Attendees at the conference heard from speakers that included John Piper…pastor for preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis; Matt Chandler, lead pastor of The Village Church in Highland Village, Texas; J.D. Greear, lead pastor at the Summit Church of Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; and Harry Reeder, senior pastor of Briarwood Presbyterian Church (PCA).

If downtown Chattanooga seems to have been populated by more young adults than usual the past five days, it actually has been.

Some 5,000 college students and leaders have been here to attend the national conference of Campus Outreach, a network of interdenominational Christian organizations which focus on relationally based evangelizing and discipling college students worldwide.

“The state of Tennessee was a good rallying point for our ministry,” said Dave Russell, a Washington, D.C.-based regional director for the organization. “The city of Chattanooga and the [Convention and] Visitors Bureau wanted to work with us and were excited to work with us. Chattanooga is the right fit.”

Jennye Miller, director of religious accounts for the Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the gathering is the largest convention of college students here in her 30 years with the organization.

The 5,000 students and staff members, she said, are spread among 10 hotels and will generate an economic impact of $3.6 million.

Campus Outreach, which began in Birmingham in 1978, is now located in 19 states and globally in Australia, South Africa and Brazil.

It has not been established in any Chattanooga area college but has ministries at Vanderbilt University, Tennessee Technological University and the University of Memphis.

Unlike other campus outreach organizations, it is a decentralized ministry with no formal headquarters but is grouped into 24 regional franchises, according to Russell.

Its ministries are primarily located in smaller colleges and universities, with each ministry autonomous but under the authority of a local church, he said.

Although this is Campus Outreach’s first national conference since 2000, a New Year’s conference in which several regions come together is held every year…

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