Kelly told her Dad about the costs of going to Japan, and he said that it would probably be impossible – even Kelly is skeptical. But I really believe that God will use this as an awesome opportunity to speak not only to our lives but the lives of Kelly’s family.

To go along with this idea of raising support and the sense of urgency that we need to harness, God has given me a vision to go to churches and to tell of God’s goodness to us and cast vision to them as well. I know that from personal experience God has used me to speak of the need for revival at my own church, and the results were astounding. I know that God wants others to know the goodness he has shown to us so that others may also respond. I think this would also be an awesome way to raise support especially for Kelly.

As far as other things learned, I think we really learned to be independent of man and just be dependent upon God. I think that it was no mistake that Shaun was supposed to go to Destino Conference and not with us. We were really forced to take initiative and responsibility, and I think that it will really serve us well. Also, in realizing the awesome blessings God has given us, it is important that we really be intentional in discipling future leaders.

God has taught us a lot in just over 2 days. Everything went by so fast and seemed like a blur, but upon examining everything that happened, I have begun to see the profound impact that this conference has had on my way of thinking. I know I learned a lot of things that I would have never expected to learn. God is truly with us, he is empowering us, and he is using us to impact the lives of others. He is proud of us and truly loves us and he is blessing us immeasurably. This brings me tremendous affirmation.

What we need to get to the next level?
Again a summary:

• Formulating a vision, mission statement, and goals in a concise format.
• Putting together our constitution and becoming an official club.
• Help in accountability and in evaluating goals, vision, and mission throughout the year
• Help in forming our focus in the midst of all that is going on
• Weekly Coaching, prayer and support
• How can we devote more time to God through Epic by possibly stepping out of some of our Crusade roles while at the same time serving as vessels through which God can use us to show His vision?
• Need food and budget for food. Need help formulating budget and proposal of budget of funding to give to churches and others we ask for support from.
• Help setting up a website and a newsletter to keep people updated about our progress.
• Can we intern next semester?
• How can we best work with and minister to the different groups of people we are working with. Ex. Cru people, high schoolers, unsaved people, new believers, growing Christians. How can we incorporate these different groups into leadership?
• Need help developing lessons and Bible studies for weekly meetings. Need help starting up discipleship groups and/ or Bible studies to better build relationships with our focus group. We need to determine who the people in our focus group are and the ways that we can better minister to them?
• What do we need to focus on for this semester? And how can we prepare for this summer and next year?

The biggest things we need help with is getting continued prayer and getting the coaching needed to form our vision statement, mission statement, goals, and constitutions. We really want to make sure that we take the time to develop these statements in order to provide a strong foundation for the future. We have made progress towards this and have the vision written on our hearts (and on various scattered papers and notebooks), but we really need help and accountability and forming a concise document that we can always refer to and evaluate from.

I think that we definitely need a coach that we can meet with weekly that we can go over our plans with and can provide us with advice and encouragement. We also need to talk to you all to figure out more ways in which we can devote time to Epic. We are not sure what that looks life such as possibly taking less responsibility within our roles at Crusade. But we definitely want to seek direction for this movement especially for the future and the next semester.

To go along with thinking about the future, is it possible to intern for Epic next semester? I know I was looking on the Crusade website and saw that we could possibly earn school credit with an internship through Crusade. So I was wondering if it was possibly for Kelly and I to intern if not officially through Crusade than at least through ASU Crusade so that we can devote more time to Epic and get credit at the same time.

We also need help with formulating a budget or at least a proposal for a budget so that we can present this to the churches and other groups that might like to support us. For example, my church has already promised their support to our movement, but they want to know what specifically our financial needs our so that they can adjust their own budget. Also, if we do go out and speak to other churches, it would be nice to be able to provide them with something that would further legitimate our needs and show that what we are working towards.

Another thing that has come to my mind is setting up a newsletter to let people and especially those who support us to serve as an update of what’s going on with Epic and how they can continue to pray for us and support us. I was just talking to my dad earlier as well, and he mentioned that we should set up a website for people to check and possibly help support us through. So if you have any insight into doing any of those things, that would be greatly appreciated!

We also need direction in balancing the size of our group and knowing how to be able to minister to the unique needs of all those attending. We have members of Crusade, students from PASA, high school students and youth member from my church and soon other churches, new believers, and unsaved students. So we need to figure out ways to minister to their needs as best as we can while at the same time finding a group that we can focus in on and develop to be the next leaders. So ya we need some help in discerning the best way to approach that such as in what materials we can use and other formats that would best suit people’s needs.

As a random side note, the president of Asian Baptist Youth Fellowship was at my church this Sunday, and I am supposed to talk with him sometime in the near future. I’m not really sure what that entails, but I just wanted to let you know so that you could keep that in your prayers.

All in all, the most important need we have is your prayers and continued support. We appreciate all that you have done for us and grateful for the ways you have already gone out of your way to support us and help make this possible. We know that God is using all of us to do awesome things at ASU, and so we are grateful for your recognition of that and for your encouragement in that process. Thanks again for all your prayers and making it possible to go to Epic Conference! It definitely was an awesome opportunity that has opened up my eyes even more to see what God is doing through our lives!

Thanks so much!


Carl Catedral